Main Competition

The Patron

1 hr. 40 min. | Drama, Thriller | Pegi 13

A cleaner dreams of escaping her routine and finding a more meaningful life. One evening, posing as an influential art patron, she invites two art students into her employer’s empty home. Intoxicated by her newfound power, she becomes increasingly entangled in the deception, but what begins as an innocent game soon takes a more troubling turn. Echoing the psychological unease of films by Michael Haneke, Yorgos Lanthimos and Roman Polanski, this taut thriller offers a sharp critique of the elitist and rigidly hierarchical art world, where the hunger for success makes other people’s dreams all too easy to exploit. The film premiered at the Göteborg Film Festival.
Julia Thelin

Julia Thelin

Swedish director Julia Thelin has received several prestigious nominations and awards for her short films. Push It competed for the Short Film Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2019, Sorry Not Sorry won the Startsladden Audience Award at the Göteborg Film Festival. The Patron is her feature debut.
Languages
Swedish, Danish
Subtitles
Lithuanian, English
Original title
Mecenaten
Produced
2026: Sweden

Film information

Director
Julia Thelin
Producers
Eliza Jones, Markus Waltå
Screenplay
Julia Thelin
Music
Walter Berge
Cinematography
Johan Hannu
Cast
Carla Sehn, Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen, Maxwell Cunningham
More information
www.imdb.com