Cinema Releases - Pacifiction
On the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, the High Commissioner of the Republic and French government official De Roller is a calculating man with flawless manners. His somewhat broad perception of his role brings him to navigate the high end ’establishment’ as well as shady venues where he mingles with the locals. Especially since a persistent rumour has been going around: the sighting of a submarine whose ghostly presence could herald the return of French nuclear testing.
Albert Serra In Focus at the ICA April 19-27
Albert Serra in Conversation + Pacifiction Ciné Lumiére April 20
Thanks to the Embassy of Spain, London and the Instituto Cervantes for their support for In Focus and In Conversation.
Tue, 11th Oct, 20:00, ICA Wed,12th Oct, 14:35, BFI NFT3
Cambridge Film Festival Mon 25 Oct Thu 27 Oct - Arts Picturehouse Cinema
Scotland Premiere: EDINBURGH Where: Summerhall Saturday 28th January GLASGOW GFT 5th February
UPCOMING SCREENINGS:
Albert Serra In Focus at the ICA April 19-27
Albert Serra in Conversation + Pacifiction Ciné Lumiére April 20
Week commencing 21 April
| Curzon Bloomsbury |
Brunswick Centre | London WC1N 1AW | 08719 642838 | all week |
| Cine Lumiere | 17 Queensbury Place | London SW7 2DT | 020 7871 3515 | all week |
| ICA Cinema | The Mall | London SW1Y 1BN | 020 7930 3647 | all week |
| Curzon Camden | Arches N7-N14 Hawley Wharf | London BW1 8QD | 08719 642838 | all week |
| Curzon Mayfair | 38 Curzon Street | London W1J 7TY | 08719 642838 | all week |
| Wimbledon Curzon | 2nd Floor, The Broadway | London SW19 1RE | 08719 642838 | all week |
| Warwick Arts Centre | University of Warwick | Coventry CV4 7AL | 024 7649 6000 | all week |
| Watershed | 1 Canon's Road | Bristol BS1 5TX | 0117 927 5100 | all week |
| Showroom | Paternoster Square | Sheffield S1 2BX | 0114 275 7727 | all week |
| HOME | 2 Tony Wilson Place | Manchester M15 4FN | 0161 200 1500 | all week |
| Tyneside | 10-12 Pilgrim St | Newcastle NE1 6QG | 0191 227 5500 | all week |
| Depot | Pinwell Rd | Lewes BN7 2JS | 01273 525534 | all week |
| BFI Player | ||||
| Curzon Home Cinema |
Week commencing 28 April
| ICA Cinema | The Mall | London SW1Y 1BN | 020 7930 3647 | dates tbc |
| Cine Lumiere | 17 Queensberry Place | London SW7 2DT | 020 7871 3515 | 30/4, 1/5 |
| Curzon Bloomsbury | Brunswick Centre | London WC1N 1AW | 08719 642838 | 2/4 May |
| Wimbledon Curzon | 2nd Floor, The Broadway | London SW19 1RE | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Curzon Mayfair | 38 Curzon Street | London W1J 7TY | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Camden Curzon | Hawley Wharf | London NW1 8QD | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Curzon Soho | 99 Shaftesbury Avenue | London W1D 5DY | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Canterbury Curzon | Westgate Hall Rd | Canterbury CT1 2BT | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Colchester Curzon | 19 Queen St | Colchester CO1 2PH | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Kingston Curzon | Bentall Centre Wood St | Kingston upon Thames KT1 1TP | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Knutsford Curzon | 3 Toft Rd | Knutsford WA16 OPE | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Oxford Curzon | Westgate Shopping Centre | Oxford OX1 1NZ | 01233 555644 | 2nd May |
