Film
In the summer of 2011, in the small coastal town of Royan, Tony and his younger brother Noé are playing near a cliff. Their game turns into near tragedy when Noé almost dies. Shortly after, following an umpteenth quarrel, their mother decides to leave her husband and takes both boys with her. Ten years later, Tony and Noé are now young adults. They come back to their childhood home to bury their father. While there, they bump into people they used to know, especially Cassandre, their childhood love. Old memories rise back to the surface, including dark secrets the brothers had chosen to hide deep in their subconscious… Nos Cérémonies is a visually radiant film with vivid and starkly contrasted colours, captured in majestic CinemaScope. This coming-of-age, a simultaneously invigorating and mortiferous experience, is a funny, sometimes upsetting, and often disturbing fraternal drama. Coarse realism mixes with dream-like fantasy, and the past merges with the present in this fascinating tale of life and death. Simon Rieth may only be 26 years old, but he has already made six short films, among which Saint-Jean (2017) and Diminishing Shine (2018), which screened in over 40 festivals and won many awards. He is also a very active music videos and commercials director. Although Nos Cérémonies is his first feature film, he has already been part of the Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival.