North American Premiere
Pierre (writer-director Thomas Salvador) is a robotics engineer. After presenting at a sales conference in Chamonix, he calls in sick from work, buys climbing gear, and heads out into the Alps. It is a fateful, irrational turning point. Paris, work, family—these things no longer matter. The only thing that speaks to him is the mountain.
In recent years, we have seen several breathtaking climbing documentaries (Free Solo; Meru; The Summit). Like these, Salvador’s film has spectacular vistas, moments of vertiginous and claustrophobic intensity, and an obsessive protagonist, literally an outsider. But The Mountain is a reminder of how far dramatic fiction can go. A deep mystery opens up at the heart of this story, a fissure in the fabric of the real, and Salvador/Pierre plunges in after it with a zeal that will either inspire or infuriate, according to your taste for adventure. This is a simple film, but a remarkable one, that much is sure.
Cannes DF 2022 (best French film SACD)
Supported by
Thomas Salvador, Louise Bourgoin, Martine Chevallier, Laurent Poitrenaux, Andranic Manet, Sylvain Frendo
France
2022
In French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Romería
An orphan from a young age, 18-year-old Marina intends to pursue a university scholarship. The application, however, requires the signatures of her paternal grandparents, compelling her to embark on a pilgrimage and seek out the family she has never met.
The Crying Game
Notwithstanding its famous twist, Neil Jordan's moody thriller works differently on a second viewing, and hits different in 2026, with its rich and "problematic" stew of identity politics, love, violence and desire.
One False Move
Billy Bob Thornton and his partners in crime (Michael Beach, and Cynda Williams) hightail it out of Los Angeles with a trunk-ful of dope, but drive into a world of trouble. This unjustly forgotten thriller will keep you on your toes.
Credits
Producer
Julie Salvador
Screenwriter
Thomas Salvador, Naila Guiguet
Cinematography
Alexis Kavyrchine
Editor
Mathilde Muyard
Original Music
Chloé Thevenin
Director
Thomas Salvador
Thomas Salvador is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor in his own films. He has directed six short films that have been selected and awarded by numerous festivals, including Petits Pas (2003), which was screened at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, and De Sortie (2005), which won the 2006 Jean Vigo Prize. While hosted at the Villa Medici in Rome, he wrote his first feature film Vincent (2015), which was selected by more than 40 festivals in France and abroad. The Mountain is his second feature film.
Filmography: Vincent (2015)