On the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, the High Commissioner of the Republic and French government official De Roller (Benoît Magimel) is a calculating man with flawless manners. His somewhat broad perception of his role brings him to navigate the high end ’establishment’ as well as shady venues where he mingles with the locals. Especially since a persistent rumour has been going around: the sighting of a submarine whose ghostly presence could herald the return of French nuclear testing.

Albert Serra (b. 1975, Banyoles) is a Catalan artist and director. He gained an international recognition with his first long feature, Honor of the Knights, a free adaptation of Don Quijote played by non-professional actors from his village. The film was presented at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2006. He followed up with Birdsong (2008) and Story of my Death (2013), which was inspired by Casanova’s memoirs and earned him the Golden Leopard in Locarno. The Death of Louis XIV was presented in the Official Selection of Cannes Film Festival 2016. Liberté is the cinematic recreation of his 2018 Berliner Volksbühne play of the same name, which won the Special Jury award at the 2019 Un Certain Regard selection in Cannes. In 2022 he returns to Cannes in the Official Selection in the Competition with Pacifiction.