Canada – Love Stories, Horror, Docs

First Look, the work in progress section of Locarno Film Festival – spotlighting six feature films in post-production stage – is heading to Canada for its 14th edition.

“Canada was on our radar for a while, as we believe there’s a roster of great talents being produced in that territory which brings a great diversity and also a good mix of emerging and established filmmakers,” noted Locarno’s Industry Manager Daria Voumard. 

“Canadian films are also very well represented in our official selection; therefore the choice was quite organic.”

In the past, First Look presented new productions from Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Israel, Poland, Baltic countries, Portugal, Serbia, Switzerland, Germany, the U.K. and Spain.

An international jury, composed of Franck Finance-Madureira, Kim Yutani and Jacqueline Lyanga will award several prizes on Aug. 10, 2025. But before that – and thanks to a partnership with Telefilm Canada – international industry insiders will be able to take a closer look at Nick Butler’s “Lunar Sway,” for example, showing an unusual relationship between a young man and his estranged birth mother.

Cliff, played by Noah Parker (“Who by Fire”) – and joined by “Gilmore Girls” fan favorite Liza Weil – is glad to get to know her at first. But she has her fair share of secrets and their consequences have followed her into town, not to mention they are about to send Cliff on a wild misadventure across the desert.

“I had the basic premise for ‘Lunar Sway’ in mind for many years, but it wasn’t until I found myself in an unrequited love situation that the concept really came to fruition,” said Butler.

“The story taps into the universal frustration of looking for love in all the wrong places. Throughout the movie, Cliff never knows who to trust or what to believe. That theme of truth versus fiction gave us permission to set the story in a slightly heightened, almost dreamlike environment, laced with surreal elements like hallucinatory dream sequences. As Cliff’s story continues, the world around him becomes increasingly detached from reality in subtle ways.”

While he figures it out, Geneviève Dulude-De Celles turns her attention to “Nina Roza,” where a child artist catches the eye of an art collector. It’s a co-production between Canada, Italy, Belgium and Bulgaria.

“This journey was tumultuous, from the long and tedious writing of a complex story to the search for financing. The four country co-production presented many challenges, of course, but we were able to draw on the best of each country’s talent,” noted the director, mentioning her new “creative family, now extending beyond the borders of Quebec community.” 

“I had the chance to meet Galin Stoev, an artist of Bulgarian origin best known for his stage productions, and to discover new local talents, like the twins playing young Nina, who were making their acting debut.”

It’s Dulude-De Celles’ fifth collaboration with Montreal-based Colonelle Films, which she co-founded “a little over 10 years ago” with Sarah Mannering and Fanny Drew. “This new project felt like a cool family reunion.”

“Our goal was never to make a tidy trauma narrative. We wanted to explore not only the horrors of these institutions, but the flickers of love, absurdity and connection that somehow exist inside the heads of the children being held captive,” explained Hodgson. 

“This film is about rebellion, tenderness, disassociation, delusion and the unique and wild moments where kids find each other in the dark. We wanted it to feel like the boys themselves made it: raw, messy, alive.”

Raymond St-Jean’s “Veins” will also head to unexpected places. 

It focuses on Isabelle, who decides to drive to Saint-Étienne – eight hours north of Montreal – to visit her sick father, Maurice. Accompanied by her friend Kensya, she’s in for a shock: her mother Thérèse tells her he died a few days ago. The troubling circumstances surrounding the death, and her mother’s erratic and bizarre behavior, lead Isabelle to suspect that something is amiss in this isolated and economically depressed village. 

“We produce very few elevated genre features in Canada. ‘Veins’ will be the first film of its kind in Quebec, and we feel we’ve succeeded in creating a world that will speak to several audiences without creative compromises,” teased producer Nicolas Comeau.

“It’s also worth to note that in post-production we had a stellar international crew, notably editor Matthieu Laclau [also behind ‘A Touch of Sin’] and sound mixer Stéphane Thiébaut [‘The Substance,’ ‘Titane’].”

Finally, two docs will be presented as well, starting with “We Will Not Be Silenced” where directors Catherine Hébert and Elric Robichon will stand by three writers and a publisher fighting against censorship: Asli Erdoğan, Liao Yiwu, Mona Kareem and Tutul Chowdhury.

“Still today, the persecution of writers continues. They are threatened, attacked, imprisoned or forced into exile – if not eliminated – for daring to write,” they said, calling their film a “cinematic encounter that sheds light on the mechanisms of censorship. It explores the conditions of forced or voluntary exile, as well as the impact of displacement on the act of writing.”

Sophie Leblond’s “Lhasa” will introduce the audience to another very special person: musician Lhasa de Sela. From her nomadic childhood in Mexico to artistic life in Montreal, this film will “follow her life and career, as a woman and as an artist, until untimely death from cancer at age 37,” said the filmmakers. 

