RODEO
(RODÉO)
Wednesday, October 12 – Truffaut Theatre – 8:00 pm
(Screening ends at 9:50 pm)
Followed by a conversation with writer/director Lola Quivoron & writer/actor Antonia Buresi
FICTION / DRAMA
FRENCH NEWAVE 2.0
Presented in Association with:
Les Films du Losange
Music Box Films
Unifrance
Women in Film
Los Angeles Premiere | France | 2022 | Drama | 105 min | In French with English subtitles
Directed by: Lola Quivoron
Written by: Lola Quivoron, Antonia Buresi
Produced by: Charles Gillibert, Romain Blondeau (CG Cinéma), France 3 Cinéma
Cinematography: Raphaël Vandenbussche
Film Editing: Rafael Torres Calderon
Original Score: Kelman Duran
Cast: Julie Ledru (Julia), Yanis Lafki (Kais), Antonia Buresi (Ophélie), Cody Schroeder (Kylian), Louis Sotton (Ben), Junior Correia (Manel), Ahmed Hamdi (Mous)
International Sales: Les Films du Losange
U.S. Distributor: Music Box Films
U.S. Release Date: TBA
Real-life biker Julie Ledru comes blazing onto the big screen like a 21st century rebel without a cause in Lola Quivoron‘s high-octane first feature, Rodeo. Her character Julia is more spitfire than easy rider. Filled with rage at the world all around her, Julia spends her days repeating the same scam over and over, and has but one dream: to become part of a reckless gang of dirt bikers who perform wheelies and other breakneck stunts at illicit motocross rodeos. “I was born with a bike between my legs,” she exclaims. Julia seems to be after some sort of exhilarating spiritual liberation, but acceptance into such a brotherhood has a price, and the all-boys club wants nothing to do with her. Single-minded in her pursuit, Julia will do whatever it takes — steal bikes or pick up the head-honcho’s groceries — no matter the risk. But the feral non-professional actress, who was cast on Instagram, is even more imposing when she drops her Hell’s-Angels demeanor and reveals the glimmer of a heart and soul beneath that insolent veneer.
Lola Quivoron has written and directed four short films, Grande Ourse (2013); Stand (2014); Fils du Loup (2015), which won the Pianifica Award at the Locarno Film Festival; and Au loin, Baltimore (2016). In 2019, she co-directed the documentary Headshot: Roulette russe with Antonia Biresi. Rodeo, her first feature film, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes this year, where it was honored with the Jury Coup de Cœur, and subsequently snagged both the Jury Prize and Critics’ Prize at the 2022 Champs-Élysées Film Festival.
