Latest news with #Locarno
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gaza-Set Cannes ACID Selected Fatma Hassona Documentary ‘Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' Boarded by Cercamon (EXCLUSIVE)
International sales outfit Cercamon has acquired worldwide rights to the Gaza-set documentary 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk,' directed by Iranian-French filmmaker Sepideh Farsi. The documentary is set to make its world premiere in the ACID program at next month's Cannes Film Festival. More from Variety ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement The feature offers an intimate, first-hand look at life under siege in Gaza through video calls between Farsi and young Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona. In a tragic turn of events, Hassona was killed in an Israeli missile strike on her home just one day after the film's Cannes selection was announced. Through raw footage and personal testimony, 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' documents daily life during the conflict through the perspective of a generation trapped in what the filmmakers describe as an endless cycle of war. 'We were deeply moved by the extraordinary courage and resilience captured in this film,' said Sebastien Chesneau, partner at Cercamon. 'Sepideh Farsi's work offers not only a window into Gaza but also a profound testimony to hope, dignity, and the human spirit in the darkest moments of life. We are honoured to represent this essential and urgent documentary and to bring Fatma's voice to audiences around the world.' Farsi, whose previous works include 'The Siren' (Berlinale), 'Red Rose' (TIFF) and 'Tehran Without Permission' (Locarno), described the genesis of the project: 'This film was born out of my urgent need to find out how people are surviving in Gaza. My connection with Fatem [as Fatma was known to her friends] was a miracle, through which a deep connection developed through our year-long conversations. Her bravery and humanity transcended every moment we shared.' ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement She added, 'The film is a tribute to her, and to all civilians trapped by war, yet refusing to give up their dreams. I am extremely happy to collaborate with Cercamon in order to share Fatem's story widely and meaningfully.' 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' is produced by Rêves d'Eau Productions in co-production with 24images. The documentary combines personal testimony with real-time footage and poetic reflection to capture life amid destruction. Dubai-based Cercamon, founded in 2014 by veteran international sales agent Sébastien Chesneau, specializes in distinctive films from emerging and established directors. The company handles a curated slate of up to eight features annually, focusing on titles that blend art-house sensibility with global market appeal. The company's name means 'world searcher,' reflecting its mission to support unique voices in contemporary cinema worldwide. Best of Variety Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Locarno's Wolfgang Tillmans Poster Offers 'Image of a World in Which We Can All Live, Work Together'
The Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland has unveiled the poster for its 78th edition this summer, created by Turner Prize-winning German artist Wolfgang Tillmans after last year's poster from Annie Leibovitz. The poster for Locarno 2025 depicts the festival's trademark leopard on a tree branch 'amid an acid trance of yellow and purple abstraction,' according to the fest. 'Guided by a profound sense of curiosity, Tillmans seeks to expand the poetic possibilities of the medium of photography while addressing the fundamental question of what it means to create pictures in an increasingly image-saturated world.' More from The Hollywood Reporter Elton John, Brandi Carlile Bring the Groove, and Messages of Hope, to 'Who Believes in Angels?' Album Concert in London How Gaumont Germany Is Navigating TV Drama's Big Shake-Up Netflix Reveals Steamy K-Drama Adaptation of 'Dangerous Liaisons' Tillmans produced the poster using an experimental Xerox technique, which gives images a blurry texture and 'allows the artist to approach composition through the lens of early digital abstraction,' Locarno said. 'Combined with its psychedelic color palette, the poster is both a throwback to '80s and '90s iterations of the Locarno poster, which were often impressionistic and themselves bordering on abstraction, as well as a bold reimagining of the visual landscape in which the cinema world's most famous leopard finds itself.' Tillmans' brief was quite specific: the poster had to feature a leopard and the color yellow. 'On the glass window of my old color laser photocopier, I brought together a photograph of a leopard lying on a tree, which I had taken in Kenya seven years ago, with two fake leopard fur mittens, which I had sewn myself as a 16-year-old teenager,' Tillmans explained. Maja Hoffmann, president of the Locarno Film Fest, called this year's poster 'a tribute to imagination' that 'captures the bold, emotive, and dynamic spirit of cinema,' adding: 'Like cinema itself, [Tillmans'] work explores the layers of perception with a sensitivity that challenges conventions. … The Locarno Film Festival is a celebration of the power of storytelling, creativity, and diversity, and continues to explore the beauty of images on every level.' Added Giona A. Nazzaro, Locarno's artistic director: 'Wolfgang Tillmans' sensual artwork reminds us of all the unexplored potentialities of the film medium and cinema while imagining a new landscape where creativity unfolds in new forms, shapes, and colors. In this fluid and unexplored landscape, where everything is still possible, new combinations of dreamlike colors and shapes dance together weaving a tapestry of hope.' He concluded: 'Wolfgang Tillmans' artwork offers us the image of a world in which we can all live and work together.' Locarno 78 is set to run Aug. 6-16. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked 20 Times the Oscars Got It Wrong The Best Anti-Fascist Films of All Time
