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The 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival opens with a movie that gives audiences plenty to think about, courtesy of Tamara Stepanyan’s fiction feature directorial debut In the Land of Arto, starring Camille Cottin (Call My Agent!, House of Gucci) and Zar Amir (Holy Spider, Tatami).

Cottin plays a French woman named Céline, who arrives in Armenia from France to legalize the death of her husband Arto, who died by suicide, only to discover that he lied to her about his identity. “So begins a journey through Arto’s past, as she meets people left disabled by the battles of 2020, veterans from the 1990s, hauntings of a never-ending war” with Azerbaijan, highlights a synopsis.

Amir Ebrahimi plays an Armenian woman who helps the protagonist understand more about the history and the scars of the country. Other cast members include Shant Hovhannisyan, Hovnatan Avédikian, Alexander Khachatryan, Babken Chobanyan and Denis Lavant.

Ghosts of the past start haunting Céline, played by Camille Cottin (Call My Agent!, House of Gucci), in Tamara Stepanyan‘s In the Land of Arto, which will open the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival on on the Swiss lakeside town’s Piazza Grande on Wednesday, Aug. 6.

“Céline arrives in Armenia to legalize the death of her husband Arto,” a plot description explains. But she discovers that he lied to her about his identity. “So begins a journey through Arto’s past, as she meets people left disabled by the battles of 2020, veterans from the 1990s, hauntings of a never-ending war” with Azerbaijan.

Zar Amir also stars in the fiction feature from France-based Armenia-born Stepanyan (Embers, My Armenian Phantoms), who has so far been best known for her documentary work. Other cast members include Shant Hovhannisyan, Hovnatan Avédikian, Alexander Khachatryan, Babken Chobanyan, and Denis Lavant. Stepanyan wrote the screenplay with Jean-Christophe Ferrari,...

Earlier today, Cineuropa’s Fabien Lemercier revealed an alluring-sounding project that we’ll be keeping a close eye on. Heading into production this week, Armenia-born, Lebanese documentary filmmaker Tamara Stepanyan has lassoed Camille Cottin and Zar Amir Ebrahimi for a complex, perhaps investigative portrait about the deception and lies from the deceased with hints of what we might have found in Amjad Al Rasheed’s Inshallah a Boy. Supporting players on Sauver Les Morts include Hovnatan Avédikian and Denis Lavant but the kicker here is that this is cinematographer Claire Mathon’s next project. La Huit Production’s Stéphane Jourdain will produce – with production lasting almost two months.…...