EFF: Red Island

L'île Rouge

Australian premiere

“A compelling, visually exquisite piece of work.” — The Guardian

At the beginning of the 70s, in Madagascar, a few armed forces and their families live in one of the last French military bases abroad, a relic of the ending French colonial empire. Influenced by his reading of the intrepid comic book heroine Fantômette, Thomas, a ten-year-old boy, observes with a curious glance at the adult world around him and bears witness to the fracturing of his parent's marriage and the growing air of change on the island. Beneath the carefree expatriate life, his eyes are gradually opened to another reality.

Following on from his 2017 Cannes Grand Prize-winning masterpiece BPM, director Robin Campillo has fashioned an intimate and powerful semi-biographical drama about his own childhood experiences growing up on a military base in Madagascar. Beautifully capturing a boy's poignant and painful growth into adulthood, as Madagascar itself grows out of its colonialist restraints.

Nominated for Best Film at San Sebastian International Film Festival

Rating

Unclassified 15+

Duration

116 min

Language

French, Malagasy (English subtitles)

Director

Robin Campillo