Berlin-based filmmaker Ann Oren returns to the Locarno Film Festival with "Objet a," a stylised, visceral drama exploring desire, control, intimacy and identity through the lens of touch in a screen-dominated age. The film centres on two hand surgeons, Ingeborg and Adam, whose tightly controlled relationship is upended after an accident brings a mysterious woman, Gaia, into their lives, unleashing new desires and unsettling their dynamic of love, control and fixation, including kleptomania.

The film, Oren's follow-up to Piaffe, stars Aenne Schwarz, Louis Hofmann and Simone Bucio, with Georg Friedrich and Sofia Kokkali in supporting roles, and was written by Oren with Geoffroy Grison. It premieres in Locarno's international competition on 11 August, ahead of a German theatrical release via Grandfilm in early 2027, with Oscilloscope Laboratories handling North American rights and Bendita Film Sales managing international sales.