Anonymous Animals

Anonymous Animals” by director Baptiste Rouveure combines the everyday horror that takes place around the human use of animals with a disturbing premise: What if the roles were reversed? Since its premiere, the film has enjoyed an enormously successful festival career at the most prestigious international genre film festivals and has won numerous awards.

Synopsis

The balance of power between humans and animals is reversed, positions are switched. In a remote field or elsewhere, any encounter with the dominant species can be life-threatening. At the intersection of fantasy and horror, “Anonymous Animals” questions the place of animals in our society.

Director Baptiste Rouveure about the genesis

“The movie has its origin in an obsessive image: that of a horse attacking a man under carnivorous impulses. This unconscious nightmare image has come to nourish other real ones I had in my head from a rural childhood. Because of my proximity to a natural environment, I have been a privileged observer of a wild nature, but also a witness to the fateful hold of man on animals through exploitation and hunting. Over time, these sometimes bloody, macabre, cruel pictures have come to nourish a strong empathy towards the animal and a constant questioning of its place in our society.

This carnivorous horse that haunted me was the result of a dysfunction, a sick and dying nature. During the writing of the film, this digression of the food chain was then transformed into a transposition of the bodies between man and animal. The resulting anthropomorphic animals act according to our codes as dominant exploiters and hunters, carrying within them a dehumanization towards the… human species. This switching of roles thus places the human protagonists under the yoke of animal domination, for which there are nameless silhouettes of anonymous animals, involved in different kinds of exploitation where each is interchangeable with the other.”

The absence of dialogue

This debut feature film follows in the footsteps of a series of short films without words (“And The Winner Is”, “Les Éphémères Fugitifs”, “Altera”) which already focused on body language: the gesture taking precedence over words, movement over dialogue. For “Anonymous Animals”, the first sketches of dialogues quickly appeared superfluous and futile. Placed in an environment they do not master, the senses of the protagonists are constantly alert and the slightest movement expresses an intention. The purification of the dialogues has thus rehabilitated silence, silence has given way to something organic and universal. This sensory approach was in line with the idea of the communication barrier between man and animal: By inverting everyone’s places, I wanted to keep this inability to decipher the language of these anonymous animals in order to preserve only a purely physical exchange.

About director Baptiste Rouveure

In addition to commissioned films, Baptiste Rouveure continues his work in fiction, where the focus on movement and body language remain his preferred approach. His 2012’s short film “And The Winner Is” depicts a boxer fighting his double. Among the international festival selections, the film received the “Best short film award” at the 35th Rassegna Cinematographica Internazionale Festival in Italy. In 2018 “Altera” invites 13 dancers into a dystopic world to talk about the rejection of the other and the resulting withdrawal into oneself. The film stands out with 29 selections in official competitions in more than 19 countries. It won twice the prize for “Best dance film” (Imajitari International Dance Film, Indonesia, and Moving Body Festival, Bulgaria), the prize for “Best editing” (Muestra Movimiento Audiovisual, Mexico), the 3rd prize at Shortwave Festival in Poland and the prize of the “best photography” at the Festival de Cinearte en la Frontera. “Anonymous Animals” is Baptiste Rouveure‘s first feature film.

Filmography

2020 Anonymous Animals  (64 min, feature film)

2018 Altera (11 min, short film)

2015 Atome Hotel (25 x 3 und 5 x 5min, documentary series)

2012 Les Éphémères Fugitifs (5 min, short film)

2012 And The Winner Is (11 min, short film)

2007 L’Haschischin (14 min, short film)

Original title: Les animaux anonymes

Director: Baptiste Rouveure

Writer: Baptiste Rouveure

Actors: Thierry Marcos, Aurélien Chilarsky, Pauline Guilpain, Emilien Lavaut

Producer: Michael Kraetzer, Nicolás Onetti

Cinematography: Emmanuel Dauchy, Kevin Brunet, Baptiste Rouveure

Editing: Baptiste Rouveure

Sound: Alyson Dijoux

Makeup: Constance Savelli

Music: Damien Maurel

Sound design: Théo Hourbeigt

Mixing: Jean-François Terrien

SFX: Théo Rol

 

Production company: Anonymous Animals Films

Genres: Fantasy, Horror

Year of production: 2020

Country: France

Language: none

 

Length: 64 Min

Rating: FSK 16

Aspect ratio: 2.35 : 1

Resolution: Full-HD

Prizes:

2020 Cinemafantastique International Genre Film Fest: Best Feature Film -> Anonymous Animals Films

2020 Derby Film Festival: Best Genre Feature Film -> Anonymous Animals Films

2020 FANtastic Horror Film Festival, San Diago: Best of the Fest -> Michael Kräuter, Nicolás Onetti

2020 Maracay International Film & Video Festival: Fantastic Feature Film -> Anonymous Animals Films

2020 Molins Film Festival: Best Photography -> Emmanuel Dauchy, Kevin Brunet, Baptiste Rouveure

Film label: Artkeim²

Distributor: UCM.ONE

 

Theatrical release (G/A/S): Mai 13, 2021

DVD/Blu-Ray release date: June 18, 2021

VoD release date: June 18, 2021

Trailer (German)

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Feedbacks & Comments

“…one of the most original disturbing horror films of the year” (Cinema Estremo)

“A clever and unsettling horror film” (Ready Steady Cut)

“It is arty, different, beautiful and fantastic watch”  (Horror Scream Video Vault)

“Overwhelming, shocking and dark” … A cinematic experience that lasts a long time” (Filmchecker)

„It’s food for thought as well s fuel for nightmares“ (Grimmfest)

“Avant-garde film with a powerful message” (Aipt Comics)

“A film that will linger in your mind for a long time in a treacherous way” (Strange Colour Deej Reviews).

“A narration not common in genre cinema… Each scene is designed to be ab immersive experience” (El Cuervo Enteradillo)

News

Anonymous Animals” available from today on Blu-Ray, DVD and VoD portals

UCM.ONE is releasing the French film “Anonymous Animals” by Baptiste Rouveure today on Blu-Ray, DVD and VoD portals on the Artlkeim² label in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Director Baptiste Rouveure’s experimental feature film is set in a world where power positions are reversed – positions are swapped between humans and animals. In a remote field…

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“Anonymous Animals” by Baptiste Rouveure celebrates its theatrical release today hybrid

The French film “Anonymous Animals” by Baptiste Rouveure starts today hybrid in cinemas with UCM.ONE on the Artlkeim² label. In this case, “hybrid” means that the film can be seen in some open cinemas, but it is also available on the Kino on Demand platform and via Cinemalovers in “virtual cinemas” at the same time. The last two options…

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The film “Anonymous Animals” by Baptiste Rouveure will be released hybrid in cinemas on May 13, 2021

Unfortunately, due to the adopted nationwide tightening of Corona measures, the theatrical release via UCM.ONE of “Anonymous Animals” could not take place on the big screen on 22 April 2021 as originally planned. We are all the more pleased to announce that the feature film will now have a “hybrid” theatrical release on May 13,…

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