A new theatrical trailer and poster have been released for Bertrand Mandico’s She is Conann ahead of Altered Innocence‘s upcoming North American theatrical release, which kicks off next month on February 2nd, 2024. She is Conann will be opening in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, and more, with Mandico and star Elina Löwensohn in attendance for select opening weekend screenings at Anthology Film Archives in New York City. In addition to the opening of his latest feature, both Anthology Film Archives and select Alamo Drafthouses across the country will present special short showcases of newly debuting work.
The third feature from the celebrated and visionary French filmmaker following The Wild Boys, which topped Cahiers du Cinéma’s 2018 list of Top 10 Films, and the multi-award-winning After Blue (Dirty Paradise) —both of which were released by Altered Innocence in North America— She is Conann is a barbaric fantasy sci-fi trip that boldly celebrates the influences of Fellini Satyricon, The Night Porter, The Hunger, and Fassbinder’s entire oeuvre to craft a moving portrait of a warrior trying to find her place while existing outside of space, time, and meaning.
Mandico’s most ambitious work yet, the film blurs realities and flips genders, loosely using the American cult classic Conan the Barbarian as groundwork for this intoxicatingly lush 35mm-shot hero’s journey. Starring Claire Duburcq (1917, After Blue), Christa Théret (Renoir), Sandra Parfait (Netflix’s Lupin), Agata Buzek (After Blue, High Life), Nathalie Richard (After Love, Irma Vep), and Françoise Brion (L’Immortelle) as the many faces of Conann —from young woman to warrior queen, each overcoming the last— in addition to Julia Riedler (Luz) and Mandico-constant Elina Löwensohn (Amateur, Let the Corpses Tan), who has appeared in every one of his films, in the role of Rainer, the Cerberus guardian of the underworld.
A visceral and impulsive queer artist with a prolific body of work in singular and form challenging cinema, Mandico is a co-founder and follower of the 12-rule Incoherence Manifesto, which includes the prompts ‘filming must be done on expired film stock,’ ‘special effects must be made in-camera,’ and ‘the film must be in an uncertain geography, timeless, ban any realistic effect’.