| Richmond Curzon | 3 Water Lane | Richmond TW9 1TJ | 01233 555644 | 2nd May |
| Ripon Curzon | 75 North St | Ripon HG4 1DP | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Sheffield Curzon | 16 George St | Sheffield S1 2PF | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Victoria Curzon | 58 Victoria St | London SW1E 6QW | 08719 642838 | 2nd May |
| Lexi | 194b Chamberlayne Rd | London NW10 3JU | 020 7871 5523 | 29/5-1/5 |
| Depot | Pinwell Rd | Lewes BN7 2JS | 01273 525534 | 6 days only |
| Kino Rye | 3 Lion St | Rye TN31 7LB | 01797 226293 | all week |
| The Garden Cinema | 39 - 41 Parker St | London WC2B 5EF | 020 3569 5000 | all week |
| BFI Player | ||||
| Curzon Home Cinema |
Week commencing 5 May
| The Garden Cinema | 39-41 Parker St | London WC2B 5EF | 020 3569 5000 | 6,7,11 May |
| Cine Lumiere | 17 Queensberry Place | London SW7 2DT | 020 7871 3515 | 6,7 May |
| ICA Cinema | The Mall | London SW1Y 1BN | 020 7930 3657 | 7 May |
| Lexi | 194b Chamberlayne Rd | London NW10 3JU | 020 7871 5523 | 7 May |
| Camden Curzon | Hawley Wharf | London NW1 8QD | 08719 642838 | 11 May |
| Midland Arts Centre | Cannon Hill Park | Birmingham B12 9QH | 0121 446 3232 | 7-9 May |
| Curzon Home Cinema | ||||
| BFI Player |
Week commencing 12 May
| Rex | Berkhamsted | 15th only | ||
| BFI Player | ||||
| Curzon Home Cinema |
Week commencing 19 May
| QFT | Belfast | |||
| Chichester Cinema | New Park Rd | Chichester | 19,23,25 May | |
| Ultimate Picture Palace | Jeune St Cowley Rd | Oxford OX4 1BN | 01865245288 | all week |
| BFI Player | ||||
| Curzon Home Cinema |
Week commencing 26 May
| BFI Player | ||||
| Curzon Home Cinema |
Born in Banyoles in 1975, Albert Serra is a Catalan artist and director. Having studied philosophy and literature, he wrote plays and produced different video works. He gained an international recognition with his first long feature, Honor of the Knights, a free adaptation of Don Quijote, played by non- professional actors from his village. The film was presented at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2006.
For his second film, Birdsong, Serra took inspiration in a traditional Catalan Christmas song, El cant dels ocells, and worked with the same group of people to tell the story of the Three Wise Men following their guiding star to find Jesus.
In 2013, the Centre Pompidou in Paris gave him carte blanche for a correspondence with the Argentinian director, Lisandro Alonso. The same year, he received the Golden Leopard at Locarno for his new film Story of my Death, inspired by Casanova’s memoirs.
The Death of Louis XIV, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud as the Sun King, was presented in the Official Selection of Cannes Film Festival 2016.
Liberté, starring Helmut Berger, Marc Susini and Baptiste Pinteaux, is the cinematic recreation of his 2018 Berlin Volksbühne play of the same name, which won the Special Jury award at the 2019 Un Certain Regard selection in Cannes.
