Neon debuted the first teaser trailer for Alpha, the latest film from Julia Ducournau, the visionary director behind Raw and the Palme D’or-winning Titane. Set in the 1980s, the French drama stars Mélissa Boros as Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old girl; Golshifteh Farahani as her mother; and Tahar Rahim as her ailing uncle, Amin, who underwent a significant physical transformation for his role.
Alpha made its world premiere today at Cannes Film Festival, competing for the Palme d’Or. Neon acquired the North American distribution rights, with the film slated for a U.S. theatrical release on August 20, 2025.
The film follows Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old living with her single mom. Their world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm.
Cannes Film Festival offers more details on the storyline, ‘Alpha is 13 years old. She lives alone with her mother and is going through the turmoil of adolescence. When she returns home from a party with a tattoo, something seemingly innocuous sends shock waves through her household. The film is set between the 1980s and 1990s. Julia Ducournau introduces a fictional epidemic that is clearly reminiscent of AIDS, which is in turn evocative of Mauvais Sang (Bad Blood) by Leos Carax.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair, director Julia Ducournau explains the film saying, “Alpha comes from this love that I have for this very transitional, uncomfortable space. It has to do with your body changing, specific smells, your own habitat—being between an animal and a human. It’s something I find incredibly human.”
Watch the teaser trailer for Alpha