LITTLE JOE

Jessica Hausner

Austria 105 min Catalan premiere Fiction

Synopsis

Alice, a single mother, is a dedicated senior plant breeder at a corporation engaged in developing new species. She has engineered a very special crimson flower, remarkable not only for its beauty but also for its therapeutic value: if kept at the ideal temperature, fed properly and spoken to regularly, this plant makes its owner happy. Against company policy, Alice takes one home as a gift for her teenage son, Joe. They christen it ‘Little Joe’ but as it grows, so too does Alice’s suspicion that her new creations may not be as harmless as their nickname suggests.

DIALOGUE WITH THE DIRECTOR

 

Themes

Female DirectorSci-fi & FantasySocial IssuesThriller

Filmmaker

Jessica Hausner

(Vienna, 1972) She studied directing at the Film Academy of Vienna where she made the award-winning short films, Flora (1996) and Inter-view (1999). In 2001, her debut feature film, Lovely Rita premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard. She returned to Un Certain Regard with her second feature, Hotel, in 2004. In 2009, Lourdes was selected in Competition at the Venice Film Festival, where it was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize. Amour fou was Hausner’s third film to be presented in Un Certain Regard, where it premiered in 2014. Little Joe is Jessica Hausner’s fifth feature film and her English-language debut.

Filmography: Little Joe (2019), Amour fou (2014), Lourdes (2009), Toast (curt, 2006), Hotel (2004), Lovely Rita (2001), Inter-view (curt, 1999), Flora (curt, 1995)

Jessica Hausner

Film information

Director: Jessica Hausner
Script: Jessica Hausner, Géraldine Bajard
Contact: Noucinemart
With: Emily Beecham, Ben Whishaw, Kerry Fox, Kit Connor, David Wilmot, Phénix Brossard, Sebastian Hülk
Country: Austria
Year: 2019
Format: Digital
Length: 105 min
Language: English
Subtitles: Spanish, Catalan
Edition: 2020

Awards

Best Actress in Cannes

Poster

LITTLE JOE