Alpha

• Directed by Julia Ducournau
• Starring Tahar Rahim, Golshifteh Farahani, Mélissa Boros
• 128mins | 2025 |

From Cinematic trailblazer and Palme d’Or winner, Julia Ducournau!

Alpha, a rebellious 13-year-old, lives with her single mom, a doctor with an at-home practice amid the context of a strange new bloodborne disease. When Alpha returns from a house party, drunk, her mother discovers a new, amateur tattoo on her daughter’s arm. Worried she might have been infected by the same disease, their world is suddenly turned upside down, as fear invades their family unit, triggering a chain reaction which unleashes repressed trauma, memory and dread.

Then, when Alpha’s estranged uncle Amin shows up, timelines purposefully begin to blur, as buried recollections come to the fore, echoing the confusion and fragmentation of memory, grief and psychological distress. Past merges with present as fear spreads – both at home as well as at school, when the irrational response of her classmates further deepens Alpha’s distressing circumstances.

Ducournau’s daring and distinct approach offers a quiet revolution in genre filmmaking, employing techniques borrowed from horror and body horror that lead us through a family’s story of fear and pain, ultimately chronicling their journey towards love, compassion and acceptance.

???? "I’m still thinking about gruelling body horror Alpha after it inspired walkouts" - Metro

 ???? "Ignore the sniffy reception at Cannes. This is awesome." - Irish Times

???? Bold, brave, uncompromising – Ducournau is a one-off. - Little White Lies