Seventeen-year-old Jeff, an aspiring filmmaker, is invited by his friend Max and his family to stay in the isolated lodge belonging to Blake, an award-winning film director. As Jeff tries to navigate his awkward crush on his friend’s older sister, Aloicha, he witnesses the vicious, ego-driven, alcohol-fueled interactions between the renowned auteur and his former collaborator, Max’s screenwriter father, Albert. Surrounded by monumental mountains and shimmering lakes, the party veers between moments of elation and cruelty, unease and palpable danger.
Acclaimed Quebecois director Philippe Lesage (The Demons; Genesis) returns with a tense, mesmerizing tour de force that’s both agonizing and cathartic. Parallel, painful generational stories play out both in the seemingly infinite wilderness and across the dinner table; the slow burn of mounting dread punctuated with electrifying, deeply unsettling moments of feral intensity.
Grand Prix: Generation 14plus, Berlin 2024
Community Partner
Noah Parker, Aurélia Arandi-Longpré, Arieh Worthalter, Paul Ahmarani, Sophie Desmarais, Antoine Marchand-Gagnon
Canada/France
2024
In French and English with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Galilé Marion-Gauvin
Screenwriter
Philippe Lesage
Cinematography
Balthazar Lab
Editor
Mathieu Bouchard-Malo
Production Design
Geneviève Huot
Philippe Lesage
Philippe Lesage came to cinema via documentary. Following Ce coeur qui bat (2012 Jutra Award for Best Documentary Feature), filmed in a Montreal hospital shortly after his own surgery, Lesage transitioned to fiction. His films The Demons (2015) and Genesis (2018) have been showcased at numerous festivals worldwide such as San Sebastian, Locarno, Rotterdam, and more. Who by Fire is Lesage’s latest film which premiered at the 2024 Berlinale.
Filmography: Pourrons-nous vivre ensemble? (2006); The Heart That Beats (2010); The Demons (2015); Genesis (2018)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Sansho the Bailiff
The third of the great Japanese masters (with Ozu and Kurosawa), Mizoguchi is a poet of suffering. There's plenty of that here in his exquisite telling of an ancient folktale about the enslavement of a woman and her two children.
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.
Outrageous!
Two misfits find love and support in this cult classic and landmark for Canadian queer cinema. Determined to retain her freedom after being treated for schizophrenia, Liza grows equally committed to seeing Robin realize his potential as a drag performer.
Vancouver Opera Presents: Moulin Rouge!
Paris has never been gayer than in this headlong karaoke culture crash set in a poptastic 19th century Montmartre, where Ewan McGregor composes The Sound of Music and falls over his heels for Nicole Kidman's courtesan, Satine.
Love & Independence
A program of shorts that introduces daring new voices in Canadian cinema. Personal, playful, provocative, and self-financed, these films offer the freedom to express boldly through practices rooted in filmmaking among friends.
