Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #40. Untitled Philippe Lesage Project

The highest-ranked Canadian filmmaker on this year’s list moved into production on his fourth feature film back in August of last year. After 2015’s Les démons, 2016’s Copenhague – A Love Story and the Locarno preemed Genèse (2018), Philippe Lesage moves into (and returns) to the woods just outside Montreal with what is another young adult-orientated narrative but in a maze that includes the power dynamics of adults and where masculinity might take on an uppercut. Sometimes you should not meet your idols. Formerly titled “Un grand homme,” this Canadian-France production mixes recognizable players from both sides of the Atlantic and Olla (check out our interview) and 2022 Critics’ Week La jauría cinematographer Balthazar Lab is onboard here.

Gist: 16-year-old Jeff is invited by his best friend’s family to stay at a huge estate, isolated in the depths of the woods, where the legendary Blake Cadieux, a great director whom he admires, lives. Secretly in love with Alyosha, his friend’s big sister, Jeff experiences intense emotions during this extraordinary stay.

Release Date/Prediction: Our money is on a Venice film festival premiere – the Orizzonti section.