Annual Top Films Lists

Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #77. Fien Troch’s Holly

Published on January 13, 2023

Holly

A fifth feature film backed by an army of producers with Antonino Lombardo and Elisa Heene leading the charge with co-producers such as the Dardennes, Delphine Tomson, Frans Van Gestel, Anita Voorham, Donato Rotunno and Juliette Schrameck (The Worst Person in the World), Belgian filmmaker Fien Troch enlisted Lukas Dhont cinematographer Frank van den Eeden for a new dramedy. Holly stars Greet Verstraete, newcomer Cathalina Geeraerts and Felix Heremans and this unfolds in a small town in Flanders and sees the post-fire aftermath of when the school burns down and people come huddle around one unique individual. Troch had her breakout with her previous feature – Home won the Best Director in the Horizons section at the Venice International Film Festival in 2016. The film was selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market 2021 and Venice Gap-Financing Market 2021 markets.

Gist: This is set in the aftermath of a big school fire. In the wake of the disaster, a 15-year-old girl is treated by a community in mourning as a saviour with a special talent to heal.

Release Date/Prediction: We think this is an Un Certain Regard competition title with a bullet.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).