Rodeo

A powerful coming-of-age story and captivating thriller set in the motocross scene in the French suburbs.

Many have compared Rodeo to last year’s Golden Palm winner Titane by Julia Ducournau, and the similarities are definitely there; A powerful young woman trying to survive in an ultra masculine milieu, attempting to find her place. However Lola Quivoron’s debut film, Rodeo, is something very different from Ducournau’s «body horror» and metal fetishisation. Social realism is here the central focus when we enter the motocross scene in Paris and get acquainted with the fearless Julia who is struggling to be accepted in the boy’s club.

The director has spent several years as a photojournalist and filmmaker to gain access to the French rodeo culture – adapted from American motocross – which is popular in the poorer French suburbs. This is very much present on screen in the film’s authenticity.

Rodeo can at first seem like a coming-of-age film following a recognisable formula, but as it evolves it turns into a captivating thriller where Julia puts everything on the line in order to survive. This debut makes Lola Quivoron one of the most interesting new directors to keep a lookout for in the future.

Johanne Svendsen Rognlien

Director

Lola Quivoron (b. 1989) is a French filmmaker from Paris. She has previously made the short films Fils du loup (2015) and Au loin, Baltimore (2016), and the documentary Headshot: Roulette russe (2020). Her feature film debut Rodeo (2022) premiered at the film festival in Cannes this year where it won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section.

This film is part of