Ghosts of the past start haunting Céline, played by Camille Cottin (Call My Agent!, House of Gucci), in Tamara Stepanyan‘s In the Land of Arto, which will open the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival on on the Swiss lakeside town’s Piazza Grande on Wednesday, Aug. 6.
“Céline arrives in Armenia to legalize the death of her husband Arto,” a plot description explains. But she discovers that he lied to her about his identity. “So begins a journey through Arto’s past, as she meets people left disabled by the battles of 2020, veterans from the 1990s, hauntings of a never-ending war” with Azerbaijan.
Zar Amir Ebrahimi also stars in the fiction feature from France-based Armenia-born Stepanyan (Embers, My Armenian Phantoms), who has so far been best known for her documentary work. Other cast members include Shant Hovhannisyan, Hovnatan Avédikian, Alexander Khachatryan, Babken Chobanyan, and Denis Lavant. Stepanyan wrote the screenplay with Jean-Christophe Ferrari, Jean Breschand, Romy Coccia di Ferro, and Jihane Chouaib.
“A woman chases a ghost, but how should she bury it?” asks the Locarno festival website. “Can the dead be saved?”
“I no longer live in Armenia, but it haunts me like an amputated limb, living inside me like a ghost,” Stepanyan shares in a director’s statement.
THR can exclusively share two clips from In the Land of Arto, which is a French-Armenian co-production. Be For Films is handling sales duties on the movie.
In the first clip, Céline is looking to track down Arto’s birth certificate – only to run into an unexpected challenge. Check out that scene below.
In the second clip, Cottin and Amir Ebrahimi’s characters drive towards their next destination and share insights into their lives, with the latter discussing protecting family and motherland. Their exchange ends with thoughts on happiness.
Watch the clip below.
The Locarno Film Festival 2025 runs Aug. 6-16.