ALPHA Teaser Trailer: Julia Ducournau’s Twisted Cannes Contender Arrives This October

Four years after nabbing the Palme d’Or for her twisty, jaw-dropping body horror Titane, Julia Ducournau is gearing up to make another splash at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with her highly anticipated third feature, Alpha. The film, which reunited Ducournau with distributor Neon, follows a teenage girl (newcomer Mélissa Boros) living with her mother (Golshifteh Farahani) whose life is upended after making a strange decision and a reunion with her gravely ill uncle (Tahar Rahim). It will premiere in competition on the Croisette, where Ducournau is one of seven female directors with new films in the same category. Emma Mackey, Finnegan Oldfield, and Louai El Amrousy also star.

Here’s the brief synopsis:

Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old, lives with her single mom. Their world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm.

“From film to film, I always feel like I can go further in the way I expose myself, which is incredibly hard to do,” said Ducournau in a recent interview with Vanity Fair. “When we talk about bodies, you’re talking about my own vulnerability. This did give way to a path toward more emotions, because I completely got rid of the distance imposed by genre. It’s a way to expose myself more—and to expose yourself more, I hope, in the same way.”

Neon will release Alpha later this October. Check out the teaser trailer and poster below.

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