On the cusp of adolescence, Léo and Rémi spend their carefree summer building an intimate bond of friendship, but as their days of bicycle rides through dappled flower farms and cuddling sleepovers fade into the school year, their closeness is scrutinized and called out by their classmates. Rémi is unfazed, determined to stay true to their friendship, while Léo is angry and distraught, pulling away from Rémi out of self-conscious fear and taking up ice hockey to distance himself from his best friend. As the rift between them widens into an irreparable, tragic rupture, Léo struggles through feelings of guilt and responsibility for his betrayal, and connects with Rémi’s mother, Sophie, in the hopes of making sense of the world he now lives in. Director Lukas Dhont captures Léo and Rémi’s boyhood with a gentle vision of youth and innocence, exploring the fragile nature of friendship and masculinity in this stunningly lyrical tour de force.
Grand Prix (tied), Cannes 2022
Community Partner
Lukas Dhont
Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, Léon Bataille
Belgium/France/Netherlands
2022
In French and Dutch with English subtitles
Self Harm, Gender or Sexual Discrimination
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
You Had to Be There
In a strange quirk of fate, the legendary Toronto '72 production of the musical comedy Jesus hit Godspell launched a constellation of comedy stars, all unknown at the time but now known to us as Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Victor Garber, et al
The Arvind Ramdas Connections Quartet + The Connection
Arvind Ramdas and a stellar line up of musicians (Cory Weeds!) pay tribute to Freddie Redd's hard bop score to the seminal indie movie The Connection (1961) in this VanJazz co-presentation. Live music at 7:00 pm, film at approximately 8:15 pm.
Atonement
A former Marine suffering from PTSD seeks a meeting with the Iraqi family to which he did great wrong ten years earlier in the Gulf War. Atonement navigates challenging, politically-charged psychological territory with diligence and sensitivity.
Day of Wrath
Anna, the young second wife of a well-respected but much older pastor, falls in love with her stepson when he returns to their small seventeenth-century village. Stepping outside the bounds of the village's harsh moral code has disastrous results.
Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie
Alex Gibney's doc relates the near-lethal attack on Salman Rushdie in 2022, the writer's painful rehab and recovery, and his reflections on life before, during and after the publication of The Satanic Verses.
House of Hope
"House of Hope" is the name of a Waldorf elementary school near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, founded by Manar and her husband Milad. This documentary follows their efforts to go about their lives before, during, and after the events of October 7.
Credits
Producer
Michiel Dhont, Dirk Impens
Screenwriter
Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens
Cinematography
Frank van den Eeden
Editor
Alain Dessauvage
Production Design
Eve Martin
Original Music
Valentin Hadjadj