A standout among feature-length directorial debuts this year, David Depesseville’s Astrakan is one of the most piercing, enigmatic coming-of-age stories, proving there is still much to mine from the endless well of first experiences. Shot in stunningly vivid 16mm by Simon Beaufils (Knife+Heart), the Locarno and New Directors/New Films selection follows a orphan who goes to live with foster parents as he experiences first love, passions, and family secrets. Ahead of a September 1 release in theaters and on VOD from Altered Innocence, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer and poster.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Astrakhan fur is unique: dark, beautiful, and stripped exclusively from newborn lambs, even ones killed in their mother’s womb. (Stella McCarthy once said it’s like wearing a fetus.) That ruthlessness—a sense of lost innocence; blood sacrifice—runs deep in Astrakan, a new film from France and one of the better in Locarno this year; and if that title isn’t enough to give pause, plenty else in the opening exchanges will. The first act is a procession of flags, both red and false: at the opening the protagonist, Samuel, lightly goads a snake in the reptile house of a zoo; moments later a rabbit is hung and skinned in his kitchen with all the ceremony of a boiled kettle; queasiest of all, an older lad is seen walking toward the house cradling berries in his shirt, just enough that the lip of his underwear and his midriff are left strikingly visible.”
See the exclusive trailer below.
Astrakan opens on September 1 in theaters and on VOD.