
North American Premiere
Ruddy faced, slender, 18, Totone (Clément Faveau) is a country lad, a tearaway, up for a lark and ready to sow his oats. But an accident means he has to grow up fast, assuming control of his father’s small farm and taking responsibility for the care of his kid sister. He lands a job on a dairy farm, but it’s a steep curve. Mistakes come back to kick his butt. What to do? Living in the Franche-Comté region, he thinks to make his own artisanal cheese and ropes his mates in to help…
Louise Courvoisier’s debut feature earns its exclamatory title for its earthy naturalism, and its candor around sex, booze, and the petty feuds that give the lie to rose-tinted visions of country life. Yet what’s most striking and surprising about the film is its bright-eyed optimism. Totone has a low opinion of himself, but Courvoisier clearly feels differently: he’s resourceful, brave, diligent, and he takes his lessons to heart, whether he’s making love, or making cheese.
Youth Award: Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2024
Shot through with compassion for its rascally yet vulnerable protagonist…finding emotion in small details rather than big set pieces. It should charm audiences.
Lee Marshall, Screen Daily
Supported by
Community Partner
Clément Faveau, Luna Garret, Mathis Bernard, Dimitry Baudry, Maïwène Barthelemy, Armand Sancey Richard
France
2024
In French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits & Director
Producer
Muriel Meynard
Screenwriter
Louise Courvoisier, Théo Abadie
Cinematography
Elio Balézeaux
Editor
Sarah Grosset
Original Music
Linda Courvoisier, Charlie Courvoisier

Louise Courvoisier
Born in 1994, Louise Courvoisier grew up in the Jura region before studying cinema at the Cinéfabrique in Lyon. Her graduation short, Mano a Mano, won the first prize at the Cinéfondation in Cannes in 2019. Holy Cow is her first feature film, a sentimental cheese epic set in the village of her childhood.
Photo by Laurent LeCrabe
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.