Françoise wakes up one day from an ominous dream that seemingly foreshadows her imminent death. Not wanting to waste a minute of her remaining time, she consults her crystal pendulum and promptly convinces her best friend Delphine to attend a mysterious costume party. So, they sneak out of their Catholic boarding school and hitch a ride with a suspicious older gentleman who takes an unusual interest in the two young girls. But that’s just the start of their increasingly bizarre encounters, each adding up to Françoise’s prophetic vision.
Bitten exists in the intoxicating space of teenage drama and otherworldly suspense, shrouding the story in a veil of atmospheric angst and riding the momentum of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Everything is vaguely familiar yet just outside the narrative rule book. Drawing from the tradition of the giallo occult mystique, emerging director Romain de Saint-Blanquat impresses with his command of genre tonalities, harnessing the power of heightened adolescent senses, reckless conviction, and insatiable youthful curiosity.
The short film The Birthday Party will play before this feature.
Presented by
Léonie Dahan-Lamort, Lilith Grasmug, Cyril Metzger, Maxime Rohart, Fred Blin
France
2023
In French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Wednesday October 04
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Producer
Marc-Benoît Créancier
Screenwriter
Romain de Saint-Blanquat
Cinematography
Martin Roux
Editor
Sanabel Cherqaoui
Production Design
Sébastien Gondek
Original Music
Émile Sornin
Director
Romain de Saint-Blanquat
After studying cinema in Bordeaux and Paris, where he directed a graduation short film, Romain de Saint-Blanquat worked as a decorator, production assistant and screenwriter. He is a winner of the Gan Foundation Award. Bitten is his first feature film.
Vanguard
See more films in this series:
Bitten
Françoise wakes up from an ominous dream that seems to foreshadow her imminent death. Not wanting to waste a minute of her remaining time, she consults her crystal pendulum and convinces her best friend Delphine to attend a mysterious costume party.
On the Go
Questioning her desire to have a child, a mid-thirties woman embarks on a road trip with her best friend, who is working through his own commitment issues. Their journey turns into a whirlwind of roadside drama and unexpected self-discoveries.
Animal
Residents of a Greek island prepare for fellow European tourists seeking the best summer experience their modest earnings can buy, the "animatuers" at the local hotel resort dust off their shiny costumes and dance to keep the masses entertained.
Octopus Skin
Three siblings live with an emotionally stunted mother on a remote island off the coast of Ecuador, cocooned and deeply mistrustful of the world outside their bubble. But dark secrets loom, pulling the eldest daughter toward city life.
The Sea and Its Waves
Like a film poem, The Sea and Its Waves follows a brother and sister as they pass through an almost deserted Beirut on their way out of the country. Bathed in moonlight and flickering city lights, this is atmospheric, transcendental cinema.
The Face of the Jellyfish
Thirty-something Marina wakes up to a completely new face. Cutting herself off from friends and colleagues, she pours through family archives to make sense of the surreal development. With no practical solution in sight, a world of possibility opens up.
