Altered Innocence has released the official US trailer for Bertrand Mandico’s latest feature, She Is Conann. The queer fantasy epic — a reimagined version of the barbaric male-dominated Conan the Barbarian — initially premiered at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section.
The trailer highlights Conann’s quest to get revenge and become “the most barbaric of the barbarians.” It then reveals the Cerberus guardian of the underworld, Rainer (Elina Löwensohn), who will guide Conann through different phases of her life, marking “Conann’s poetic journey through different incarnations and lesbian loves” and her accession as the warrior queen.
You can check out the trailer below:
The Conan myth from a queer perspective
“In a barbaric fantasy sci-fi trip through time, sword-and-sorcery mythology is bent, fractured, and gender-swapped by master visionary Bertrand Mandico in his third feature epic. Six lives, six eras, and six deaths mark Conann’s poetic journey through different incarnations and lesbian loves,” the synopsis reads.
An experimental French filmmaker known for his provocative body of work, She is Conann serves as Mandico’s third experimental film following the deeply bizarre The Wild Boys and the award-winning After Blue.
Described as an “even greater handmade homage” to the auteur’s previous projects, She is Conann’s influences include Tony Scott’s The Hunger, Federico Fellini’s Satyricon, and Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter. The film also drew inspiration from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s entire works.
In addition to Löwensohn as Rainer and Julia Riedler as Sanja, playing the many facets of Conann are Claire Duburcq (After Blue), Christa Théret (Renoir), Sandra Parfait (Lupin), Nathalie Richard (After Love), and Françoise Brion (L’Immortelle).
She is Conann’s theatrical run will commence on February 2, 2024, premiering at select Alamo Drafthouse locations and at the Anthology Film Archive in New York City. Other screening locations include Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, and more.
