Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #70. Sacha Polak’s Silver Haze

Silver Haze

For her fourth feature film, Dutch filmmaker Sacha Polak appears to be moving into an area that blurs the lines – promising “a fictional story with documentary components.” Returning to the Berlinale next month for a third time, Polak’s 2012 debut Hemel was followed by 2015’s Zurich and 2019’s Dirty God (Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition selection and Rotterdam). Silver Haze won a Les Arcs Festival Work-in-Progress special mention for its “striking cinematography, and the way Polak works with the actors” Re-teaming with her Dirty God actress Vicky Knight (who inspired Polak – as this feature utilizes part of Knight’s past), this also features Esmé Creed-Miles, Charlotte Knight, Archie Brigden and Angela Bruce. Worth noting the backdrop here was London and Southend. Viking Film’s Marianne Slot (Rojo) produces once again for Polak, and the filmmaker re-teamed with cinematographer Tibor Dingelstad — they worked together on two episodes of the television series “Hanna.”

Gist: Franky (Vicky Knight) comes from a gritty East London borough and works as a nurse. When she falls head over heels in love with her patient Florence, her life changes profoundly. A film about coming to terms with the past, social origins and the need to belong.

Release Date/Prediction: This will be featured in the Panorama section at the Berlinale next month.