Where to start? More than two decades after the environmental collapse, an eccentric family flies the flag for the human race from deep within their salt mine bunker. A former industrialist (Michael Shannon) busies himself collaborating on a book with his son (George MacKay), a young man who knows no world beyond the bunker, and who may be the last of his kind… Meanwhile, the boy’s mother (Tilda Swinton) devotes herself to the preservation of the priceless art on their walls. But when a young Black woman (Moses Ingram) turns up out of the blue, the family’s carefully manicured secrets and lies crack open.
Director Joshua Oppenheimer made one of the most ambitious and acclaimed nonfiction films, The Act of Killing (2012), an account of the genocide in Indonesia in which he famously persuaded the killers to reenact their crimes on camera in gaudy cinematic vignettes. So it makes a certain sense that his first dramatic feature should be an apocalyptic drama that is also a melancholy musical (music by Josh Schmidt and Marius de Vries). It’s a big swing.
Michael Shannon, Tilda Swinton, Moses Ingram, George MacKay, Tim McInnerny
Denmark/Germany/Ireland/
Italy/UK/Sweden
2024
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Jeff Deutchman, Tom Quinn, Emily Thomas, Elissa Federoff, Efe Çakarel, Michael Weber, Jason Ropell, John Keville, Macdara Kelleher, Andrea Romeo, Alberto Fanni, Joakim Rang Strand, Marcus Clausen, Waël Kabbani, Greg Moga, David Unger, Sandra Whipham, Charlotte Cook, Jens von Bahr, Sam Mendes, Ramin Bahrani, James Marsh, Werner Herzog, Raffaele Fabrizio, Caterina Fabrizio, Alessandro Del Vigna, Dana Høegh, Christian Bruun, Melinda Quintin, Michael Quintin, Spencer Myers, Amy Gardner, Jean Doumanian, Ilya Katsnelson, Kaarle Aho, Celine Haddad, Greg Martin
Producer
Signe Byrge Sørensen, Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton, Viola Fügen, Conor Barry, Flaminio Zadra, Tracy O’Riordan, Ann Lundberg
Screenwriter
Rasmus Heisterberg, Joshua Oppenheimer
Cinematography
Mikhail Krichman
Editor
Niels Pagh Andersen
Production Design
Jette Lehmann
Original Music
Josh Schmidt, Marius de Vries
Joshua Oppenheimer
Joshua Oppenheimer is an American filmmaker who works in both documentary and fiction. He holds a BA from Harvard and a PhD from Central St. Martins College of Arts and Design in London. His groundbreaking film The Act of Killing (2012) received the BAFTA for Best Documentary and was nominated for an Academy Award. Its companion piece, The Look of Silence (2014), won the Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Award and received an Academy Award nomination.
Filmography: The Act of Killing (2012); The Look of Silence (2014)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Song of the Sea
VIFF Kids Club is our monthly family series with films, crafts and more! Doors at 11 am for activities, film at 12. Song of the Sea is an enchanting Irish animated film blending ancient folklore, magic, and a deeply moving family journey, a wonder for all ages.
The Things You Kill
Thirty-something professor Ali leads an apparently stable life. But when his ailing mother dies under ambiguous circumstances, he starts to unravel, resulting in an act that shatters our understanding of his person.
Miroirs No. 3
Following a car crash that kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is physically unhurt but emotionally distraught. A local woman takes her in, but she gradually realizes she's in the midst of an eerie, mysterious family situation.
Image: © Schramm Film A4 Kopie
The Voice of a Generation Lost
Inspired by the iconic photography of his father, Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist Jahangir Razmi, composer Ali Razmi blends Persian classical music, jazz and experimental sounds to reflect on memory, identity and the power of art to bear witness.
Ghost Elephants
Everyone's favourite German adventurer, Werner Herzog goes on the hunt for the largest land mammal on the planet, the fabled "ghost elephant" of the Angolan highlands -- that may, or may not, exist.