Hoard (film)

Hoard is a 2023 British film marking the directorial debut of Luna Carmoon. It stars Hayley Squires, Joseph Quinn, Saura Lightfoot Leon, and Lily-Beau Leach. The film premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on 2 September 2023.

Synopsis
The film is set in the 1980s and 1990s and follows a mother-daughter relationship.

Cast

 * Saura Lightfoot Leon as Maria
 * Lily-Beau Leach as young Maria
 * Hayley Squires as Cynthia, Maria's mother
 * Samantha Spiro as Michelle, Maria's foster mother
 * Joseph Quinn as Michael, one of Michelle's former foster children
 * Deba Hekmat as Laraib, Maria's school friend
 * Cathy Tyson as Sam
 * Nabil Elouahabi as Ali
 * Sandra Hale as Janice

Production
The film is produced by Delaval Film, Erebus Pictures, Anti-Worlds with producers Loran Dunn, Helen Simmons and Andy Starke. It is backed by the British Film Institute (BFI) and BBC Film.

Casting was revealed in April 2022 with Saura Lightfoot Leon, Deba Hekmat, Hayley Squires, Joseph Quinn and Lily-Beau Leach in the lead roles.

Principal photography took place in South-East London and was completed by May 2022.

Release
The film was shown at the BFI London Film Festival Works-in-Progress showcase in October 2022. It had a UK premiere date of 9 October 2023, again at the BFI London Film Festival. The film was theatrically released in the UK and Ireland on 17 May 2024.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10.

Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian gave the film four stars out of five, describing a "deeply strange and emotionally extravagant story" with "a lot of storytelling substance. Hoard isn’t perfect but its pure vehemence and the commitment of its performances are arresting". Ed Potton in The Times compared the filmmaking to Andrea Arnold and Andrew Birkin but said that "Carmoon is very much her own film-maker" and praised Lightfoot Leon's performance, saying she was "a leading lady with animalistic, inhibited presence". The film also received four stars out of five from Sophie Monks Kauffman in Time Out who called it a "visceral debut" which "defies simple interpretations" and made mention of cinematographer Nanu Segal’s handheld camerawork which "captures the fearless Lightfoot Leon".