Still: Donkey Days - Rosanne Pel

Donkey Days** is the second feature film from Rosanne Pel, whose debut feature Light As Feathers premiered at TIFF in 2018. The film is produced by Floor Onrust for Family Affair Films and co-produced by Junafilm (DE). Family Affair produced both Pel’s films and worked with Steve McQueen on his award winning documentary Occupied City, among others.

The Dutch-German production is about two sisters who have always fought for their mother’s attention. When the duo return to their family home they discover strange mysteries, including anonymous ashes and their mother’s love for a donkey. Paris-based sales outfit Totem Films has boarded Donkey Days ahead of its premiere in Locarno and is handling international rights.

Totem cites Pel’s “impressive second feature” and says the filmmaker:

“looks at humanity, with its imperfections and contradictions, straight in the eye, and through sensitivity and humour, finds ways to make us embrace all of it - even one’s dysfunctional family!”

Also world premiering in Locarno’s Concorso Internazionale is Desire Lines* by Dane Komljen and minority co-produced by SeriousFilm (East of Noon). The film follows Branko who obsessively trails his brother through Belgrade, trying to fathom his unusual behavior, but realizes along the way that he himself is the strange one, an observer, an apparition.

The Birthday Party**, directed by Miguel Ángel Jiménez and minority co-produced by Lemming Film (Sweet Dreams, O Agente Secreto), is selected for the Piazza Grande section. Markos Timoleon, an Onassis-like Greek tycoon, is celebrating his daughter’s 25th birthday on his private island. There, he will face an unpredictable chain of events that will threaten his dominance and shake his very existence. Heretic are handling international sales.

In the Concorso Cineasti Del Presente competition Becoming will celebrate its world premiere. The film is directed by Zhannat Alshanova and minority co-produced by  Volya Films (Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy, Totem). The film tells the story of 17-year-old Mila who can no longer bear the chaos of her family life. When she discovers an open-water swimming team led by the enigmatic Vlad, she joins, drawn by the promise of structure and belonging. International sales are handled by Films de Force Majeure.

The 78th edition of the Locarno International Film Festival will run from 6-16 August. Find out more about Locarno here.

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*film supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Netherlands Production Incentive