Who by Fire
by Philippe Lesage
A getaway at a secluded log cabin in the forest becomes the setting for escalating, multigenerational tensions and anxieties in this disquieting, impeccably mounted coming-of-age drama from Québécois filmmaker Philippe Lesage (Genesis, New Directors/New Films).
Ostensibly a merry reunion between well-known film director Blake Cadieux (Arieh Worthalter, 2024 César winner for Best Actor for The Goldman Case) and his longtime friend and former collaborator Albert Gary (Paul Ahmarani), the vacation gradually becomes something far more complex and less stable, especially with the combustible admixture of Albert’s teen son’s best friend, Jeff (Noah Parker), and Albert’s self-asserting daughter Aliocha (Aurélia Arandi-Longpré). Long-simmering middle-aged resentments surface, set against the anxieties of the young, all captured sensitively by Lesage, who in recent years has proven unparalleled in evoking the psychological contours of teenagers finding their paths through treacherous emotional landscapes.
Featuring thrillingly choreographed dinner sequences of mounting tension, Who by Fire confirms Lesage as a major contemporary filmmaker, with its assured tonal negotiation of the naturalistic and the oneiric, the joyous (especially an epic dance interlude to The B-52s) and the ominous.
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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. From then on, much of his work has been autobiographical. The Demons’ (2015) draws on the director’s troubled childhood. It premiered in competition at Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival and went on to showcase at some fifty festivals worldwide. The film won numerous prizes, including the Gilles-Carles Award and the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival, and was featured on TIFF Canada’s Top Ten selection. Genesis (2018) explores the tumult, heartbreak, and mercilessness of adolescence. Since its premiere at the Locarno Festival, Genesis has been featured in over 70 festivals, including AFI Fest, Rotterdam, MoMA/Lincoln Center New Directors/New Films, and TIFF Canada’s Top Ten. It has received glowing reviews from the New York Times (a Critic’s Pick), Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, Lib.ration, El Pais, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and The Globe and Mail. Lesage’s latest feature, Who by Fire (2024) had its world premiere in February 2024 at the Berlinale.
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Year: 2024
Country: Canada, France
Runtime: 155 min
Color: Color
Language: French
Subtitles: English
Sound: 5.1
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Crew
Writer and Director: Philippe Lesage
Producer Canada: Galilé Marion-Gauvin
Co-producer: Thomas Ordonneau
Director of Photography: Balthazar Lab
Sound Recordist: Maxime Gavaudan
Production Designer: Geneviève Huot
Costume Designer: Caroline Bodson
Makeup: Janick Sabourin Poirier
Editing: Mathieu Bouchard-Malo
Sound Editing: Christian Rivest, Louis Molinas
Sound Designer: Frédéric Cloutier
Recording: Sylvain Brassard
Cast
Jeff: Noah Parker
Aliocha: Aurélia Arandi-Longpré
Blake: Arieh Worthalter
Albert: Paul Ahmarani
Millie: Sophie Desmarais
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Cannes Film Festival - Winner: Grand Prix of the International Jury for the Best Film in Generation 14plus
New York Film Festival - Main slate
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
Melbourne International Film Festival
Jerusalem Film Festival
Taipei Film Festival