The Souvenir

Joanna Hogg

Focus United Kingdom 120 min Catalan Premiere Fiction

Synopsis

A shy but ambitious film student (Honor Swinton Byrne) begins to find her voice as an artist while navigating a turbulent courtship with a charismatic but untrustworthy man (Tom Burke). She defies her protective mother (Tilda Swinton) and concerned friends as she slips deeper and deeper into an intense, emotionally fraught relationship that comes dangerously close to destroying her dreams. From acclaimed writer-director Joanna Hogg comes an enigmatic and personal portrait of the artist as a young woman, combining passionate emotions and exquisite aesthetics into a lush, dreamlike story of young adulthood and first love. At once enrapturing and mysteriously unsettling— and featuring a profoundly layered breakout performance by Honor Swinton Byrne—The Souvenir is an essential and enduring film from one of our most distinctive and exciting filmmakers.

Themes

ArtBiographicEuropean CinemaFemale DirectorFeminismSex

Filmmaker

Joanna Hogg

She mixes audiovisual experimentation with the shooting of mainstream television products. She made her feature film debut in 2007 with Unrelated, many years after having directed the short film Caprice, starring Tilda Swinton. From here, she began a radically personal filmography that led her to be considered one of the greatest names in contemporary cinema and to win a Jury Prize at Sundance, among others.

Filmography: The Eternal Daughter (2022, D’A 2023), The Souvenir. Part II (2021, D’A 2022, D’A 2023), The Souvenir (2019, D’A 2022, D’A 2023), Exhibition (2013, D’A 2014, D’A 2023), Archipelago (2010, D’A 2023), Unrelated (2007, D’A 2023), Caprice (short film, 1986, D’A 2023)

Joanna Hogg

Film information

Director: Joanna Hogg
Script: Joanna Hogg
Contact: Protagonist Pictures
With: Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, Tilda Swinton
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2019
Format: DCP
Length: 120 min
Language: English
Subtitles: Catalan
Edition: 2023

Awards

FESTIVAL DE SUNDANCE
Gran premi del jurat de la secció World Cinema

Poster

The Souvenir