Jan 19, 2022
Encounters 2022

The competitive section Encounters 2022 comprises 15 films, all of which are world premieres. There is one first feature. 15 countries are represented. This year’s selection includes more films than usual from established filmmakers (Bertrand Bonello, Ruth Beckermann, Mitra Farahani, Sho Miyake, Arnaud des Pallières, Gastón Solnicki, Peter Strickland, Syllas Tsoumerkas), but also welcomes new voices.
Each selected film aims to engage in a conversation, not only with the audience, but also with the other films. Some of the conversations the selected films offer are the dialogue between two old artists or the one between past and present times. A dialogue with sign language and the special connection between two people excluded from “normal life”. The inner communication between twins and the metacommunication between a book and its readers a century after. The dialectic in place between owners and workers and the dichotomy between truth and lies.

“We consider Encounters to be a vibrant competitive section and a safe haven for a community. Here, we tend to invite filmmakers that do not consider cinema as a predefined art form, with a standard that has to be reached, but rather as a field in an ongoing expansion - like the universe we inhabit. After a year and a half spent in not-so-splendid isolation, we are moved by seeing that many filmmakers have chosen dialogue as the most appropriate form to overcome fences, distances and confinements, and they are keen to keep mapping the land we called cinema,” says Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian.

Encounters Films

A Little Love Package
Austria / Argentina
by Gastón Solnicki
with Angeliki Papoulia, Carmen Chaplin, Mario Bellatin
World premiere

À vendredi, Robinson (See You Friday, Robinson)
France / Switzerland / Iran / Lebanon
by Mitra Farahani
with Jean-Luc Godard, Ebrahim Golestan
World premiere / documentary form

Axiom
Germany
by Jöns Jönsson
with Moritz von Treuenfels, Ricarda Seifried, Thomas Schubert
World premiere

Brat vo vsyom (Brother in Every Inch)
Russian Federation
by Alexander Zolotukhin
with Sergey Zhuravlev, Nikolay Zhuravlev
World premiere

Coma
France
by Bertrand Bonello
with Julia Faure, Louise Labeque
World premiere

Father's Day
Rwanda
by Kivu Ruhorahoza
with Mediatrice Kayitesi, Aline Amike, Yves Kijyana
World premiere

Flux Gourmet
United Kingdom / USA / Hungary
by Peter Strickland
with Asa Butterfield, Gwendoline Christie, Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitriou, Richard Bremmer
World premiere

I Poli ke i Poli (The City and the City)
Greece
by Christos Passalis, Syllas Tzoumerkas
with Vassilis Kanakis, Alexandros Vardaxoglou, Angeliki Papoulia
World premiere

Journal d'Amérique (American Journal)
France
by Arnaud des Pallières
World premiere / documentary form

Keiko, me wo sumasete (Small, Slow but Steady)
Japan / France
by Shô Miyake
with Yukino Kishii, Tomokazu Miura, Masaki Miura
World premiere

MUTZENBACHER
Austria
by Ruth Beckermann
World premiere / documentary form

Queens of the Qing Dynasty
Canada
by Ashley McKenzie
with Sarah Walker, Ziyin Zheng
World premiere

Sonne
Austria
by Kurdwin Ayub
with Melina Benli, Law Wallner, Maya Wopienka
World premiere / Debut

Unrueh (Unrest)
Switzerland
by Cyril Schäublin
with Clara Gostynski, Alexei Evstratov
World premiere

Zum Tod meiner Mutter (The Death of my Mother)
Germany
by Jessica Krummacher
with Birte Schnöink, Elsie de Brauw, Johanna Orsini, Susanne Bredehöft, Gina Haller, Christian Löber
World premiere

Press Office
January 19, 2022