‘The Green Eyes,’ Inspired by Resignation Syndrome, Opens Locarno With a Story Told From a Refugee Child’s Perspective to “Try to Revive Empathy”

The 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival opens with a refugee adventure drama on Wednesday that hopes to open people’s hearts and eyes – may they be green or not.

After all, the title of the new feature from writers-directors Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh is Les Yeux Verts (The Green Eyes), and it will world premiere on the Piazza Grande, the big square in the Swiss city, following the presentation of this year’s Excellence Award to Italian star Isabella Rossellini.

The movie tells the story of Chaya, 11, who lives with her family in the Landes region of France, right by the ocean. When the family faces deportation, Chaya’s older brother Nour “falls into a deep and mysterious sleep,” teases a synopsis. “Chaya will do everything she can to wake him up, even going so far as to dive into his dreams to find him.”

Indeed, the film is more than an exploration of “resignation syndrome,” a rare condition that sees psychologically traumatized refugee children fall into a coma-like state of deep withdrawal and unresponsiveness.

The Green Eyes, a co-production between France, Belgium, and Sweden, stars Douae Butarbuch M’Zaouki, Sayyid El Alami (Messiah, A Gentleman in Moscow), Anamaria Vartolomei (Happening, Mickey 17), Arcadi Radeff (Passages) and Omar Al Jbaai. The directors (Gagarine) wrote the screenplay together with Guillaume Laurant (Amélie). The cinematographer was Victor Seguin, while Tina Baz and Daniel Darmon handled editing. The Swiss distributor is Filmcoopi Zürich, while Kinology is in charge of international sales.