Street-smart 12-year-old Bailey (played by terrific newcomer Nykiya Adams) lives in a graffiti-tagged squat near the British seaside with her reckless half-brother Hunter (Jason Buda) and her heavily tattooed man-child father, Bug (a perfectly chaotic Barry Keoghan), who’s rushing into a wedding he can’t afford to a woman he barely knows. Adrift in the confusion of adolescence, Bailey finds a kindred spirit in a magnetic stranger named Bird (Franz Rogowski), whose quest to find his estranged family leads Bailey to confront her own mother’s abusive new boyfriend.
This touching coming-of-age drama from three-time Cannes Jury Prize-winning filmmaker Andrea Arnold (American Honey; Fish Tank) matches seasoned actors Keoghan and Rogowski with an authentic cast of first-time performers. With its inventive editing, killer soundtrack, and top-notch cinematography by Robbie Ryan (Poor Things), the film immerses us in the hidden beauty of North Kent through Bailey’s young eyes. The result is a tender portrait of girlhood on the fringes, with a magical realist twist.
Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Nykiya Adams
UK/USA/France/Germany
2024
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Claude Amadeo, Mollye Asher, Len Blavatnik, Jessamine Burgum, Danny Cohen, Michael D’Alto, Kara Durrett, Randal Sandler, Chris Triana, Eva Yates
Producer
Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Lee Groombridge
Screenwriter
Andrea Arnold
Cinematography
Robbie Ryan
Editor
Joe Bini
Production Design
Maxine Carlier
Andrea Arnold
Andrea Arnold studied directing at the AFI Conservatory and won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Wasp in 2005. Her debut film, Red Road, won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2006, and Fish Tank received the Jury Prize and a BAFTA for Best British Film in 2009. Arnold’s other works include Wuthering Heights (2011), American Honey (2016), and the documentary Cow (2021). In 2024, Arnold premiered her latest film Bird at Cannes and was honoured with the Carrosse d’Or Award.
Filmography: Red Road (2006); Fish Tank (2009); Wuthering Heights (2011); American Honey (2016); Cow (2021)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
There's Still Tomorrow
A critical and box office sensation in Italy, Paola Cortellesi's triumphant directorial debut is the tale of a Roman housewife in 1946, who stands up against the routine sexist abuse she suffers. Funny, heartbreaking and inspiring.
The Way, My Way
All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.
The Stand
This rousing doc explores a 1985 dispute over logging in the Haida Gwaii. Taking us from canny retrospective commentary to the thick of the action, director Chris Auchter employs animation and a wealth of archival footage to riveting effect.
Resident Orca
Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.
No Other Land
Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.
Misericordia
Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.