2013 Cannes Film Festival Predictions: Saodat Ismailova’s 40 Days of Silence

#86. Saodat Ismailova’s 40 Days of Silence

Gist: This sees Bibicha, a young woman living in a small Uzbek village, suddenly refuses to speak and conceals herself in the house of her aunt Khanjarmomo. Is she vowing to silence for the return of her beloved one, or is she hiding the fruit of a love consumed illicitly? Khanjarmomo worries about the fate of the women in the family as she is already taking care of her illegitimate granddaughter Sharifa, whose mother disappeared years ago.

Prediction: Un Certain Regard. Heavily supported by the fest circuit (the Hubert Bals Fund, both Sundance labs and Cannes’ L’Atelier du Festival) this might have bypassed Park City and Rotterdam, for a chance to surf up onto the world stage of the Croisette.