Founded in 1982 in Cognac before migrating to Beaune in 2008, the International Thriller Film Festival - Reims Polar will henceforth set up shop in Reims. However, given that the health crisis is yet to become a dim and distant memory in our minds (for the record, French cinemas re-opened their doors on 19 May with 35% capacity, which is set to rise to 65% on 9 June if all goes well, which looks set to be the case), crime film fans will have to wait until next year to travel to the world’s champagne capital, as this 38th edition of the event, running  26 - 30 May, is set to unspool exclusively online.

The main competition will offer up nine feature films, including Bad Tales [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Fabio e Damiano D'Innocenzo
scheda film] by Italian brothers Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo (awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay in Berlin) and The Mayor of Rione Sanita [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mario Martone
scheda film] by their compatriot Mario Martone (unveiled in competition in Venice), alongside Berlin Alexanderplatz [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Burhan Qurbani
scheda film] by Germany’s Burhan Qurbani (discovered in competition in Berlin – to be released in France on 18 August), Black Box [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by France’s Yann Gozlan (in cinemas 8 September) and Unidentified [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Romania’s Bogdan George Apetri (which scooped the Special Jury Prize in Warsaw). Jostling alongside them is the South Korean feature film Deliver Us From Evil, Iranian titles Just 6.5 and The Slaughterhouse, and the American-Filipino movie Watch List. The jury deliberating over these titles will be presided over by director and actor Jacques Weber, who will notably be flanked by Belgian filmmaker Lucas Belvaux, his French counterpart Jean-Paul Salomé, actresses Pascale Arbillot and Anne Parillaud, actor Dali Bensallah and writers Négar Djavadi and Laurent Chalumeau.

European productions are particularly well-represented in the parallel competition section Sang Neuf (New Blood), which will present six films including the unsettling work Rascal [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Peter Dourountzis
scheda film] by French director Peter Dourountzis (awarded Cannes 2020’s Official Selection label – to be released in France on 9 June), Rounds [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Stephan Komandarev
scheda film] by Bulgaria’s Stephan Komandarev (bagging the Best Actress award and the Cineuropa Prize in Sarajevo, triumphant at goEast, and likewise victorious in Varna, Gijón and Arras), Ulbolsyn [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Kazakhstan’s Adilkhan Yerzhanov (rewarded in Tallin) and three feature films discovered in Venice: the hard-hitting title Shorta [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Anders Ølholm e Frederik L…
scheda film] by Danish directors Anders Ølholm and Frederik Louis Hviid (awarded the Cineuropa Prize at the Les Arcs Film Festival – to be released in France on 23 June), The Third War [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Giovanni Aloi
scheda film] by Italy’s Giovanni Aloi (hitting French cinemas on 15 September this year) and Assandira [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Salvatore Mereu
scheda film] by his compatriot Salvatore Mereu.

Worth a final mention among the six films screening out of competition are Sons of Philadelphia [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by French director Jérémie Guez (travelling via Tribeca and set to be released in cinemas on Wednesday 26 May), The Enemy [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Stephan Streker
scheda film] by Belgium’s Stephan Streker (released on 29 September this year) and Sky High [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Daniel Calparsoro
scheda film] by Spain’s Daniel Calparsoro.