Seemingly pathologically incapable of remembering the past, Agnes is condemned to repeat it time and time and time and time again in this outlandish romantic comedy from writer-director-star Alice Lowe. Agnes’s downward spiral kicks off in 17th century Scotland when she falls for the disinterested Alex (Aneurin Barnard) at a public execution, only to meet an untimely demise herself. Reincarnated every century or so, she’s masochistically drawn to that era’s equally apathetic Alex and destined to perish in her attempts to woo him.
Timestalker is both a giddy genre confection and a heartfelt tale of hard-won empowerment achieved over the course of several lifetimes. Inspired by old Hollywood’s grand romantic epics and lovingly incorporating elements of costume dramas, speculative fantasies, swashbuckling adventures, and 80s music videos, Lowe has crafted a wild technicolour romp through time that pays tribute to the ritualistic humiliation that’s often part and parcel of romantic pursuits.
Supported by
Media Partner
Alice Lowe, Jacob Anderson, Aneurin Barnard, Tanya Reynolds and Nick Frost
UK
2024
English
At International Village
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Ty Francis, Franki Goodwin, Mike Rattenbury, Vaughan Sivell, Natan Stoessel, Marie-Gabrielle Stewart, Peter Watson, Natascha Wharton, Bizzy Day, Kiah Simpson, Laura Brook, Charlotte Colbert, Philip Colbert, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross
Producer
Vaughan Sivell, Mark Hopkins, Tom Wood, Natan Stoessel
Screenwriter
Alice Lowe
Cinematography
Ryan Eddleston
Editor
Chris Dickens, Mátyás Fekete
Production Design
Felicity Hickson
Original Music
TOYDRUM
Alice Lowe
Alice Lowe made her screenwriting debut with Sightseers (2012), directed by Ben Wheatley, in which she also starred. Prevenge (2016) was Lowe’s directorial feature debut, which she wrote, starred in, and directed whilst eight months pregnant. The film opened the Venice Critics’ Week and screened at Toronto, LFF, Sitges, Rotterdam, SXSW, and AFI, before being released in the UK and the US to critical and audience acclaim. Timestalker (2024) is her sophomore directorial feature.
Filmography: Prevenge (2016)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Richest Woman in the World
Isabelle Huppert plays cosmetics CEO Marianne in this teasingly ambivalent satire inspired by the Bettancourt Affair, when L'Oreal heir Francoise Bettancourt scandalized France by frittering away her fortune on a notorious celebrity photographer.
The Python Hunt
Strange but true: the Florida Everglades are overrun with unwanted visitors. Not tourists, but invasive Burmese pythons decimating the local critters. The state's solution: an annual contest: $10 000 to whomever bags the most snakes in ten days.
Holy Days
After his mom passes, Brian (Elijah Tamati) is comforted by Sisters Agnes, Luke and Mary Clare (Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes and Jacki Weaver, respectively). The quirky quartet hit the road to save their convent from being sold to a property developer.
Mārama
Set in North Yorkshire, 1859, this creepy gothic horror plays like The Piano in reverse: a young Maori woman takes up a position as a governess to a wealthy whaler's child, but finds colonial skeletons in his closets.