La Gradiva
Directed by Marine Atlan
2026Feature145 minFrance, Italy
A high school class trip to Pompeii awakens desires that push its students toward an irreversible fracture, in Marine Atlan's hypnotic debut.
Synopsis
A class of high school students travels to Pompeii to discover ruins and bodies petrified by Vesuvius. The trip becomes a rare moment when the force of youth meets a world frozen in time. Their desires start to surface with unexpected intensity, leading them toward an irreversible fracture.
Acclaimed cinematographer Marine Atlan makes her feature debut with LA GRADIVA, a hypnotic and authentic portrait of a generation set against the charged landscape of Pompeii.
The director
Marine Atlan
Marine Atlan is a French cinematographer and director, the maker of the short films Green Romances (2016) and Daniel (2018). La Gradiva, her first feature, which she also shot, won the Grand Prize of Critics' Week at Cannes 2026.
Press
“Astounding Cannes Award-Winning Debut Is One for the Ages”
“Seismically sensitive and deeply moving, Atlan's film is simply one of the most piercingly accurate and immersive portrayals ever.”
“A major work played in a minor key… one of those true discoveries that you only get a few times in life.”
“It is so wholly transporting that its running time flies by unnoticed, and as it barrels toward its melancholic end, you're left breathless.”
On screens
- Nov 4 – Nov 15Festival Cinémania · Montréal, QCTickets ↗
- Nov 13 – Nov 27FIFCA - Festival International du Cinéma Francophone en Acadie · Moncton, NBTickets ↗
- Jan 8TIFF Lightbox · Toronto, ONTickets ↗
- Jan 15 – Jan 21VIFF Centre · Vancouver, BCTickets ↗
- Feb 1 – Feb 11Regent Theatre · Picton, ONTickets ↗
- Mar 7Nanaimo International Film Screening Society - Vancouver Island Conference Centre - Film Circuit · Nanaimo, BCTickets ↗
Already played at 7 cinemas in Toronto, Halifax, Sudbury, Edmonton, Vancouver, London, Windsor, Montréal, Moncton, Picton, Nanaimo.
