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Chaïmaa Zineddine as Fatima in Gamma Rays. Henry Bernadet: 'She really wanted to be in the project. And she had something in her that was very inspiring' Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival Quebecois director Henry Bernadet returns to the world of ensemble drama after his debut West Of Pluto, with Gamma Rays, which centres on a group of teenagers in Montreal from different migrant backgrounds. Born out of workshops with the youngsters who went on to become members of his cast, this is a triptych of tales that celebrate the city and its youth. The most dramatic of them concerns Fatima (Chaïmaa Zineddine), whose attempts to extricate herself from the orbit of a drug dealer prove tricky, while comic relief of a sort is provided by young Abdel’s (Yassine Jabrane) attempts to cope with the arrival of his extrovert cousin Omar. Bridging the gap between the...

The multifaceted and multicultural fabric of Montreal is brought to life in this teenage ensemble drama from Henry Bernadet, which spends a sultry summer in the company of a group of youngsters. Like 2019 British teen favourite Rocks, the film emerged out of workshops with the cast. Although the result is fictional it feels firmly moored in their reality, a sensation heightened by frequent cutaway shots to the comings and goings of the city.

Loosely structured, although maintaining an impressive balance between its stories, we dip in and out of the lives of a trio of teenagers. Afro-Canadian Toussaint (Chris Kanyembuga) provides a sort of bridging device for Bernadet’s narrative (co-written with Nicolas Krief and Isabelle Brouillette). He’s a lonely soul but a big thinker and, after he finds an unexpected note in a bottle, embarks on a phone relationship with a mystery woman at the other side of the.

The line-up includes Niclas Larsson’s Mother, Couch! starring Ewan McGregor, Taylor Russell and Ellen Burstyn

San Sebastian International Film Festival has unveiled the 11 first and second features competing for the New Directors award.

Among the selection is Niclas Larsson’s Mother, Couch! starring Ewan McGregor, Taylor Russell and Ellen Burstyn. The film is a co-production between the US, Sweden and Denmark and sees three estranged siblings brought back together by their mother’s bizarre behaviour.

The strand will open with Miang Ling’s second film Carefree Days which follows a 25-year-old woman with a terminal illness who embarks on...

Starring “Bones and All’s” Taylor Russell, Ewan McGregor and Ellen Burstyn, “Mother, Couch!” the feature debut of Sweden’s Niclas Larsson, features in a currently 11-title lineup of San Sebastian’s 2023 New Directors section, the most important sidebar at the highest-profile movie event in the Spanish-speaking world.

Notable in Trey Edward Shults’ raved-reviewed debut “Waves,” Russell stars in “Mother, Couch,” billed as dark dramedy that, produced by Lyrical Media and Suris/Bishop Films, has largely flown under the radar. Though “Mother, Couch!” Is his feature debut, Larsson is a high-profile short filmmaker, his Vatten (2013) earned the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Göteborg, and 2015’s “The Magic Dinner” starred Alicia Vikander and Anna Wintour.

Section’s other highest-profile title is supernatural art house drama “Last Shadow at First Light,” shot between Singapore and Japan and directed by Nicole Midori and described by Variety as examining “the intangible nature...