Ryan Werner, the marketing director for the Toronto Film Festival, who has overseen many large-scale events, openly expressed his concerns regarding audience reactions while watching the film Raw by director Julia Ducournau. “An old car had to wait outside the theater when the film became too intense for some viewers,” he noted.
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The screening of Raw took place during the Midnight Madness section, featuring terrifying scenes that transformed the audience into a frenzied chorus, as many viewers fainted in the theater. Werner mentioned that he hadn’t seen such a reaction since the audience was shocked while watching Antichrist by Lars von Trier.
Raw is a French film directed by Julia Ducournau, which tells the story of a teenage girl named Justine (Garance Marillier) who is forced to follow a family tradition of studying veterinary medicine. Raised as a vegetarian, she is compelled to eat meat during a hazing ritual. From there, Justine begins to awaken the darkest and most savage instincts within her.
Ducournau’s first feature film created a stir in the film community when it participated in the Cannes Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI Prize. At this year’s Toronto Film Festival, Raw has become a hot topic, generating debates about its quality as many viewers were shocked, while others argued that it was merely a work of artistic expression. Anjay Nagpal, the vice president of Focus World, believes that Raw “hits on the primal instincts of humanity and is a refined artistic expression.”
Raw has been acquired by Focus World and is set to be released in the U.S. in 2017. It is expected to make waves in the horror genre as a standout piece not to be overlooked in the coming year.
