Sacrifice | Romain Gavras

At a lavish charity gala, a radicalized group of eco-terrorists storms the event with the aim of carrying out a ritual sacrifice. Guided by a mysterious prophecy, Joan (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her siblings believe they have been entrusted with the task of purifying the planet. Among their hostages are a movie star (Chris Evans), a cold-blooded billionaire (Vincent Cassel), and a performer (Ambika Mod). As the night descends into chaos, the boundaries between reality and performance, faith and interpretation, salvation and sacrifice begin to blur. Onassis Culture participates in the Greek-French director’s English-language debut, continuing a creative collaboration that began with Gener8ion and Athena.

A production by Iconoclast, Mid March Media and Heretic, in association with Onassis Culture.

I was born into a cinema family who held a strong belief that films could change the world, or at least your perception of it. My Greek father read me myths; Walt Disney wasn’t allowed in our home. I grew up on tales of heroes making grand gestures, throwing themselves into fire, and Hephaestus forging weapons in a volcano.

This idea of changing the world was central to my upbringing—so much so that, as a kid, I wanted to be a Greek emperor (having realized very young that presidents don’t have enough power). Eventually, I lowered my ambitions and became a director.

Instead of changing the world, my wonderful writer, Will Arbery, and I decided to make a film about people wanting to change the world through a modern, pop, lyrical, psychedelic, symbolic, and fun tale about our times.

In “Sacrifice,” everyone wants to change the world—some for virtue signaling, some for profound, radical, illuminated reasons, and some for personal gain.

At the center are Joan and Mike. I have the two of them constantly inside my head talking to me—I think in some ways, we all do.

In the morning, I feel like Joan: incandescent with faith and prepared to burn everything for the world to be reborn. In the afternoon, I am like Mike: way less courageous and a lot more confused. He wants change and meaning, but really doesn’t know how to achieve it—crippled by his ego and his incapacity to dissociate fiction and reality.

What happens when radical idealism meets reality and vanity?

This may come off as a bit cliché, but I truly believe that changing the world begins with changing yourself—doing something selfless, making a leap of faith.

Ultimately, “Sacrifice” is a film about faith—looking for it, faking it, having too much of it, or having none at all. Jumping into a volcano is what we do when we decide to fall in love with someone, when we decide to stand for something.

This is the decision our hero will have to make at the end of the film.

It’s what we did when we decided to make an ambitious, singular film that has no template. Again, faith.

Cinema, for me, is the attempt to wrestle meaning from a world I don’t understand—a world that’s absurd, beautiful, petty, violent, and full of grace, often all in the same frame. With “Sacrifice,” I want the audience to feel that same chaos and wonder.

Now more than ever, it feels like we’re all dancing on the edge of a volcano. This is an invitation to stop dancing and jump.

–Romain Gavras