The new film from Arthur Harari, a director, Academy Award-winning screenwriter, and actor. Schneider, who appeared in Harari’s debut feature, reunites with the director, while Seydoux joins the cast with a powerful performance, and a famous director makes a surprise cameo. In The Unknown, Harari’s long-standing exploration of ‘body and identity’ gives rise to one question after another. Something unbelievable happens to a man after he sleeps with a woman he meets at a party. Photographs he took are shown again and again - but what exactly must be remembered: the suburban exterior itself, the meaning it holds, or the artist’s gaze? Put differently, when your own face looks unfamiliar to you in the mirror, is it the body or the soul that governs who you are? It is a mystery that leaves us not with doubts, but with questions - and the questions never stop. That’s why, even while watching what may be the saddest love scene in the world, you find yourself still wondering. Oh, and don’t miss the Bob Dylan’s album cover.
Arthur Harari began making films as a teenager with a Super 8 camera. After studying cinema at Paris 8 University, he directed several award-winning shorts with his brothers, including La Main sur la gueule (2007) and Peine perdue (2013). His feature debut, Dark Diamond (2016), earned him recognition for his singular directorial style, receiving two nominations at the 2017 César Awards. His follow-up, Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle (2021), opened Un Certain Regard at Cannes to international acclaim, and he also brought the film to the Busan International Film Festival. An occasional actor as well, Harari co-wrote Justine Triet′s Sibyl (2019) and Anatomy of a Fall (2023), the latter earning him the Golden Globe, Academy Award, and César for Best Screenplay. His latest film, The Unknown, based on the graphic novel Le Cas David Zimmerman, which he co-wrote with his brother, is a fantasy thriller about identity starring Léa Seydoux and Niels Schneider. It was invited to the main competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it stirred passionate debate among critics.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
