Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #45. Akelarre – Pablo Agüero

Akelarre

For his fifth feature, Argentinean director Pablo Agüero recreates a 1609 witchcraft trail for Akelarre, co-written by Katell Guillou (loosely based on Pierre de Lancre’s On the Inconstancy of Witches: Tableau de l’inconstance des mauvais anges et demons). Among the cast for the Spanish-Argentinean-French historical drama are Álex Brendemühl, Amaia Aberasturi, Garazi Urkola, Irati Saez de Urabain, Jone Laspiur, Lorea Ibarra, Yune Nogueiras, Daniel Fanego, Asier Oruesagasti, Iñigo de la Iglesia, Elena Úriz and Daniel Chamorro. Agüero’s 2006 short film “Primera nieve” played at Cannes, as did his 2008 feature Salamandra, which premiered in Directors’ Fortnight. But it was Agüero’s 2015 title Eva Doesn’t Sleep, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, which became a celebrated critical hit.

Gist: Basque Country, 1609. When all the men have gone off to sea, Ana is involved with the other village girls in a party in the woods. But they’re apprehended by Judge Rostegli, who has been charged with purifying the area. Extreme measures are taken to secure confessions from the girls about the Akelarre, or Witches’ Sabbath, a ritual wherein the devil mates with his proteges to make them servants.

Release Date/Prediction: Agüero completed principal photography on Akelarre in July of 2019, which makes him a potential contender for Berlin 2020.