North American Premiere
Every morning before dawn, Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) descends on a Montréal courthouse, eager to secure front row seats for the harrowing trial of Ludwig Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos), a loner accused of the torture and murder of three teenage girls. Even more disturbingly, these atrocities were streamed online in the Dark Web’s “red rooms” to depraved audiences who could ante up the ungodly cryptocurrency admission. As Kelly-Anne’s obsession grows, her personal life and career unravel as she plunges into the seediest recesses of the Dark Web to secure a key piece of evidence.
With its exquisitely choreographed long takes, entrancing zooms, and surgical editing, there’s certainly the temptation to say this sees Pascal Plante (Nadia, Butterfly) going “full Fincher”. In actual fact, it finds him continuing his intrepid examinations of subcultures while employing even more exacting direction. A cautionary tale about evil’s allure, Red Rooms is unsettling and enthralling in equal measure.
A disturbingly brilliant psychological horror
Deadline
October 2 & 4: Q&A with director Pascal Plante & crew
Juliette Gariépy, Laurie Babin, Elisabeth Locas, Natalie Tannous, Pierre Chagnon
Canada
2023
Panorama
In French with English subtitles
Violence, Sexual Violence
At International Village
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Tim Ringuette
Producer
Dominique Dussault
Screenwriter
Pascal Plante
Cinematography
Vincent Biron
Editor
Jonah Malak
Production Design
Laura Nhem
Original Music
Dominique Plante
Director
Pascal Plante
Pascal Plante is a Montreal-based filmmaker. His narrative feature Nadia, Butterfly (2020) has been included in the official selection of the 73rd edition of Cannes Film Festival. After his graduation from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Pascal co-founded the production company Nemesis Films, with which he directed numerous short films including Blast Beat (Slamdance 2019), Blue-Eyed Blonde (Best Canadian Short Film, VIFF 2015), and Nonna (Slamdance 2017). His first narrative feature, a punk romance entitled Fake Tattoos, competed at the Berlinale, in Generation 14plus, in 2018. Pascal considers himself like a cinephile that became a narrative filmmaker with documentarian tendencies. Red Rooms is his third narrative feature.
Filmography: Nadia, Butterfly (2020); Fake Tattoos (2017)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Chasing Time: An Evening with James Balog
Following a screening of Chasing Time (40 min), renowned environmental photographer James Balog discusses his groundbreaking visual studies of melting glaciers and how he seeks to seed hope and inspire action toward a sustainable future.
The Art of Adventure
The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.
Agatha's Almanac
Shot over six years on vibrant 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is an artful documentary portrait of filmmaker Amalie Atkin’s octogenarian aunt, who has fashioned herself an endearingly simple and self-sustaining lifestyle on her Manitoba farm.
Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other
This intimate and candid film by a younger husband and wife artist team is a delicate and immensely moving dual portrait of two artists, husband and wife, together and apart, at that point in life when the end casts a shadow over even the sunniest day.
Image: © Manon et Jacob and Final Cut For Real