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
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
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
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.
Modern Whore
In director Nicole Bazuin's cheeky, stylized documentary, Modern Whore-memoirist Andrea Werhun (Paying for It) recounts her experiences as an escort and stripper in Toronto, debunking misconceptions about the world’s oldest profession.
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.
4 or 5 Things I Want You to Know About Me (An Essay)
Carl Bessai's playful Godardian riff on actors and acting gives us a portfolio of dramatic portraits and monologues focused on half a dozen female performers at different points in their journey. It's a grab-bag of a film, sparky and specific.
