Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2018: #43. Malgorzata Szumowska’s Mug

Mug

Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska has been steadily making features since 2000, but her 2011 film Elles (read review) was an initial international breakout thanks to the participation of French actress Juliette Binoche (who recently announced she will be producing another project with Szumowska in the near future). After 2013’s excellent In the Name Of…, Szumowska took home a Best Director prize out of Berlin 2015 for Body. In mid-2016, she began filming her latest feature, Mug (formerly going by the title of Face), which now goes by the Little is known about the project except it’s taken from the headlines and concerns a man who undergoes a face transplant and experiences ensuing identity issues. Szumowska reunites with Mateusz Kosciukiewicz of In the Name Of…, while Agnieszka Podsiadlik of 2016’s The Erlking is also in the cast.

Release Date/Prediction: We originally had Mug pegged as a 2017 release, but such was not the case. Szumowska has competed in Sundance (2004’s Ono), Locarno (2008’s 33 Scenes from Life, which won the Special Jury Prize), and twice in Berlin (with In the Name Of… and Body). Timing would suggest Szumowska will potentially bow for a third time in the Berlinale, if not she could return to Toronto where she recently performed jury duty on TIFF’s Platform section. Update: Twarz (Mug) will be shown in Berlin!