What do you do when old ways fail? Set in a small Belgian farming community, The Fifth Season hinges on townsfolk preparing for the annual spring festival. After song and dance, the evening draws to a close with the burning of Christmas trees and the ritualistic banishment of Old Man Winter for his crimes. But something goes wrong, the Solstice bonfire won’t alight and Spring doesn’t arrive. Cows stop producing milk, chickens can’t lay eggs, and slowly, the community starts to fall apart.
With a tip of the hat to Robin Hardy’s original version of The Wicker Man, The Fifth Season evolves from a charming rural idyll to a claustrophobic, post-apocalyptic dystopia. As the season of not-winter and not-spring drags on, it becomes only a matter of time before something even more desperate happens.
- Awards
- Arca CinemaGiovani Award (Best Film of Venezia 69) Venice Film Festival 2012
- Festivals
- Toronto International Film Festival 2012, Rotterdam International Film Festival 2013, Palm Springs International Film Festival 2013
- Director
- Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth
- Producer
- Philippe Avril, Peter Brosens, Sébastien Delloye , Diana Elbaum, J.B. Macrander, Joop van Wijk, Jessica Woodworth
- Screenwriter
- Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth
- Cinematographer
- Hans Bruch Jr.
- Editor
- Jessica WOODWORTH
- Music
- Michel SCHOPPING
- Cast
- Aurélia Poirier, Django Schrevens, Sam Louwyck, Gil Vancompernolle