Pietro Marcello’s Scarlet, a lyrical and romantic period fable from the celebrated director of Martin Eden. With a talented cast that includes Raphaël Thiéry, Louis Garrel, and newcomer Juliette Jouan, Scarlet premiered as the Opening Film of the 2022 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and bowed in the Main Slate of the 60th New York Film Festival.

Shortly after World War I, veteran Raphaël (Raphaël Thiéry) returns home from the frontlines to find himself a widower, and father to an infant daughter. Raised by her father in rural Normandy, the child Juliette (Juliette Jouan) grows into a lonely young girl who is passionate about singing and music and dreams of greater possibilities. She seeks refuge in the nearby woods, where she meets a witch who promises Scarlet sails will one day take her away from her village. Reckoning with her future and swept away by a rakish young pilot (Louis Garrel) who literally falls from the sky, Juliette never stops believing in the witch’s prophecy. Tracing Juliette’s journey throughout the twenty years of great invention between the world wars, Scarlet delicately weaves together music and fantasy, history and folklore, realist drama and ethereal romance, to craft a timeless story of a young woman’s emancipation.

Scarlet opens on July 7 in the San Francisco Bay Area at the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema (San Francisco, CA) and the Smith Rafael Film Center (San Rafael, CA).