Cannes Competition Title ‘Grand Tour’ Debuts Trailer, Director Miguel Gomes’ Next Film to Be ‘Savagery’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety has been granted exclusive access to the trailer (below) for Portuguese director Miguel Gomes‘ “Grand Tour,” which will have its world premiere in Cannes Film Festival’s Competition section. Variety can also exclusively reveal that that distribution on “Grand Tour” will be handled in France by Tandem, and in Italy by Lucky Red, and that Gomes’ next film will be “Savagery.” “Grand Tour” kicks off in 1917 in Burma. It centers on Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, who runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives to get married.

During his travels, however, panic gives way to melancholy. Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what has become of Molly… Determined to get married and amused by Edward’s move, Molly follows his trail on this Asian grand tour. The film stars Gonçalo Waddington and Crista Alfaiate, and the cast also includes Cláudio da Silva and Lang Khê Tran.

It is being sold by The Match Factory. “Grand Tour” is produced by Uma Pedra No Sapato (Portugal) in co-production with Vivo Film (Italy), Shellac Sud (France) and Cinema Defacto (France), in association with The Match Factory (Germany), Rediance (China) and Creatps Inc. (Japan), and with the participation of ZDF/ARTE and RTP.

Gomes was previously in Cannes in 2015 with “Arabian Nights” and in 2021 with “The Tsugua Diaries.” His 2012 film “Tabu” played at the Berlinale. Speaking to Variety, the film’s producer Filipa Reis explains how the project came together. It was over dinner with Reis that Gomes first presented his idea for the film, in which narrative sequences shot in a studio would be intercut with footage of contemporary Asia.

“The idea was… I don’t know… very appealing and charming,” says Reis, who was a co-producer on “The Tsugua Diaries.” Gomes then asked her to produce it. The plan was for Gomes to take a small documentary-style crew to seven Asian countries – Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Japan and China – shooting in 16mm so “that we could build this archive and then to write the script according to what was found,” Reis says. They started pre-production