Don't Let the Sun": Jacqueline Zünd's Fiction Debut Explores Human Connections in a World of Intense Heat
Jacqueline Zünd, a documentary filmmaker, is set to premiere her first fiction feature film, "Don't Let the Sun," at Switzerland's Locarno Film Festival. The film explores a world of intense heat where human connections are challenging to establish. Zünd drew inspiration for the film from her experiences in Japan and her observations of an agency that rents out social interactions. The concept of how human relationships evolve under external conditions like the climate crisis intrigued her.
In "Don't Let the Sun," Levan Gelbakhiani portrays Jonah, a young man who works for an agency that impersonates other people. He takes on the role of a father to a young girl named Nika. The film's setting in Milan and Genoa, with additional footage from São Paulo, captures the scorching heat that influences the characters' interactions. The extreme temperatures during filming added authenticity to the characters' experiences, leading to a reduction in dialogue to convey the intensity of the environment.
Zünd's background in documentary filmmaking influenced her approach to "Don't Let the Sun," blurring the lines between fiction and reality. She drew from her parallel documentary project, "Heat," which explores the impact of heat on people. The film's locations in Milan and Genoa, with their expressive architecture, mirror the characters' inner states. Zünd's documentary style, which condenses real-life stories, informed her narrative choices in the fiction realm, allowing her to work with actors for the first time and explore the creative interplay between reality and fiction.
"Don't Let the Sun" is a production of Switzerland's Lomotion, co-produced with Italy's Casa Delle Visioni, and supported by Swiss public broadcaster SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. The film delves into the complexities of human relationships under extreme conditions, offering a glimpse into a world where the boundaries between reality and fiction blur. Zünd's unique approach to storytelling, influenced by her documentary background, brings a fresh perspective to the exploration of human connections in a changing world.