In 2022, he returned to Cannes in the Official Selection in Competition with Pacifiction.| 2022 | Pacificction |
| 2019 | Liberté |
| 2016 | The Death of Louis XIV |
| 2013 | Story of my Death |
| 2008 | Birdsong |
| 2006 | Honor of the Knights |
| 2022 | Pacifiction |
| 2019 | Liberté |
| 2016 | The Death of Louis XIV |
| 2013 | Story of my Death |
| 2008 | Birdsong |
| 2006 | Honour of the Knights |
| CREW | |
| Director/Writer | Albert Serra |
| Collaboration on dialogue | Baptiste Pinteaux |
| Producers | Pierre-Olivier Bardet, Albert Serra, Montse Triola, |
| Dirk Decker, Andrea Schütte, Joaquim Sapinho, | |
| Marta Alves, Laurent Jacquemin | |
| Director of Photography | Artur Tort |
| Sound Mixer/ Design | Jordi Ribas |
| Editors | Albert Serra, Artur Tort, Ariadna Ribas |
| Music Original | Marc Verdaguer, Joe Robinson |
| Set Designer | Sebastian Vogler |
| Costume Designer | Práxedes De Vilallonga |
| Sound Mix | Bruno Tarriere |
| Grading | Gadiel Bendelac |
| Produced by | Idéale Audience Group, Andergraun Films, |
| Tamtam Film, Rosa Filmes | |
| Co-Production | ARTE France Cinéma, Bayerischer Rundfunk, |
| Archipel Production | |
| With the Participation of | ARTE France, CINÉ +, |
| Radiotelevisión Española | |
| Televisió de Catalunya, RTP | |
| In Association with | CINÉMAGE 16 |
| With the support of | Polynésie française, the Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in partnership with CNC, ICAA-Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales, ICEC-Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals, MOIN Filmfund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, CNC-ICA French Portuguese Fund, Fundo de Apoio ao Turismo e ao Cinema, CNC Avance sur recettes |
| 162 mins France/Spain /Germany /Portugal 2022 | |
| In French and English with English subtitles / 1:2.39 / 5.1 | |
| CAST | |
| De Roller | Benoît Magimel |
| Shannah | Pahoa Mahagafana |
| L'Amiral | Marc Susini |
| Matahi | Matahi Pambrun |
| Le Portugais | Alexandre Melo |
| Morton | Sergi López |
| Francesca | Montse Triola |
| Le Capitaine | Michael Vautor |
| Romane Attia | Cécile Guilbert |
| Lois | Lluis Serrat |
| Mr. Mike | Mike Landscape |
| Cyrus | Cyrus Arai |
| Secretary | Mareva Wong |
| Businessman | Baptiste Pinteaux |
★★★★★
"A flâneur's eye view of French Polynesia.
An intoxicating pleasure.
Benoît Magimel is perfectly cast as a tarnished roué in Albert Serra's enigmatic and transifixing film."
Jonathan Romney, The Financial Times
★★★★★
"Albert Serra's spellbinding anti-colonial drama...portending hell in paradise."
Graham Fuller, The Arts Desk
★★★★★
“Impressively unique and distinctly cinematic. It’s what movies should be.”
Alex Matrixia, UKFilmReview
★★★★★
"Entrancing...transports us to a land that is very real and somehow not of this earth, where the sky is perpetually on fire. The film is of such stupendous beauty because, and not despite the fact that, we annot really understand what is going on."
This is not a binary world anymore, if it ever was and Serra masterfully erases boundaries.'
Anne-Katrin Titze, Cinevue
★★★★★
"Albert Serra's filthy genius new film flashes a neon light into the Conradian Heart of Darkness in French Polynesia.
There is a definite erotic fizz to the shadiness and corruption smells so invitingly sweet. This is a film which portrays evil which never loses sight of the former beauty of the fallen angel in his white suit and tinted glasses."
John Bleasdale, DMovies
★★★★
“Brilliant new film
Pacifiction is by far Serra's most serious and sombre film to date, an epic of neutered power and human expendability - a death-knell for humanity that's rendered as a tropical daydream."
David Jenkins, Little White Lies
★★★★
"I can only say I was captivated by the film and its stealthy evocation of pure evil (...)Its waywardness is part of Serra's authorship:it is an authentic descent into darkness."
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
"Albert Serra's film builds tension beautifully as a French high commissioner navigates intrigue...feverish...atmospheric piece."
Wendy Ide, The Observer
"A hazy tropical fantasia. Although the result is as far from agitprop as Serra can make it, it works surprisingly well as an 'exotic' rumination on what it's like to surf the giant waves off a postcolonial beach."
Tony Rayns, Sight & Sound
★★★★1/2
"Mesmerizing...blends thriler genre tropes with surrealism to put the audience into a dread-induced hynoptic trance."
Hector A. Gonzalez, Loud and Clear
★★★★
"Wonderfully shot - from nice vistas to grim bars and clubs - the idea of Eden corrupted sings out."
