Official US Trailer for Robin Campillo’s ‘Red Island’ Set on Madagascar
by Alex Billington
July 14, 2024
Source: YouTube
“We don’t pay enough attention. Things happen that we don’t see.” Film Movement has revealed an official US trailer for the French film titled Red Island, an intimate drama about living on Madagascar in the 1970s. This is finally getting a theatrical US release this August, after first opening in French cinemas last May (original trailer here) to mixed reviews more than a year ago. L’île Rouge, aka Red island, is set in the 1970s on the African island of Madagascar – taking place at one of the last French outposts at the end of their time as colonialists. The 10-year-old Thomas begins to find cracks in the surface of his family’s blissful existence on the idyllic island. Taking inspiration from his comic book hero Fantomette, Thomas spies on those around him, discovering the hidden & tangled political and sexual lives of colonizers & the colonized. With Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Quim Gutierrez, Charlie Vauselle, Amely Rakotoarimalala, Hugues Delamarlière, Sophie Guillemin, and David Serero. The film is also described in reviews as a “visually spectacular [and] masterful portrayal of colonialism through a child’s eyes.” Yep, this still looks damn good.
Here’s the official US trailer (+ US poster) for Robin Campillo’s film Red Island, direct from YouTube:
You can rewatch the original French trailer for Campillo’s Red Island right here, for the first look again.
At the beginning of the 70s, in Madagascar, a few armed forces and their families live in one of the last French military bases abroad, a relic of the ending French colonial empire. Influenced by his reading of intrepid comic book heroine Fantômette, Thomas, a ten-year-old boy, sweeps with a curious glance what surrounds him. Beneath the carefree expatriate life, his eyes are gradually opening to another reality. Red Island, also known as L’île Rouge in French, formerly titled Vazaha, is directed by the acclaimed Moroccan-French writer / filmmaker Robin Campillo, director of the films They Came Back, Eastern Boys, and 120 BPM previously. The screenplay is written by Robin Campillo, Gilles Marchand, Jean-Luc Raharimanana. Produced by Marie-Ange Luciani. The film already opened in French cinemas in May 2023 last year. It also played at the San Sebastian and London Film Festivals. Film Movement will debut Campillo’s Red Island in select US theaters starting August 16th, 2024 this summer. For more info + listings, visit the official site.
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