Film selection and commentary by film critic Aleš Stuchlý. Screening in partnership with Edison FilmHub.

Simon died. Most likely he took his life. Or was it an accident? Difficult to tell. And is he really and truly dead? In any case, for the ugly, remote village of Irénée-les-Neiges somewhere in Québec, Simon’s death is a shock. Suddenly, everything changes. Mysterious beings start appearing out of the blue on nearby roads and fields, strange and incomprehensible. Yet in reality, they bring forward the suppressed consciousness of a small community which thinks foolishly that it can solve its problems on its own.

Denis Côté seems to cherish the shadow area in his films: he likes images that are impossible to explain, unclear actions, broken meanings, lucid dreams. This evening is dedicated to the filmmaker’s peculiar take: a film in which the Quebecois eccentric uses the traditional iconography of ghost stories for his metaphorical film about our fear of “otherness”.

Aleš Stuchlý

Drama / Fantasy
Director and Screenplay: Denis Côté
Dir. of Photography: François Messier-Rheault
Cast: Robert Naylor, Jocelyne Zucco, Diane Lavallée, Rémi Goulet, Jean-Michel Anctil, Hubert Proulx, Rachel Graton, Larissa Corriveau, Irlande Côté

Film critic and journalist Aleš Stuchlý (1981) studied film science at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University. Since 2009 he has worked in Czech Radio – Radio Wave, where he hosts the film magazine Čelisti (Jaws). In 2015 he started working for Film Europe, where he organises festivals Be2Can, Weird Europe, and Scandi. In 2017 he was a member of the jury of European Cinemas Label at the festival in Locarno, a member of the jury of both the ARAS award and the short movies’ competition at the AFO festival in Olomouc. Since 2019 he has worked as a decision-maker and speaker for the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.