''An Urban Allegory'' () is 2024 French

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

co-written and co-directed by

Alice Rohrwacher Alice Rohrwacher (, ; born 29 December 1981) is an Italian film director, editor, and screenwriter. She made her directorial debut with '' Heavenly Body'' (2011). She has since directed notable films such as '' The Wonders'' (2014), winner of th ...

and JR based on

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's '' Allegory of the cave'', starring

Lyna Khoudri Lyna Khoudri (; ; born 3 October 1992) is an Algerian and French actress. In 2017, she won the Orizzonti Award for Best Actress at the 74th Venice International Film Festival for '' The Blessed''. In 2020, she won the César Award for Most Promi ...

, Naïm El Kaldaoui and

Leos Carax Alex Christophe Dupont (born 1960), best known as Leos Carax (), is a French film director, critic and writer. Carax is noted for his poetic style and his tortured depictions of love. His first major work was ''Boy Meets Girl (1984 film), Boy Me ...

. The film had its world premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival in the ''Out of Competition (Fiction)'' section on 1 September 2024.

Cast

* Naïm El Kaldaoui as Jay *

as Jay's mother *

as the director

Production

Co-directed and co-written by Italian filmmaker

and French artist JR on their second collaboration after ''Omelia Contadina'' (2020), ''An Urban Allegory'' is based on

's '' Allegory of the cave'' and marks Naïm El Kaldaoui's first role as 7-year-old protagonist Jay. The film was produced by Ad Vitam and Social Animals, co-produced by

Arte France Cinéma Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ( EEI ...

with the participation of

Arte France Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ( EE ...

and the support of French fashion house

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquarte ...

, and features

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...

by the Paris-based branch of the British studio

Moving Picture Company The Moving Picture Company (MPC) is a British multinational company providing visual effects, CG, animation, motion design and other services for the film, TV, brand experience and advertising industries. Their artists have produced Academy ...

(MPC). The short film is connected to the collaborative art project ''

Chiroptera Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

'', with the score being composed by

Thomas Bangalter Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, alongside Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. He has recorded and released music as a member of the trio Music S ...

and choreographed by

Damien Jalet Damien Jalet (born 17 August 1976) is a Belgo-French choreographer, dancer and performer. Life and career Damien Jalet was born in Uccle, Belgium. He worked as choreographer and performer for Companies like Ballet C. de la B., Sasha Waltz et ...

. The directors said about the film in a press statement released in August 2024:

What lies behind the daily movement of a city? Last winter, we met in Paris and began discussing the Allegory of the cave, as told in
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
's ''
Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
''. The myth imagines humanity living in chains, facing the back of a cave, and watching shadows move on the walls, thinking it is reality. We both work with images, which certainly can be illusions, but can also become instruments of struggle and liberation of thought. So, from this discussion, we decided to create a short film. We had a few fixed ideas—the cave, the dance, the city bustling around us—and one question: what would happen if we all managed to turn together towards the exit of the cave? Perhaps it is not enough to assert that images are illusions as long as the chains that bind us are real.

Release

''An Urban Allegory'' had its world premiere at the

2024 Venice Film Festival The 81st annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2024, at Venice Lido in Italy. French actress Isabelle Huppert served as Jury President for the main competition. Italian actress and model Sveva Alviti ...

in the ''Out of Competition (Fiction)'' section on 1 September 2024. On the same day of its premiere at Venice and through 30 September 2024, the film was available to be watched online around the world and free of charge on the website Festival Scope. The film will be released in France by Ad Vitam. In August 2024, The Match Factory acquired international sales rights for the film. The film was selected for the

MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 The MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 took place between 19 and 24 October 2024 in Mumbai, India. It was the first edition of the festival under interim festival director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, following the departure of Anupama Chopra from the ...

under the World Cinema section, where it was screened together with ''Universal Language'' by

Matthew Rankin Matthew Rankin is a Canadian experimental filmmaker. His feature-length debut, '' The Twentieth Century,'' premiered in 2019 and was nominated for eight Canadian Screen Awards, winning three. His second feature film, ''Universal Language (Une l ...

References

External links

* * *
Press kit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urban Allegory, An 2024 films 2020s French films 2020s French-language films French drama short films Films directed by Alice Rohrwacher Ad Vitam (company) films Arte France Cinéma films Films based on Allegory of the Cave