Top 20 Alternative Picks for TIFF 2013: Lisa Langseth’s Hotell

Hotell – Lisa Langseth

Section: Contemporary World Cinema
Dates: Friday 6th, Sunday 8th, Sunday 15th

Buzz: For her feature debut Pure (2009), Lisa Langseth was awarded the Guldbagge (Swedish Oscars) for Best Script and Alicia Vikander won the Guldbagge for Best Leading Actress. Since her international breakthrough performance, Vikander has starred in A Royal Affair and shared a screen with Keira Knightley in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina so we’re thinking that the reunion between director and actor will bring out more of this – essentially more A-game from both the filmmaker and actress.

The Gist: Erika is a beautiful young woman with a perfect life. Until the day it all falls apart. She starts going to group therapy and meets other people suffering from various forms of trauma. One day this eclectic group decides to take matters into its own hands and heads off together in search of a way out. They start checking into hotels – a place of complete anonymity where you can wake up as a different person.