Canadian Premiere
Using tinted archival footage and shot in lush, saturated colours, Scarlet is a romantic coming-of-age period tale about a young woman who is ostracized by her small French village. Juliette, raised by her war-scarred father, grows up to be a dreamy young woman imbued with an ardent love for poetry and a natural talent for music. Italian director Pietro Marcello (Martin Eden), in his first French-language film, crafts an enchanting, lyrical world of dreams infused with a large dose of post-World War I realism and a touch of magic. Inexpressibly affective and captivating, the film also features original songs: lovely, wistful, and filled with longing. Newcomer Juliette Jouan mesmerizes in her very first role. Based on Alexander Grin’s Russian novella Scarlet Sails and featured in 2022 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
Marcello has a talent for making such material come alive through his inventive direction, whisking us away to a time and place that we experience as if we were actually there.”—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter
Presented by
Juliette Jouan, Louis Garrel, Noémie Lvovsky, Raphaël Thierry, Yolande Moreau
France/Italy/Germany
2022
In French with English subtitles
Sexual Violence
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
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.
The Mad Dog of Europe
The story of an unmade screenplay from the writer of Citizen Kane. In 1932, Herman Mankiewicz wrote a film that foretold the persecution of the Jews and the war in Europe. But Hollywood wouldn't take the risk and The Mad Dog of Europe was never made.
The Mortal Storm
In this explicitly anti-Nazi melodrama directed by Frank Borzage (Three Comrades) a year before the US entered the war, Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart fall in love as their friends and family fall prey to the rise of Hitler's Nazi party in Germany.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
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.
Three Comrades
Scripted by F Scott Fitzgerald, Three Comrades (1938) was the first US studio film to chronicle the rise of European fascism in the 30s. Three German veterans open up a repair shop and try to regain a normal life, but political extremists have other ideas.
Credits
Screenwriter
Pietro Marcello, Maurizio Braucci, Maud Ameline
Cinematography
Marco Graziaplena
Editor
Carole Le Page, Andrea Maguolo
Original Music
Gabriel Yared
Director
Pietro Marcello
Pietro Marcello studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. His documentary Il Passaggio della linea (2007) won a Special Mention award at the Venice Film Festival. In 2009, his documentary La bocca del lupo won the Caligari Film Award and the Teddy Bear at the Berlinale, as well as the FIPRESCI Prize at the Torino Film Festival. His first narrative feature, Martin Eden, won numerous awards including Coppa Volpi at the Venice Film Festival, and the Platform Prize at TIFF. His 2021 film Futura was presented at Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight.
Filmography: Bella e Perduta (2015); Martin Eden (2019); Per Lucio (2021); Futura (2021)
