Alliance Française French Film Festival – Genesis

Multi-award nominee at film festivals worldwide—including winner of Best Film and Best Actor (Théodore Pellerin) at the 2018 Montréal Festival of New Cinema—Genesis sees writer-director Philippe Lesage capture the singularity of first love in a way "that feels intensively alive and in the moment" (Hollywood Reporter) while incorporating a healthy current of humour.

Two storylines are intertwined, those of half-siblings Charlotte (Noé Abita, Ava, AF FFF2018) and Guillaume (French-Canadian actor, Théodore Pellerin), both at different stages in their own experiences of young amour. Guillaume wrestles with his emerging queerness, which unfolds itself through an unrequited attraction to his bestfriend, Nicolas. Charlotte is riding the endorphin-high of her first serious romance but finds her idyllic notions of love put to the test when her boyfriend, Maxime, suggests trying an open relationship.

Fans of Lesage’s remarkable 2015 debut feature, The Demons, will find satisfaction from Genesis—especially in its continuation of the loosely autobiographical nature of the earlier film—and the introduction of a third story towards its finale—that of the younger Edouard Tremblay-Grenier who actually appeared in The Demons.