IFC Films and Shudder are all set to release Caitlin Cronenberg‘s highly anticipated feature film directorial debut, the chilling dystopian satire Humane.
Cronenberg cut her teeth in the director’s chair helming music videos and short films including The Endings (2018) based on her best-selling, celebrity-charged photo book of the same name, and The Death of David Cronenberg (2021).
Helmed by Cronenberg, from a screenplay written by one of the film’s producers, Michael Sparaga (Sidekick, Kayak to Klemtu), the film stars Jay Baruchel (This Is The End, Blackberry), Emily Hampshire (“Schitt’s Creek,” The End of Sex), Peter Gallagher (Palm Springs, “Grace and Frankie”), Sebastian Chacon (“Daisy Jones and the Six,” Emergency), Alanna Bale (“Cardinal,” “Little Bird”), Sirena Gulamgus (“Chapelwaite,” Code 8: Part II), and Enrico Colantoni (“Station Eleven,” “Flashpoint”).
Set months after a worldwide ecological collapse, Humane unfolds over the course of a single day. In an effort to curb overpopulation, global leaders have implemented extreme population control measures, including state-sponsored euthanasia. It is against this dystopian backdrop that a retired news anchor invites his adult children to dinner, with the intention of announcing his plan to enroll in the government’s euthanasia program. However, when the father’s announcement backfires disastrously, family tensions boil over into outright deadly chaos.
In anticipation of the imminent theatrical release of Humane on 26 April and its streaming debut on Shudder from 26 July, CinemaChords’ Howard Gorman spoke with Cronenberg, Baruchel and Hampshire. They discussed Cronenberg’s hopes and fears about following in her father and brother’s footsteps as a director. They also talked about how they tackled this film, which delivers scathing social commentary through its sardonic humour, shocking violence and ominous tone, and how they succeeded in combining all these elements so seamlessly.
