Publisher: Brent Marchant October 23, 2026
Being a stranger in a strange land can be both puzzling and wondrous. So it is when a German high school exchange student spends a school year with a family in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a story chronicled in the debut feature from writer-director Katharina Rivilis. Life in this sleepy desert town is quite a change for Franny (Naomi Cosma), both in terms of the environment and her hosts, the Garcia family, parents Tony (William Lujan) and Eve (Consuelo Flores), daughter Robin (Jazmin Olague), and foster daughter Patty (Kendall Myers). But it quickly becomes apparent that Franny is not particularly happy with her circumstances, even though she attempts to mask her feelings (albeit not especially convincingly). If that weren’t strange enough, however, things get even stranger not long after her arrival when the 9/11 attacks occur, changing the tenor of her life in America even more. So, as she attempts to navigate her way through what should be a typical, fun-filled year in high school, she ends up seeing a very different side of the host country from what she had been led to expect. To make matters worse, Franny often seems lonely, given the disapproving reactions to her different artistic and cultural sensibilities and the fact that has few confidantes other than a fellow exchange student, Ida (Rebecca Schulz), and a bad boy musician who others strongly advise her to avoid, Elliott (David Flores). But not all is morbidly depressing; there are high points to be enjoyed, too, such as the experience of first love, fun hangout sessions with friends and explorations of the spectacular desert landscape. For what it’s worth, the overall combination of these positive and negative occurrences could be said to constitute a bona fide adolescent coming of age experience, even if a bit more extreme and perplexing than what many of us might typically undergo. However, such authenticity aside, there are also some extreme twists and turns in the narrative that are unanticipated and left largely unexplained, coming across as implausible, unexpected and out of the ordinary. Moreover, some incidental material is so mundane that it could have easily been cut without losing anything meaningful. And then there’s the debut portrayal of Cosma, which, frankly, is more like a sleepwalk than a compelling lead performance. Considering these drawbacks, it’s difficult to fathom how this offering managed to capture two award nominations at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and selection as an entry in this event’s New Directors’ Competition. Curiously, it’s often been suggested that our high school years are supposed to be the best of our lives, but one might not guess that from this chronicle of Franny’s experience, especially in a state that proudly boasts itself as the Land of Enchantment. Indeed, in light of that, for some viewers, June may not come soon enough.