(Tun-Fr-It-Saudi-Qat) Mehdi Barsaoui is the second feature from Tunisian director Barsaoui, whose debut was a best actor prize-winner for Sami Bouajila in Horizons 2019. The filmmaker’s latest centres on a woman who tries to start a new life in Tunis after surviving an accident, but her new identity is compromised when she becomes the main witness to a police mistake. The international co-production includes Tunisia’s Cinétélefilms, Saudi Arabia’s CineWave Films, France’s 13 Prods and Italy’s Dorje Film.
(S Afr) Jason Jacobs, Devon Delma South African drama has a close association with Venice, having participated in last year’s Final Cut In Venice lab. Set in a rural South African community, the film focuses on the title character’s realisation that a career opportunity at a new luxury golf estate will involve building over her estranged grandfather’s rooibos tea farm. Produced by Deidre Jantjies and Annemarie Du Plessis, has also been through New York’s Gotham Film Week, Rotterdam’s CineMart and its homeland market, Durban FilmMart.
, Reason8 Films (It) Francesco Costabile Costabile’s debut, Calabrian mafia drama , played in the Berlinale’s Panorama in 2022. Venice has followed suit, programming the director’s follow-up in its parallel Horizons competition. The story of a son’s rebellion against an abusive father is based on the autobiography of former skinhead Luigi Celeste.
producers are Tramp Limited, Indigo Film and O’Groove, while.