Julia Ducournau’s third film, Alpha, has been purchased by the indie studio Neon

Last Updated on May 24, 2024

Body horror fans, get ready for a new trip into shock cinema as Julia Ducournau, who directed the visceral horror films Raw and Titane, saddles up to release her third film, Alpha. Titane was a milestone for the filmmaker as she became the second woman director to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes. FilmNation and Charades presented Alpha to potential buyers at the Cannes market, and Deadline is reporting that the indie studio Neon would come out with distributing rights to the film. It was recently reported that Golshifteh Farahani of the Extraction films and Tahar Rahim of Madame Web have signed on to star in Alpha.

Jean des Forêts and Amelie Jacquis of Petit Film will be on board as producers of Alpha. Joining them will be Eric & Nicolas Altmayer of Mandarin & Compagnie and Frakas Productions will be co-producing. Charades and FilmNation Entertainment are also handling sales in the rest of the world during the Cannes Film Festival. Earlier this month, FilmNation Entertainment and Charades provided the following statement: “Alpha is Julia’s most personal, profound work yet, and we are looking forward to a global audience discovering the story with as much excitement as we did. We can’t wait to bring the film to market in Cannes and to launch sales together for the first time and collaborate in this way.“ However, that’s all they would say about Alpha, as the plot details are being kept under wraps for now.

So, for an idea of what kind of film this might turn out to be, we can only look back at the films Ducournau made previously. Her first movie, Raw, had the following synopsis: Stringent vegetarian Justine encounters a decadent, merciless and dangerously seductive world during her first week at veterinary school. Desperate to fit in, she strays from her principles and eats raw meat for the first time. The young woman soon experiences terrible and unexpected consequences as her true self begins to emerge.

Then Titane told this story: Alexia is a dancer who, after being injured in a car accident as a child, has a titanium plate fitted into her head. Amidst a series of brutal and unexplained murders, her path crosses with Vincent, a firefighter desperately searching for his long-missing son, changing their lives forever.