Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh's film "The Green Eyes" opens the 79th Locarno Film Festival on 5 August, screening at the Piazza Grande, the festival's open-air venue on the Swiss lakeside. The same day, international sales agent Kinology confirmed it has boarded the title and already pre-sold it to four territories. Variety

Kinology, a Paris-based company that handles worldwide sales for independent films, has closed deals for Benelux (Cinart), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Turkey (Chantier) and the former Yugoslavia region (MCF). French distribution stays in-house: Haut et Court, one of the film's producers, will release it in France.

Liatard and Trouilh made their feature debut with "Gagarine" in 2020. For "The Green Eyes" they collaborated with screenwriter Guillaume Laurant, whose credits include "Amélie" and the animated "I Lost My Body." The cast features Douae Butarbuch M'Zaouki, Sayyid El Alami, Anamaria Vartolomei, Arcadi Radeff and Omar Al Jbaai.

The story follows Chaya, a girl living with her family in the Landes region of south-western France. When the family learns they face eviction, her older brother Nour falls into a mysterious sleep. The directors told Variety they drew on "resignation syndrome," a condition in which people, often under extreme stress, withdraw into prolonged unresponsiveness. They first encountered it through a photography exhibition featuring two sisters affected by the condition.

The film was shot in the Landes forest, the largest planted forest in Western Europe. Liatard and Trouilh described the setting as magical in itself. The original French title is "Les Yeux Verts." The production is a co-production of France, Belgium and Sweden, produced by June Films and Haut et Court, with co-producers Les Films du Fleuve and Hobab.

Kinology founder and CEO Grégoire Melin commented on the company's decision to take the film on, though the substance of his remarks was not detailed in the reporting. Locarno's Piazza Grande, which seats roughly 8,000, is one of the largest outdoor screening venues in the world. Opening the festival there places a film before both an industry audience and a massive public crowd in a single night.

For Locarno, the choice signals a festival that continues to open with a film from emerging European directors rather than a star-driven premiere. For Liatard and Trouilh, it is the highest-profile platform they have received.