After Titanium, Julia Ducournau prepares Alpha, with Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim

“Alpha is a new page in Julia Ducournau's filmography”.

She is ONLY the second woman to have received the Palme d'Or and yet her reputation transcends borders. In the United States, theaters offer vomit bags before screenings of his films. Since his sensational entry at the Cannes Film Festival with Severein 2016, Julia Ducournau continues to (re)shape French genre cinema. Through her original, disturbing, provocative and gory proposals, the director shook the walls of the seventh art and shattered the glass ceiling which until then relegated horror and fantasy far from international festivals. Today, three years after the success of Titanium, Palme d’Or 2021, whose session in Cannes had caused discomfort, she returns with a new project with a once again short and effective name: Alpha.

Julia Ducournau looks back on Titanium's Palme d'Or: “I was in a state of absolute confusion”

The project was announced a few days ago by the American specialized media. If for the moment the synopsis is still unknown, the American (FilmNation) and French (Charades) producers have provided some ideas:

“Alpha is the most personal work Julia has done to date and we can't wait for the public to discover this story as enthusiastically as we do.”

After a hazing that goes wrong in a veterinary school, a car accident with serious repercussions on the character's life, we wonder what the mysterious man could be talking about. Alpha. First in the Greek alphabet, alpha designates the one in the first position, the powerful, the leader. Generally masculine, Julia Ducournau could shift it to feminine and question the balance of power. The hypotheses are open. Maintaining its body-horror vein, the project will nevertheless be unique:

“Alpha is a new page in Julia Ducournau's filmography which is both in line with her previous films and entirely new in its tone.”

In the casting, we will find Golshifteh Farahni (Tyler Rake, Paterson) soon to be shown in Roqya And Tahar Rahim (A Prophet, Found Guilty) who we will see at the end of the year in the shoes of Charles Aznavour for the biopic Mr Aznavour.

Alpha is presented on the professional market during the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

Bewitching trailer for Roqya, starring Golshifteh Farahni