About

A radiant and masterful portrayal of relationships and the build up towards the thresholds we may cross – weddings, funerals, retirement – that shift and remake us. 35 Shots of Rum marks Mati Diop’s first foray into filmmaking – starring as Josephine for French auteur Claire Denis. Diop is mesmerising in her wonderfully subtle performance as university student Jo, daughter of train engineer Lionel (Alex Decas). Father and daughter live in an apartment in a seedy part of Paris. Sharing their apartment building are taxi driver Gabrielle (Nicole Dogué) who longs for more with Lionel and an intriguing yet stormy young man Noé (Grégoire Colin) who is drawn to Jo. Denis’s slow burn film hints at the rich emotional lives that simmer beneath the surface of her characters as they move through their daily lives.

I know that acting has enormously enriched and rendered more concrete my relationship to writing and to my actors but I cannot precisely explain this relationship. My experience working with Claire Denis on 35 Rhums has particularly affected me. I wouldn't know where what she conveyed to me begins or ends. It's huge. Mati Diop

Ages 18+