Leblond added: “In our film, she will tell her own story through a series of interviews, songs, and excerpts from her diaries. With her voice as a guide, we will dive into the inner world of this woman as she shares her doubts, aspirations and reflections on life, death and creation. Celebrated in Quebec and Europe but sadly unknown in Canada and the US, we imagine our film as the world tour she was planning before tragically passing away.” 

You can find the list of First Look projects here:

“Lhasa”

Directed by Sophie Leblond

In this doc produced by Metafilms, owned by Sylvain Corbeil and Nancy Grant, it’s all about the work, life and artistic vision of Lhasa de Sela, internationally celebrated singer-songwriter who died at the age of 37 and left behind three albums. Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre produces the film, which will be completed in early 2026, while the team recalls Fred Goodman’s words in his book “Why Lhasa de Sela Matters”: “It was mesmerizing and ambitious, musically sophisticated and emotionally advanced – the most intelligent pop record I had heard in a very long time. Lhasa? How could I have not heard of her?” It’s time to change that. 

“Lunar Sway” 

Directed by Nick Butler

Toronto-based Cloudy Pictures – founded by Butler – oversees this film about Cliff (Noah Parker) who lives in a remote desert town and is looking for love in all the wrong places with both men and women. When his estranged birth mother Marg (Liza Weil) arrives unexpectedly, they quickly bond. This marks Cloudy Pictures’ second feature after “The Legacy of Cloudy Falls,” also by Butler, which received a limited theatrical release in Canada in May. Jennifer Wrede, Butler and Lucas Meeuse produce. The film is expected to be completed by mid-August. Grace Glowicki, known for “Dead Lover,” Douglas Smith, Irina Dubova, Kaden Conners and Andy Yu, spotted in “Fargo,” also star. 

“Nina Roza” 

Directed by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles

A co-production between four countries, it’s led by Canada’s Colonelle Films, founded in 2012 by Fanny Drew, Sarah Mannering and Dulude-De Celles. Umi Films (Italy), Echo Bravo (Belgium), Ginger Light and Premier Studio (Bulgaria) co-produce. In the film, a viral video of an 8-year-old Bulgarian artist catches the eye of a major art collector, and Mihail is sent there – 30 years after leaving his home country – to assess the value of the girl’s work and confront ghosts from his past. Dulude-De Celles is also known for “The Cut” and 2018 “A Colony”. Galin Stoev, twins Sofia and Ekatarina Stanina, Michelle Tzontchev, Christian Begin, Chiara Caselli, Nikolay Mutafchiev, Tsvetan Todorov, Elena Antanasova and Svetlana Yancheva are in the cast.  

“Thanks To the Hard Work of the Elephants” 

Directed by Bryce Hodgson

CouKuma Productions and Harrington Studio join forces once again, although despite working on a slate of films together, “Thanks to the Hard Work of the Elephants” will mark their first release. Kevin Nguyen, Hunter Dillon, Tony Nappo, Kim Ha, Fred Nguyen Khan and Ryan Mcdonald act in the film based on a true story, overseen by producers Caitlyn Sponheimer, Katia Shannon and Hodgson. It follows two teenagers who escape a youth lockdown detention center – while under influence, they steal a van. According to Hodgson, the story explores “the troubled teen industry.” “When all has been stolen, how does one reclaim their ability to hope and dream?,” he wondered. 

“Veins” 

Directed by Raymond St-Jean

Written by Martin Girard and Raymond St-Jean Nicolas, who also directs, Nicolas Comeau produces for 1976 Productions, founded in 2005 and focusing on “strong voices with international appeal.” Romane Denis, Marie-Thérèse Fortin, Sylvain Marcel, Anana Rydvald and Madeleine Sarr are in the cast, while the film was funded by Sodec and Telefilm Canada, and was acquired at script stage by cable channel Crave (Bell Media). In Saint-Étienne, an old mining town, a young woman unravels the mystery surrounding her father’s sudden death. As bizarre incidents multiply around her, what she discovers is even more sinister and horrifying than anything she could have imagined.

“We Will Not Be Silenced” 

Directed by Catherine Hébert and Elric Robichon

This doc is produced by Films Camera Oscura, founded by Christine Falco in 2000 and with more than thirty films to its credit, many of them shown at intl. festivals. “We Will Not Be Silenced” will further “cement its reputation for bold, culturally resonant storytelling,” stated the team. Currently at the editing stage, it follows writers Asli Erdoğan, Liao Yiwu, Mona Kareem and publisher Tutul Chowdhury, revealing their struggles against censorship and exile, as they are determined to make their voices heard despite the oppressive threats they are facing. Montreal-based distributor Les Films du 3 Mars (F3M) is the distributor for the Canadian territory and acts as international sales agent.