Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #44. The Souvenir – Joanna Hogg

Published on January 6, 2019

The Souvenir

British director Joanna Hogg is due to break out in a big way with her fourth feature, The Souvenir, an ambitious, star-studded project which is meant to be a two-part feature. The first segment has been completed, featuring Tilda Swinton, Welsh director Richard Ayoade (Submarine, 2010; The Double, 2013), Tom Burke, Jack McMullen, French actress Ariana Labed (Greek New Wave favorite), and Swinton’s real-life daughter Honor Swinton Byrne. Produced by Hogg and Luke Schiller, the project was also notably executive produced by Martin Scorsese, while Robert Pattinson will be joining the production for Part 2. Hogg’s first two features, Unrelated (2007) and Archipelago (2010) both featured Tom Hiddleston, while 2013’s Exhibition competed in Locarno.

Gist: Hogg’s script follows an ambitious film student (Swinton Byrne) in the 1980s as she meets a charismatic man (Burke), whose relationship with her inspires mystery and intrigue.

Release Date/Prediction: Announced in 2017, the first production photographs were released in May of 2018. Hogg will be competing the World Cinema Dramatic Comp program at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.