After the competition Venice 80and screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, MemoryMichel Franco’s new film (Nuevo Orden) will soon hit Italian cinemas alongside Academia 2. Flashback follows Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) and former classmate Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) who are forced to confront their shared past during a reunion.
Memory – Plot and Cast
Official plot: Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is a social worker with a simple and organized life: a daughter, a job, and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Everything falls apart when Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) takes her home after the reunion of former classmates: an unexpected meeting shocks both, as they open the door to the past.
Brooke Timber, Merritt Weaver, Elsie Fisher, Jessica Harper, Josh Charles, Blake Baumgartner, Rand Faris, Jackson Dorfmann, Elizabeth Loiacano, Davis Duffield, Josh Philip Weinstein, Mia May Williamson, Alexis Ray Forlenza, Lexi Braverman.
Movie Trivia
- Mexican screenwriter and director Michel Franco returns to the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2023 with Remembrance, following the presentation of The New Order (2020) and Sunset (2021).
- Director Michel Franco for Remembrance reunites with his regular collaborator, cinematographer Yves Cape.
- Technical composition: Editing by Oscar Figueroa Jara and Michel Franco / Set design by Claudio Ramirez Castelli / Costume design by Gabriela Fernandez / Sound by Javier Umpierrez.
- Director Michel Franco for Remembrance reunites with his regular collaborator, cinematographer Yves Cape.
- Franco explained to IndieWire why he’s reluctant to take projects in Mexico that aren’t in his handwriting: “They offered me stuff. Many wanted to make The New Order a limited series. I was offered scripts. I’ve been approached to do some of these shows that actually portray Mexico in a stupid way – violent, drug-related – that people accept and think is stupid. The answer is no. The pleasure comes from challenging the public as much as possible. Again, with my actors, this is a source of pleasure. I’m happy with where my cinema is.”
Director’s Notes
I wanted to make a film about people who, for one reason or another, get lost in the fabric of society. Their inability or unwillingness to live up to expectations is often rooted in facts that exist only in their memories. But sometimes it is marginalization that offers a way out of the shadows of the past, a chance to build a life in the present. Memory wonders if such shadows can really be saved. (Michelle Franco)
Michel Franco – Biographical Notes
Michel Franco was born in Mexico City in 1979 and brought Mexican cinema to the attention of the world. Writes, directs and produces Chronic (Best Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival 2015), Las hijas april (Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard Section, Cannes Film Festival 2017), e Despu de Lucia (Best Film in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival). He also produces 600 Mill (directed by Gabriel Ripstein and winner of the Best First Feature Film Award at the Berlinale 2015), Ti Guardo (directed by Lorenzo Vigas, winner of the Golden Lion in Venice in 2015), In 2020 he will present his sixth film The New Order, the action takes place in dystopian Mexico City, in competition at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, where he will receive the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. The following year he directed Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg in the film Sunset presented in competition at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.