Locarno’s Alliance 4 Development Welcomes Queer Musical, Eco Body Horror and Bruce LaBruce’s Melodrama with Monica Bellucci and Béatrice Dalle
Locarno’s Alliance 4 Development has unveiled its latest co-development projects from Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland, highlighting films centred on love, family dynamics, identity and masculinity. The selection matters because it gives emerging European projects an industry platform, while bringing together distinctive works ranging from queer musical drama to body horror and established provocateur Bruce LaBruce’s first French-led feature.
LaBruce’s “Third Take” stars Monica Bellucci and Béatrice Dalle as actresses whose reunion on a film shoot revives their deteriorating romance. Other projects include Tamer Ruggli’s late-1960s queer feminist musical “Cuore Matto”, Henning Beckhoff’s North Sea father-daughter drama “Dyspnoe”, and Antonio Donato’s “Shooting Watermelons”, about an authoritarian father holidaying with his sons. Ruggli said his film’s historical setting reflects current debates around identity and reactionary politics, while using music to broaden its appeal across languages and cultures.
In short
- Locarno selects new European film projects for development.
- Bellucci and Dalle lead Bruce LaBruce’s French melodrama.
- Queer identity and family tensions feature prominently.
Explained simply
Alliance 4 Development is a programme linked to the Locarno Film Festival that supports European films being made through cooperation between production companies in different countries. It gives projects a place to meet potential partners and attract industry interest while they are still in development.
The films in this selection approach relationships and identity in different ways, including a musical set in the late 1960s, family dramas and a story about two actresses whose former romance returns during a film shoot. Their directors and casts include both emerging filmmakers and established actors such as Monica Bellucci and Béatrice Dalle.
The projects connect personal stories with questions about gender, family and masculinity. For readers, the programme offers a view of how European filmmakers are exploring those themes across genres, from musical drama to horror.
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