Jonathan Nossiter’s fourth feature, Last Words, was selected as part of Cannes 2020, a selection of films to travel the fall film festivals with Cannes signature of approval.
This French-Italian co-production is described as a sci-fi pre-apocalyptic tale. The story is set in 2085, when no human babies have been born in over a decade. A group of disparate survivors respond to a call to meet in Athens, where the narrator Jo, a boy of African descent, aims to make the world’s last film.
The script is co-written by French-Argentinean author Santiago Amigorena, who also wrote the novel upon which this is based, and worked previously with Nossiter on the script for Rio Sex Comedy.
The stellar cast includes Nick Nolte, Stellan Skarsgard, Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, and Charlotte Rampling.
Serving as sort of a muse, the iconic Rampling had formerly appeared in Nossiter’s Signs & Wonders in 2000 and Rio Sex Comedy in 2010. In the new film, Rampling stars as a mysterious Balkan woman named Baltk.
Even by standards of indie directors, Nossier is a slow filmmaker, having helmed only four movies in two decades.
Nossiter won the Grand Jury Prize in Sundance for his 1997 debut Sunday.
He competed in Berlin with 2000’s Signs & Wonders and his wine documentary Mondovino was selected for the Cannes competition in 2004.