Who by Fire

Comme le feu

TIFF65: Greek Premiere
A getaway at a secluded log cabin in the forest becomes the site of escalating, multigenerational tensions and anxieties in this disquieting, impeccably mounted coming-of-age drama from Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Lesage. Ostensibly a merry reunion between well-known film director Blake Cadieux and his longtime friend and former collaborator Albert Gary, 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, and Albert’s self-asserting daughter Aliocha. 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, the film 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.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Philippe Lesage
Script: Philippe Lesage
Cinematography: Balthazar Lab
Editing: Mathieu Bouchard-Malo
Sound: Frédéric Cloutier
Music: Cédric Dind-Lavoie
Actors: Arieh Worthalter, Noah Parker, Aurelia Arandi-Longpré, Paul Ahmarani, Irene Jacob, Sophie Desmarais, Antoine Marchand-Gagnon, Laurent Lucas
Production: Productions L'Unité Centrale
Producers: Galilé Marion-Gauvin
Co-production: Shellac Sud
Co-producers: Thomas Ordonneau
Costumes: Caroline Bodson
Production Design: Geneviève Huot
Make Up: Catherine Lévesque, Janick Sabourin Poirier
Format: DCP
Color: Color
Production Country: Canada, France
Production Year: 2024
Duration: 155'
Contact: Be For Films
Awards/Distinctions: Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus International Jury – Berlin IFF 2024

Philippe Lesage

Philippe Lesage started out in cinema with such noted documentaries as Ce Coeur qui bat (2012 Jutra Award for Best Documentary Feature). He transitioned to fiction with Les démons (The Demons, 2015), which earned strong reviews and numerous prizes at festivals after premiering at San Sebastian Film Festival in Competition. Genèse (Genesis, 2018) first bowed at the Locarno Festival to highly favorable reviews and was invited to over 70 festivals, including Rotterdam IFF, AFI Fest and New Directors/New Films (Moma/Lincoln Center).

Filmography

2010 The Heart that Beats (doc)
2015 Demons
2016 Copenhague – A Love Story
2018 Genesis
2024 Who by Fire