Incendies

Incendies, which premiered in Austria at the 2011 DER NEUE HEIMATFILM festival in Freistadt, is considered one of Villeneuve's masterpieces and paved his way to Hollywood. Siblings Jeanne and Simon are to fulfil their mother Nawal's last wish after her death: They have to deliver two letters - one to their unknown father and one to a brother they never knew existed. The search takes the siblings to the Middle East, where they gradually uncover their mother's painful past and are confronted with a tragic family history.

The film is a gripping mixture of family drama and political thriller that deals with themes such as war, trauma and forgiveness. Villeneuve stages the story in powerful images and creates a complex narrative structure that interweaves past and present.