Alpha

Thirteen-year-old Alpha is going through a turbulent adolescence. She lives with her hardworking, single mother, but things truly reach a breaking point when Alpha unexpectedly comes home with a tattoo. Her mother immediately fears the worst: has Alpha contracted the mysterious virus everyone is terrified of, yet no one talks about, through a dirty needle? That fear becomes all too tangible when her heavily addicted uncle Amin suddenly shows up on their doorstep.

In ALPHA, Palme d’Or winner Julia Ducournau (RAW, TITANE) explores themes of fear, loss, and coming of age in a claustrophobic, visually stunning family drama. She shapes the story into a radical, feverish parable about the scars of the AIDS epidemic, where those affected literally seem to turn into marble.

In her signature, uncompromising style—nodding to the body horror of David Cronenberg and John Carpenter—Ducournau confirms her status as one of the most daring voices in contemporary cinema. She doesn’t do it alone. Together with her team, including her regular Belgian cinematographer Ruben Impens, she creates a sultry, punk-infused period piece where the line between reality and hallucination completely blurs.