Alpha.
World premiere: Venice Film Festival 2024, Giornate degli Autori / Competition
After his mother passed away, Rein (31) moves to a small village in the Alps to be in nature, meditate and work as a snowboard teacher. His quiet bubble bursts when his extroverted father Gijs (60) comes to visit.
Gijs quickly takes center stage on a back country ski tour with Rein and his friends. He charms the youngsters and flirts with Rein’s new girlfriend Laura, leaving no room for his son. It isn’t long before Rein has had enough. He drags his father away from the group and they continue their hike up the mountain alone. The tension between the two men is palpable. Gijs feels increasingly uncomfortable with the steep and dangerous terrain but Rein presses on to the top, ignoring his father’s pleas to walk back down.
It isn’t long before nature violently lashes out, turning their petty struggle for dominance into a full-blown quest for survival.
A FILM BY Jan-Willem van Ewijk | The Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovenia, 2024, 100'