Locarno opens with “The Green Eyes,” a refugee-child perspective film inspired by resignation syndrome

“The Green Eyes,” a new film by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh inspired by what the filmmakers describe as “resignation syndrome” among refugees, opened the Locarno Film Festival with a story told through a child’s eyes, as the director-writer team sought to foreground empathy and human response in a setting marked by displacement and uncertainty.

The Hollywood Reporter reported that the project stars newcomer Douae Butarbuch M’Zaouki, alongside Sayyid El Alami and Anamaria Vartolomei. The film’s framing, built around a refugee child’s perspective, is central to how Liatard and Trouilh said they intended viewers to engage with the character’s interior experience rather than treat the subject matter as distant or purely abstract.

According to the festival and coverage of the film, Liatard and Trouilh tied their creative starting point to resignation syndrome, a reference the report uses to connect the script to accounts of withdrawal described in some refugee contexts. The filmmakers’ stated intention, as summarized in the coverage, was to “try to revive empathy,” placing the child’s viewpoint at the center of the narrative structure and emotional design.

The film also reflects the directors’ approach to authorship, with the pair credited as writers and directors. The Hollywood Reporter’s account highlights their emphasis on how storytelling can shape attention, using cinematic point of view to invite audiences to sit with the character’s perspective instead of relying on conventional plot devices.

Locarno’s opening-night placement means “The Green Eyes” will be among the first new titles the festival presents to juries and international buyers, potentially shaping the film’s early momentum for additional screenings and distribution negotiations during the festival circuit. The report frames the opening as part of the festival’s broader program of contemporary works that seek to connect social realities with narrative craft.

For Liatard and Trouilh, the film’s debut at a major European festival is also an early test of how audiences and industry professionals respond to a subject that can be sensitive in public discussion. With the story focused on a refugee child, the reception may depend heavily on how viewers interpret the balance between empathy, representation, and the limits of what any film can convey about complex trauma or health-linked withdrawal.

As the festival moves forward, additional screenings and panel discussions will determine how the filmmakers’ intention translates in practice, including whether the festival audience connects with the child-led perspective and the resignation syndrome inspiration as a narrative engine rather than a medical or political talking point.