2024 - 69th Edition

September Says

Septiembre dice

Ariane Labed

France, Greece, Ireland, Germany, United Kingdom

- 2024

Estreno nacional

July and September, two teenage sisters living with their artist mother, have turned their co-dependent relationship into a refuge from a world they consider hostile. The sexual awakening of one of them during a stay on the Irish coast causes the first cracks to appear in a union that seemed indivisible. Ariane Labed, the most emblematic face of new Greek cinema (she made her name in Athina Rachel Tsangari's Attenberg, also included in the Official Section presenting Harvest) and a regular presence in Yorgos Lanthimos' filmography, makes her directorial debut with this disturbing contemporary gothic tale inspired by Daisy Johnson's novel Sisters. Labed builds a poetic and suffocating atmosphere around these two protagonists linked by a powerful bond who have their own rituals and codes of domination to understand each other in their particular universe. A surprising debut feature that was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.

Ariane Labed

She was born in Athens in 1984. She studied drama at Provence University, where she co- founded the Vasistas theatre company, serving as actor, co-director and choreographer. She made her screen debut: ‘Attenberg’ by Athina Rachel Tsangari (Best Actress at the Venice 2010 Film Festival), then ‘Alps’ by Yorgos Lanthimos in 2011. She went on to feature in French and international projects: Richard Linklater’s ‘Before Midnight’, ‘Love Island’ by Jasmila Žbanic ́ , ‘Fidelio, Alice’s Odyssey’ by Lucie Borleteau (Locarno Best Actress award), ‘The Lobster’ by Lanthimos or ‘The Souvenir’ by Joanna Hogg. ‘September Says’, her feature film debut as a director, premiered in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.

O.V. in English with Spanish subtitles