THEY CAME BACK

Les Revenants

Director Robin Campillo / 2004 / France

What if all the people who died in the last 10 years stepped back into their old lives' Robin Campillo's debut feature is anything but a zombie pic. It is a cautionary tale with a sci-fi spin, which raises some pressing questions about the depletion of resources, the nature of loss and grief, and, metaphorically, the plight of the world's stateless people - its legions of refugees.

The world over, the dead begin to pour from cemeteries, moving onto the streets and into the lives they once reluctantly abandoned. But these people need food and shelter and work (or the pension), and they need love. The returned are reunited with those they left behind and relationships are re-established. In every way those who have returned seem of this world, but in time it becomes apparent they are not.

Regular screenwriter for Laurent Cantet (Time Out), Campillo has fashioned a superb film in They Came Back, which screened at both Toronto and Rotterdam film festivals.

"A brilliantly constructed and committed thriller with a penetrating, musty smell." - Rotterdam Film Festival

Robin Campillo will be attending the festival.


D Robin Campillo P Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta S Robin Campillo, Brigitte Tijou WS Films Distribution L French w/English subtitles TD 35mm/col/2004/110mins

Robin Campillo was born in Mohammedia, Morocco, in 1962. His films are Le Corps et ses Atteintes (1996, short), They Came Back (MIFF 05).

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