Dan Carrier. Camden New Journal/Islington Tribune/West End Extra
"Stunning. Albert Serra’s languid but brilliant espionage drama... Incorporating themes of colonialism and the effects of modern-day tourism, Pacification quietly layers political mystery and insight into Tahitian life in this highbrow epic.
Rachel Ho, The Globe and Mail
"The gorgeous new movie ‘Pacifiction’ will hypnotize you. You should let it.
... a trouble-in-paradise movie where the trouble doesn’t overwhelm the paradise so much as poison it, at an almost imperceptible slow drip, from the inside."
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
“This noir-tinged story...a murky — in every sense — tale of political intrigue and municipal power struggles that refuses to be resolved or reveal any mysteries by the end. It’s like a Polynesian version of Chinatown but made by a cast and crew stoned on rum and ketamine."It’s got a fun central performance from Benoît Magimel and a spectacular Tahitian location. There’s even a surfing scene, the closest Serra may have ever gotten to an action sequence.”
Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
"One of the most beautiful and rigorously introspective movies of this year or any year, a film that makes you deeply ponder the fate of humanity itself."
Christina Blauvelt, IndieWire
"A sprawling, glittering essay on neo-colonisalism in French Polynesia.
Although containing some elements of a classic paranoid thriller, Pacifiction is really more of a detailed character study, uninterested in plot progression and more so in creating a fully rounded portrayal of a human being."
David Katz, Cineuropa
"A film in many ways about floating, through life and water and power, inviting the viewer to idly drift right along with it."
Guy Lodge, Variety
"A Gorgeous & Grave Tropical Anti-Epic Filled With Post-Colonial Intrigue"
Mark Asch, The Playlist
“The bold colors, the sunsets, and the giant waves of Tahiti looke phenomenal on the big screen; on a level of aesthetics’. it’s hard to watch ‘Pacifiction’ and not want to shout ‘Cinema!’
Ben Kenigsbert, Rogerebert.com
★★★½ (out of 4)
"“Albert Serra’s hypnotic look at contemporary malaise...It’s hardly a spoiler to indicate that none of this leads to a big shootout (...) What we do get, at a staggering but never tedious 3 hours, is a carefully sustained orchestration of mood and tone “
…De Roller is immediately detectable in Serra’s spacious, relaxed compositions, and deadpan comedy is often mined from his gawky presence alone. His way with words is another source of farce”
Carson Lund, Slant Magazine
"Strangely captivating...a truly original cinematic experience."
Lee Marshall, Screen International
"Albert Serra’s “Pacifiction": Here is the Art Film of the Year.
A narratively elliptical puncturing of French colonialism in Tahiti that Eric Kohn likened to Apichatpong Weerasethakul and David Lynch...on the 'Best Film' list.
An immersive tropical thriller/reverie - it's one of the great experiences in cinema."
IndieWire's Cannes Film Coverage
“Albert Serra hits a career high with the boundless, brilliant Pacifiction.
A film unlike any other this year...Serra's vision ultimately is s beguiling as it is boundless, and strangely romantic. Albert Serra hits a career high with the boundless, brilliant Pacifiction."
Rory O’Connor, Film Stage
-
"One of the most beautiful and rigorously introspective movies of this or any year, a film that makes you deeply ponder the fate of humanity itself."
— Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire -
"Strangely captivating... a truly original cinematic experience."
— Lee Marshall, Screen Daily
Q&A Albert Serra & Jonathan Romney at Ciné Lumière
Download pressbook
Download Photo set
Trailer on YouTube - link or embed
Download mp4 of trailer
Download trailer pro res
Quad poster jpg
Upright poster/advert jpg
Film Comment Podcast interview with Albert Serra by Dennis Lim
Albert Serra in conversation at the Cine Lumiere with Jonathan Romney - 50 mins YouTube
Interview with Albert Serra Little White Lies
Interview with Albert Serra - Mubi Notebook
Interview Albert Serra - Cineuropa
The Film Stage interview with Albert Serra
Soclal media clips 1x1 for Instagram or Twitter
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