# Hoard (film)

Hoard is a 2023 British coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Luna Carmoon in her feature directorial debut. It stars Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Hayley Squires, Joseph Quinn, Lily-Beau Leach, Deba Hekmat, Samantha Spiro, and Cathy Tyson. It follows a teenager whose mother used to be an obsessive hoarder as she journeys through childhood trauma and emerging sexuality.
The film had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on 2 September 2023, where it won three prizes. It was theatrically released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 17 May 2024, by Vertigo Releasing. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised Carmoon's direction and the performances of the cast. Carmoon was nominated for the European Discovery at the 37th European Film Awards and for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the 78th British Academy Film Awards.

## Plot summary

8-year-old Maria lives with her mother, Cynthia, who is a hoarder. Although Cynthia is loving and affectionate, their house is filthy and rat-infested, and Cynthia becomes upset if Maria doesn't save the day's rubbish and bring it home to her. Cynthia often repeats aphorisms and rhymes, encouraging Maria to do the same, and describes her hoarded items as her and Maria's 'catalogue of love'. At Christmas, one of Cynthia's stacks of hoarded items collapses, killing her. Maria is placed in foster care.
Ten years later, in 1994, an 18-year-old Maria still lives with her foster mother, Michelle. Another of Michelle's former charges, the older Michael, comes to stay with them temporarily while he searches for a house with his pregnant girlfriend. Maria and Michael become close and form a strange, intense physical relationship, often playfighting and roughhousing. During one encounter, Maria asks Michael to burn her stomach with an iron. Maria has recurring flashbacks to her life with Cynthia and hallucinates herself and Michael repeating Cynthia's rhymes.
Maria begins to hoard garbage and increasingly neglects her physical hygiene. When she wanders outside during the night and comes home with chilblains, Michael tenderly cares for her, and they have sex. The next morning, Michael's girlfriend Leah visits; Maria discovers he proposed to her the day before. That night, Michael and Maria encounter a woman who has been seriously injured in a hit-and-run; she dies as Maria waits for Michael to get help, and Maria places coins over her eyes, walks away and climbs into a large rubbish bin.
The next day, a barefoot, filthy Maria returns home. Locked in her room, which is revealed to be filled with hoarded trash, Maria imagines herself and Cynthia happy together in their house. Michael breaks in and begs her to love him, but Maria finally rejects him and encourages him to reconcile with Leah. Michelle helps Maria throw away her hoard. On New Year's Eve, Maria sneaks into a tip, where she sits atop a pile of rubbish to watch fireworks. In a voiceover, she tells Cynthia she loves her and says the 'catalogue of love' has returned to her.

## Cast

* Saura Lightfoot Leon as Maria
** Lily-Beau Leach as young Maria
* Hayley Squires as Cynthia, Maria's mother
* Joseph Quinn as Michael, one of Michelle's former foster children
* Deba Hekmat as Laraib, Maria's school friend
* Samantha Spiro as Michelle, Maria's foster mother
* 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

Hoard 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. In April 2024, Sunrise Films acquired distribution rights for the United States and Canada, where it is scheduled to be released on 6 September 2024.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 34 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
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".

### Accolades

Carmoon was nominated for Best Directing Debut and Squires, Lightloot Leon and Quinn all received acting nominations at the British Independent Film Awards in November 2024.
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Venice Film Festival | 9 September 2023 | Venice International Critics' Week – Grand Prize | Luna Carmoon | Nominated |
| Venice Film Festival | 9 September 2023 | The Film Club Audience Award | Luna Carmoon | Won |
| Venice Film Festival | 9 September 2023 | Verona Film Club Award | Luna Carmoon | Won |
| Venice Film Festival | 9 September 2023 | Authors Under 40 Award – Best Directing and Screenwriting | Luna Carmoon | Won |
| Venice Film Festival | 9 September 2023 | Venice International Critics' Week – Jury Special Mention | Saura Lightfoot Leon | Won |
| London Film Festival | 15 October 2023 | Sutherland Award for Best First Feature | Hoard | Nominated |
| Valladolid International Film Festival | 28 October 2023 | Punto de Encuentro Award | Hoard | Nominated |
| New Horizons Film Festival | 27 July 2024 | The Audience Award | Hoard | Won |
| European Film Awards | 7 December 2024 | European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI | Hoard | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 8 December 2024 | Best Supporting Performance | Hayley Squires | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 8 December 2024 | Best Joint Lead Performance | Joseph Quinn and Saura Lightfoot-Leon | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 8 December 2024 | Breakthrough Performance | Saura Lightfoot-Leon | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 8 December 2024 | Best Casting | Heather Basten | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 8 December 2024 | Best Production Design | Bobbie Cousins | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 8 December 2024 | Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) | Luna Carmoon | Nominated |