SMALL TALK
MATEO YBARRA - 2026
Premiere at Locarno Cineasti del Presente 2026
One of the last finishing schools in Switzerland, somewhere above Montreux.
A group of women of various ages are taught the intricacies of eating in the French or the English style, how to host and entertain guests, about protocol and small talk.
A fascinating sociological study that makes us reconsider conceptions about those kinds of institutions, and casts a nuanced gaze on those women, who pay fortunes to learn the ways of the elite.
Power dynamics implied in every gesture, vocabulary and dress code control, but also unexpected and unlikely encounters..
VARIETY
© Ph Ciompi
