North American Premiere
In a world where mysterious mutations are gradually evolving humans into animal hybrids in an unpredictable and frightening way, a father tries to protect his 16 year old son who is starting to acquire beastly characteristics. Fantastical and fascinating, The Animal Kingdom insightfully explores otherness, pandemic, and human survival within the context of family bonds.
This French sci-fi drama is inventive and innovative, and has as its heart a beating human core. Paul Kircher is remarkable as the young Émile, while Romain Duris packs a sensitive punch as the sympathetic father François. The film is a thrilling combination of body horror, dystopian suspense, and family drama. Directed by Thomas Cailley (Love at First Sight), and winner of the Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes.
Un Certain Regard Award, Cannes 2023
The director is willing to risk the ridiculous en route to the emotional truths he seeks. Stumble even for a moment, and the whole movie could feel silly, which is what makes the fact that it works all the more remarkable.
Peter Debruge, Variety
Series Media Partner
Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Tom Mercier, Billie Blain
France
2023
Altered States
In French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Pierre Guyard
Screenwriter
Thomas Cailley, Pauline Munier
Cinematography
David Cailley
Editor
Lilian Corbeille
Original Music
Andrea Laszlo De Simone
Director
Thomas Cailley
After studying at La Femis in the screenplay department, Thomas Cailley directed Paris Shanghai (2011), a short film that won awards at numerous festivals. His first feature film, Love at First Fight, was a public success. Presented and awarded at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes in 2014, it received three Césars the following year, including Best First Film. Directed for Arte, his first series AD VITAM (6×52) was selected at the Toronto International Film Festival and elected best French series of the year at Series Mania in 2018. The Animal Kingdom, presented in the Official Selection at the opening night of Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival (2023) is his second feature film as a director.
Filmography: Animal Kingdom (2023); Love at first Fight (2014); Paris Shanghai (2011)
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 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.
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.
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.