Who by Fire (Comme le feu)

Philippe Lesage wrote and directed Who by Fire (French title: Comme le feu), a 2024 Canadian-French drama. Spoken in French, it follows a film-loving teenager on a holiday at the home of a famous director he admires, and the grown-up world he witnesses there. The 161-minute film had its world premiere on 17 February 2024 in the Generation 14plus section of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the section's Grand Prix of the International Jury.

The protagonist is 16-year-old Jeff (Noah Parker). The family of his best friend Max invites him on a holiday deep in the woods, to the isolated home of the famous director he idolises, Blake Cadieux (Arieh Worthalter). There Jeff secretly falls for his friend's older sister Aliocha (Aurélia Arandi-Longpré) and feels everything intensely. He also becomes a sensitive witness to the adults' rivalries and at times toxic power dynamics. Blake, whom Jeff badly wants to trust, is far from the mentor he hoped for.

Sophie Desmarais, Irène Jacob, Paul Ahmarani, Laurent Lucas, Antoine Marchand-Gagnon and Guillaume Laurin also appear. Lesage wrote the screenplay himself.