North American Premiere
Lost in a sea of sex and drugs in 1970s New York, a musician falls from a 4th-floor window, breaking his spine. Inspired by the life and music of Robert Wyatt, and specifically the 1974 album of the same name that Wyatt recorded after his accident, this animated rock opera tells the fictionalized but parallel story of Bob and Alif, lovers caught up in a self-destructive cycle of addiction on a drug-fueled but musically creative vacation in Majorca. After his life-changing fall and rehab, Bob reinvents himself as a singer-songwriter (just as Wyatt did).
Spanish filmmaker Trénor’s painstakingly detailed rotoscope animation serves as a springboard into a trippy, kaleidoscopic freak-out that mirrors the undulating rhythm of Wyatt’s six-song cycle. The gloomy, ambient synth and Wyatt’s high-pitched, sorrowful voice highlight the minimalist, jazzy, prog-rock album, underscored by the visuals that morph and mutate alongside the music. Rock Bottom is a hypnotic, psychedelic musical odyssey about redemption through art and love which should also give a new lease of life to a lesser-known masterpiece.
Supported by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Fermí Herrero, Laura Casaña
Spain/Poland
2024
English
At VIFF Centre
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Alba Sotorra Clua, Miguel Molina, Robert Jaszczurowski, Aliaga Adán, Joaquín Ojeda de Haro, Dani Bagur
Screenwriter
María Trénor
ANIM
María Trénor, Marta Gil Soriano
Editor
Joaquín Ojeda de Haro
Original Music
Robert Wyatt Elidge
Art Director
María Trénor
María Trénor
With a degree in fine arts from the Faculty of Sant Carles of the UPV (Valencia), María Trenor has directed and produced several animated short films, including ¿Con qué la lavaré? (2003), which won the 1st Teddy Bear Award at Berlinale and the 1st Prize at ANIMADRID. Her 2009 short film Ex-Libris earned multiple awards and a Goya nomination. Her latest, ¿Dónde estabas tú? (2020), received the WIA Diversity Award. María teaches Audiovisual Media at the School of Art and Design of Valencia and has been involved in various conferences, publications, and animation festivals.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Coppola's woozy, cinematically audacious take on the vampire myth is like a symphonic silent movie in full colour, a delirium of romantic angst with Gary Oldman as the shape-shifting immortal.
Hockney
An engaging, insightful and inspiring film portrait of the late great British and California artist. He’s one of the most accessible figurative painters of the last half century, but look closer, there’s much more to David Hockney than meets the eye.
Peter Asher: Everywhere Man
A chart topping pop star as one half of Peter and Gordon, Peter Asher was brother to Jane, brother in law to Paul McCartney, ran the Beatles' Apple, produced and managed James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and 10,000 Maniacs, to name just a few. He did it all.
The Crying Game
Notwithstanding its famous twist, Neil Jordan's moody thriller works differently on a second viewing, and hits different in 2026, with its rich and "problematic" stew of identity politics, love, violence and desire.
Romería
An orphan from a young age, 18-year-old Marina intends to pursue a university scholarship. The application, however, requires the signatures of her paternal grandparents, compelling her to embark on a pilgrimage and seek out the family she has never met.