LITTLE JOE

Synopsis

Alice, a single mother, is a dedicated senior plant breeder at a corporation engaged in developing new species. She has engineered a very special crimson flower, remarkable not only for its beauty but also for its therapeutic value: if kept at the ideal temperature, fed properly and spoken to regularly, this plant makes its owner happy. Against company policy, Alice takes one home as a gift for her teenage son, Joe. They christen it ‘Little Joe’ but as it grows, so too does Alice’s suspicion that her new creations may not be as harmless as their nickname suggests.

Biography

Jessica Hausner was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1972. She studied Directing at the Film Academy of Vienna where she made the award-winning short films FLORA (1996) and INTER-VIEW (1999). In 2001, her debut feature film, LOVELY RITA premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard. She returned to Un Certain Regard with her second feature, HOTEL in 2004. In 2009, LOURDES was selected in Competition at the Venice Film Festival where it was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize. AMOUR FOU was Hausner’s third film to be presented in Un Certain Regard, where it premiered in 2014. LITTLE JOE is Jessica Hausner’s fifth feature film and her English-language debut.

Filmography:
2019 - LITTLE JOE
2014 - AMOUR FOU
2009 - LOURDES
2004 - HOTEL
2001 - LOVELY RITA
1999 - INTER-VIEW, short
1995 - FLORA, short

festival

Best Actress - Emily Beecham, Cannes, 2019