Altered States

This is where the wild ones come out to play. Altered States

Blaze

DEL KATHRYN BARTON, AUSTRALIA, 2022, 101 MIN.

FRI OCT 7 9:00 PM RIO SUN OCT 9 3:45 PM RIO

After witnessing a brutal assault, 12-yearold Blaze (Julia Savage) takes shelter in an imaginary world that’s home to Zephyr, a papier-mâché dragon who’ll stoke her warrior spirit and allow her to roar. Del Kathryn Barton unleashes a towering debut that fuses live action, practical puppetry, stop motion animation, and expressive visual e ects to chart Blaze’s tumultuous passage into adulthood, illustrate what the imagination is capable of, and assert that rage can be every bit as purifying as re.

Cast Julia Savage, Simon Baker, Yael Stone, Josh Lawson, So a Hampson Prod Samantha Jennings

Rodeo

LOLA QUIVORON, FRANCE, 2022, 105 MIN.

TUE OCT 4 6:15 PM RIO THU OCT 6 9:00 PM RIO

When Julia (Julie Ledru), a feral loner, in ltrates a local “rodeo”—a high-octane, higher testosterone underground motocross circuit where brash bikers one-up one another—it’s apparent that she’ll need to deliver something showstopping to earn acceptance. As it so happens, she has an idea for an audacious heist. While Lola Quivoron’s Rodeo boasts tour-de-force stuntwork, its character dynamics are equally trans xing: Julia has entered a world in which every encounter is as perilous as hairpin turn.

Cast Julie Ledru, Yanis Lafki, Antonia Buresi, Cody Schroeder, Louis Sotton, Junior Correia Prod Charles Gillibert

Huesera

MICHELLE GARZA CERVERA, MEXICO/PERU, 2022, 93 MIN.

SAT OCT 1 6:30 PM RIO SAT OCT 8 9:00 PM RIO

Valeria and Raúl are over the moon about their pregnancy, busy preparing for the baby’s arrival. But when Valeria suddenly starts experiencing disturbing visions and night terrors, she nds little support from those closest to her. Little by little, her reality comes crashing down and she is forced to seek help from a mysterious group of women specializing in this type of threat. A bone-chilling, spidery genre-bender drawing from supernatural lore in its wider exploration of motherhood and female agency.

Cast Natalia Solián, Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Batalla, Mercedes Hernández, Aída López, Martha Claudia Moreno Prod Paulina Villavicencio, Edher Campos

Preceded by Zeb’s Spider, p. 67

Sick of Myself

KRISTOFFER BORGLI, NORWAY, 2022, 97 MIN.

WED OCT 5 9:30 PM RIO SUN OCT 9 9:15 PM VCT

Canadian Premiere. When her boyfriend becomes a cause célèbre in conceptual art circles, Signe’s (Kristine Kujath Thorp) attention junkie tendencies hit overdrive. Inhaling banned meds in order to incur hideous side e ects, she’s elated when a wave of sympathy follows. Kristo er Borgli helms an utterly merciless takedown of fame culture. As Signe gorges her pathological need for validation, this transgressive satire serves as a wickedly comic reminder of how cringe-inducing the concept of “going viral” should be.

Cast Kristine Kujath Thorp, Eirik Sæther, Fanny Vaager, Fredrik Stenberg Ditlev-Simonsen, Sarah Francesca Brænne, Ingrid Vollan Prod Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Dyveke Bjørkly Graver

Leonor Will Never Die

Ang Pagbabalik ng Kwago MARTIKA RAMIREZ ESCOBAR, PHILIPPINES, 2022, 99 MIN.

SAT OCT 1 9:15 PM RIO THU OCT 6 6:30 PM RIO

Once a prominent action lmmaker, Leonor spends her senior years in her cramped apartment, distracting herself by daydreaming about her movies, until a freak accident causes her to fall into a coma. Colourful, exuberant, packed with thrills and B-movie nostalgia, writer-director Martika Ramirez Escobar’s debut feature is an homage to the power of stories, the enduring force of grief, and a tender love letter to lmmaking itself. 2022 winner of the Special Jury Prize for Innovative Spirit at Sundance.

Cast Sheila Francisco, Bong Cabrera, Rocky Salumbides, Anthony Falcon Prod Monster Jimenez, Mario Cornejo

Smoking Causes Coughing

Fumer fait tousser QUENTIN DUPIEUX, FRANCE, 2022, 80 MIN.

THU SEP 29 9:30 PM RIO SAT OCT 8 6:45 PM RIO

After a viscera-spilling battle with a foamrubber turtle, superheroic, hard-smoking Tobacco Force are ordered to undergo a week of team-building. Alas, there’s no rest for the spandex-clad, as the reigning Emperor of Evil schemes to annihilate the universe. Assembling a constellation of notable French stars, out tting them in cut-rate costumes, and surrounding them with janky technology, Quentin Dupieux concocts the absurd superhero sendup that we never would’ve believed that we desperately needed.

Quantum Cowboys

GEOFF MARSLETT, USA, 2022, 99 MIN.

SUN OCT 2 9:30 PM RIO SAT OCT 8 9:00 PM CINE

Canadian Premiere. In 1870s Arizona, a pair of drifters (Kiowa Gordon and John Way) take a deep dive into a multiverse in which a dozen di erent mediums—including 16mm, paper cutouts, rotoscoping, handdrawn animation, oil paints, 8k video, collage, and digital animation—depict disparate realities. Cerebral, psychedelic, and just plain silly in turns, physics scholar-turned- lmmaker Geo Marslett’s staggeringly ambitious, deliriously entertaining Quantum Cowboys is overwhelming in the most exhilarating way possible.

Cast Kiowa Gordon, Lily Gladstone, John Way, David Arquette, Frank Mosley, Gary Farmer Prod William Way, Melodie Sisk, Geo Marslett

Something in the Dirt

JUSTIN BENSON, AARON MOORHEAD, USA, 2022, 116 MIN.

FRI SEP 30 9:15 PM RIO SUN OCT 2 12:45 PM RIO

Determined to escape Los Angeles, Levi (Justin Benson) instead falls in with John (Aaron Moorhead), a kindred conspiracy theorist. After witnessing an inexplicable event in Levi’s apartment, the neighbours become intent on monetizing the paranormal activity by shooting a Net ix-style docuseries. Giddily ri ng on numerology, symbology, energy elds, and mass simulations, directors Benson and Moorhead possess an infectious enthusiasm for mining mystery and endless possibility from the seemingly mundane.

Cast Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead Prod David Lawson Jr., Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson