Annual Top Films Lists

Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #52. Justin Anderson’s Swimming Home

Published on January 16, 2023

Swimming Home

In a surprising field of many first-time works on our list, this year’s most anticipated directorial debut goes to commercials director Justin Anderson lassoed the option for the novel back in 2014 so he has had close to a decade of thinking about the film before making the film. He made the move into fiction with the 2016 short The Idyll and moved into production back in October. Swimming Home sees Ariane Labed, Christopher Abbott, Mackenzie Davis and Nadine Labaki star in a tale about a vaca that goes astray. Filmed in Greece, Lemming Film, Quiddity Films, Rook Films, Reagent Media and Heretic are all prod companies involved with the project.

Gist: Based on the novel by Deborah Levy, this follows of Joe and Isabel’s marriage, which is dying. A naked stranger is found floating in the pool at their holiday villa, and they invite her to stay. What kind of relief can she provide for this family in crisis?

Release Date/Prediction: This could drop on the Croisette, but we’re thinking the Lido has better chances. Orizzonti is a possibility.

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).