DIRECTOR: Charlotte Le Bon
PRODUCERS: Sylvain Corbeil, Nancy Grant
PRODUCTION CO: Ciné France, Ley Line Entertainment, Sons of Manual
SCREENPLAY: François Choquet, Charlotte Le Bon, Bastien Vivès, based on Vivès' graphic novel Une Soeur
​PHOTOGRAPHY: Kristof Brandl
EDITOR: Julie Lena
MUSIC: Klô Pelgag, Shida Shahabi
WITH: Joseph Engel (Bastien), Sara Montpetit (Chloé), Monia Chokri (Violette), Arthur Igual (Romain), Karine Gonthier-Hyndman (Louise)

FESTIVALS: Cannes, Toronto

REVIEWS

“French-Canadian actor Charlotte Le Bon makes a bold directorial debut with this haunting coming-of-age romance set during a summer vacation, straight from Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Based on Bastien Vivès’s 2017 graphic novel Une Soeur, this eerie, dreamy story of growing pains recounts the experiences of nearly-14-year-old Bastien (Joseph Engel), an awkward, earnest teenager who falls for the slightly older and more worldly Chloé (Sara Monpetit who would later star in Humanist Vampire…) while their families are vacationing in a lakeside cabin in rural Quebec. But it’s not just young love that’s in the air: something ghostly seems to be haunting the body of water and the surrounding forest. Amid their trepidation about the spectral unknown, Bastien must face the uncertainties of advancing adolescence.

This directorial debut from Le Bon is a striking, tonally slippery work that consistently subverts and upends the expectations of the coming-of-age genre, gesturing toward the supernatural while toeing the line between sweet and scary with deft control. Mixing menace and mirth, melancholy and magic, along with the enchanting chemistry between young leads Joseph Engel and Sara Montpetit, Falcon Lake is a magnificent first feature that lingers in the mind.”

– Melbourne International Film Festival 2022

“A weird, wistful coming-of-age debut that is equally charming and chilling … Le Bon’s exceptionally assured first directorial film is full of light mischief yet heavy with horror-movie mood.”

– Jessica Kiang, Variety

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Auckland  
Monday, 19 May, 6.15pm

Wellington  
Monday, 16 June, 6.15pm

Wellington  
Monday, 16 June, 8.30pm

​Tauranga
Wednesday, 09 July, 6.00pm

Timaru     
Wednesday, 29 July, 6.30pm

Palmerston North
​Wednesday, 10 September, 6.00pm

​Nelson  
Wednesday, 24 September, 6.00pm ​

Hamilton 
Monday, 06 October, 6.30pm
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French Connections is presented in
​co-operation with the Institut Français and the Embassy of France