Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #122. La Nuée – Just Philippot

Published on December 30, 2019

La Nuée

Promising to be one of 2020’s more bizarre debut is Just Philippot’s La Nuée (The Swarm), produced by Thierry Lounas and Manuel Chiche. Suliane Brahim (“Black Spot” – the French “Fleabag”) and Sofiane Khammes (The World is Yours, 2018) are among the cast in the production lensed by Romain Carcanade. Philippot’s 2016 short “Ses souffles” was shortlisted for a Cesar and his 2018 short “Acid” competed at Sundance and the national competition at Clermont-Ferrand.

Gist: Written by Jérôme Genevray and Franck Victor, in order to save her farm from bankruptcy, a single mother breeds edible grasshoppers but then begins to have a strange, obsessive relationship with them.

Release Date/Prediction: Shot in August through September of 2019, The Swarm could be poised for a premiere at Cannes in Critics’ Week.

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.