When we meet Julia (Julie Ledru), this feral loner demonstrates her predatory nature by conning a hapless seller out of his motorcycle. But when she crashes a local “rodeo”—a high-octane, higher testosterone underground motocross circuit where brash bikers one-up one another—it’s apparent that she’ll need to raise her game all the more. After employing her guile to tenuously insinuate herself in this cut-throat clique, she must deliver something showstopping if she’s to stick around. As it so happens, she has an idea for an audacious heist.
Ledru brings a gunslinger’s bearing to Lola Quivoron’s adrenaline-charged film, which is shot in Western-indebted CinemaScope by Raphaël Vandenbussche. Drawing from childhood memories of illicit motocross competitions in her Paris suburb, Quivoron captures both the exhilaration and peril associated with these machines when their full power is unleashed. And while Rodeo boasts tour-de-force stuntwork, its character dynamics are equally transfixing: Julia has entered a world in which every encounter is as perilous as hairpin turn.
“Coup de coeur” Prize, Cannes 2022 (Un Certain Regard)
Q&A Oct 4 & Oct 6
Supported by
Media Partner
Lola Quivoron
Julie Ledru, Yanis Lafki, Antonia Buresi, Cody Schroeder, Louis Sotton, Junior Correia
France
2022
In French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
The Best Years of Our Lives
One of the finest films to come out of WWII, The Best Years of Our Lives sympathetically conveys the difficulties returning veterans faced in readjusting to life at home. It won 7 of the top Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director and Actor.
Ray Gunn (Special Advance Screening with Brad Bird)
In an alternate future as seen from 1939, a private eye (Sam Rockwell) is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder, and a multimedia star (Scarlett Johansson). Followed by a moderated discussion with director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille).
The Bloodettes
In this early Afro-futurist shlocker from Cameroonian director Jean-Pierre Bekolo (made in 2005 and set in 2025), two sex workers try to dispose of the body of a high profile politician who's died on the job (theirs, not his).
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
Akashi
In Mayumi Yoshida’s tender drama, struggling artist Kana journeys to Tokyo to attend her grandmother’s funeral. While there, she reconnects with her childhood love and stumbles across a family secret that prompts her to reconsider her place in the world.
Credits
Producer
Charles Gillibert
Screenwriter
Lola Quivoron, Antonia Buresi
Cinematography
Raphaël Vandenbussche
Editor
Rafael Torres Calderon
Production Design
Gabrielle Desjean
Original Music
Kelman Duran