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Anouk Whissell’s “Holi Womb,” Talal Selhami’s “The Shelter” and Hannes Baumgartner’s “Insect World” bid fair to prove standouts at Fantasia’s 2025 Frontières Co-Production Market, one of the world’s biggest, widest-ranging and highest caliber genre project platforms.

“Holi Womb” reps a potential first solo writer-director outing for Whissell who shot to fame as part of Canadian filmmaking trio Rkss, behind cult sci-fi hit “Turbo Kid.” Brother Yoann-Karl Whissell, another Rkss member, is stepping into the producer role for the first time.

With “Succession” star Haim Abbas on board to play the lead role of Leila, a Syrian Civil War refugee, “The Shelter” looks like a big step up for Selhami in market potential after head-turning Moroccan creature feature “Achoura.” Sophia Menni produces at prestigious Moroccan production house La Prod.

“Insect Empire” unites some of Switzerland’s finest: director Hannes Baumgartner after breakout debut “The Midnight Runner,” Zurich-based...

New York-based Visit Films has revealed multiple international deals for its diverse slate of independent films at Hong Kong FilMart, ranging from sci-fi thrillers to music documentaries.

Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s Sundance and Rome drama “Ghostlight” has secured deals with Nikkatsu (Japan), New Cinema (Israel), Cinobo, Eye Film (Benelux), Fabula Films (Turkey) and Sister Distribution (Switzerland). IFC previously acquired U.S. rights to the drama, which follows a grieving construction worker who joins a local production of “Romeo and Juliet.”

Simon Jaquemet’s sci-fi thriller “Electric Child,” which played at the Locarno and Sitges festivals, has been acquired by New People Film for Cis territories. The film follows a father’s extreme measures to help his newborn son by repurposing high-level AI technology from his workplace.

Tribeca comedy “Adult Best Friends” from filmmaker Delaney Buffett has landed a worldwide airlines deal with Anuvu. The film, which centers on...

Swiss director Simon Jaquemet – fresh off the world premiere of “Electric Child” at Locarno – is considering an adaptation of “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” by U.S. science fiction writer Ted Chiang. His “Story of Your Life” already inspired Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival.”

“It’s very clever and complex,” Jaquemet said about the novella, published in 2010, which could serve as an inspiration for his future work. He is also thinking about a move into series, one that would take place after events shown in “Electric Child,” albeit still within the same universe.

“The story could take place after some catastrophic AI event. With series, you have more time – you can make it more complex. Some shows are even more daring than films [these days],” he stated.

In the meantime, Jaquemet is bound to provoke heated discussions with his new film, “Electric Child.” Echoing many AI-related conversations taking place at the festival, he...

Locarno, Switzerland — Taken multiple ways, 2024’s Locarno industry days proved hot.

Attendance at Locarno Pro, the festival’s industry arm, hit over 1,743 on-site participants and 141 online accreditations, an all-time historical record of 1,884 delegates, 23% up on last year’s 1,530 total.

Business witnessed a mini feeding frenzy from sales agents as 13 of the 28 titles without an announced sales agent at the July 10 Locarno lineup announcement were picked up for international sales by festival start. Variety alone unveiled 16 sales deals, also an all-time high.

As temperatures hit a highly humid 36ºC, the big industry question at this year’s Locarno was why business – in terms at least of sales pack-ups – seemed so bullish. A few potential answers to that and other industry takes on this year’s Locarno Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-summer event.

Arthouse Crosses Over…

Maybe what makes an art film has changed. Boosted by new government funding, a new generation...

The 77th Locarno Film Festival is to feature films tackling the subjects of artificial intelligence and digital worlds, including a film made with AI.

The festival, which has been held in Locarno, Switzerland since 1946, has been home to a host of intriguing films across genres. Now, they are tackling the hot-button issue of modern film and culture writ large--artificial intelligence. The burgeoning technology of so-called "generative AI", which can create text, images, music, and even videos from simple text prompts through machine learning (but is not actually intelligent), has swept the tech world into a frenzy, and Hollywood is struggling to keep up. Many creators have expressed their fears about the new technology, from actors like Nicolas Cage to comics publishers like Dark Horse. Regardless, the forward progression of technology marches onward. AI-generated fan art has taken the internet by storm, from Street Fighter to The Office. Now, it's hitting major film festivals.

The Locarno Film Festival, taking place in the picturesque town in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, always shines a light on arthouse voices, whether new or established. And it showcases Swiss films worth audiences’ attention.

That will be the case again during Locarno77, taking place Aug. 7-17, soon after Switzerland also took center stage at the 2024 Cannes Film Market where the Alpine nation was the country of honor.

Among the Swiss fare featured at Locarno this year are such Cannes hits as Laetitia Dosch’s Dog on Trial, and Swiss animator Claude Barras’ Savages, which are screening in the Piazza Grande lineup along with the world premiere of Swiss director Simon Jaquemet’s Electric Child, the international premiere of U.S.-Swiss filmmaker Freddy Macdonald’s Sew Torn and the Swiss premiere of Swiss-Peruvian filmmaker Klaudia Reynicke’s Reinas.

Meanwhile, Locarno’s international competition includes the Swiss entry Der Spatz im Kamin...

Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is a hot-button topic these days — in Hollywood and beyond. It may not come as a surprise then that the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday, will feature AI- and digital technology-themed movies in various parts of its lineup.

Even in unveiling the program for Locarno77 last month, Giona A. Nazzaro, the Swiss festival’s artistic director, mentioned “the whole discussion around artificial intelligence” as one of the themes featured across the fest. “We didn’t seek out these themes. We didn’t say ‘okay, we are going to have a festival focusing on certain themes’,” he emphasized though. Instead, after finishing the selection for Locarno 2024, his team noticed overarching and underlying subjects. “The festival is a catalyst for major dialogue, intensive exchanges,” Nazzaro concluded.

What might surprise festivalgoers is how different the filmmakers’ approaches to digital worlds and AI are.

New York-based Visit Films has acquired worldwide sales rights, excluding German-speaking Europe, Benelux and the Philippines, to “Electric Child” from Swiss writer-director Simon Jaquemet. The film will world premiere Friday at Locarno Film Festival in competition in the Piazza Grande outdoor theater. Variety has been given exclusive access to the first-look clip (below).

“Electric Child” tells the story of a father’s desperate attempt to help his newborn son by going far outside moral norms and into dangerously uncharted territory when he appropriates and reengineers a high-level, superpower AI simulation at his work.

“I aimed to depict human vulnerability against the backdrop of advanced technology,” Jaquemet said. “The goal was to immerse the audience in my main character Sonny’s journey, intertwining it with the unpredictable power of AI, creating a visually and emotionally compelling experience.”

Visit’s president Ryan Kampe said: “Humanity should be both excited and worried about...

Swiss auteur Simon Jaquemet’s “Electric Child” joins Ukrainian sci-fi comedy “U Are the Universe,” and “We Are Zombies,” from heavily rated Canadian trio Rkss, as three potential highlights at this year’s Cannes Marché du Film’s Frontières Platform, organized with the Fantasia Film Festival.

Focusing on genre, the Frontières showcase is emerging as one of the Marché du Film’s biggest market plays, supercharged by this year’s milestone Oscar triumph of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” smart genre’s popularity among an emerging generation of filmmakers and its rising tide as one of the most resilient of independent movie market propositions.

For Rkss, it’s a return, having had great success with their previous “Turbo Kid,” which went on to Sundance, and won a bunch including at SXSW and Fright Fest.

“U Are the Universe,” deserves a special mention, given the sheer challenge of completing a project...