Skip to main content
The Ice Tower film image; woman in white with a tiara and frosty makeup standing in falling snow

The Ice Tower

La Tour de Glace

Panorama

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

1970s, in the High Alps. Fifteen-year-old runaway orphan Jeanne (Clara Pacini) finds shelter in a movie studio where a film adaptation of her favourite fairy tale, Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, is being shot. From her hiding spot behind the stage, Jeanne becomes enthralled with the film’s mysterious and exacting star, Cristina van den Berg (Marion Cotillard). When Jeanne is mistaken for an extra on set, Cristina takes a shine to her. But cold is the heart of the Snow Queen, and she demands sacrifices from those who love her.

This spellbinding fantasy drama from director Lucile Hadžihalilović combines an experimental arthouse aesthetic with stunning wintry landscapes to paint a dark, oneiric world that flows freely between Jeanne’s tactile reality and the Snow Queen’s cinematic fantasy realm. Up-and-comer Clara Pacini shines in her delicate portrayal of teenage vulnerability, while Academy Award–winning actress Marion Cotillard brings masterful nuance to her depiction of the ice-cold screen queen. Winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at Berlinale.

 

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution, Berlinale 2025

 

Community Partner

Director

Lucile Hadžihalilović

Cast

Marion Cotillard, Clara Pacini, August Diehl, Gaspar Noé, Marine Gesbert

Credits
Country of Origin

France/Germany

Year

2025

Language

In French with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
118 min
Award Winners Drama Women Directors
3B Productions,ARTE France, Sutor Kolonko

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Producer

Muriel Merlin

Screenwriter

Lucile Hadžihalilović, Geoff Cox

Cinematography

Jonathan Ricquebourg

Editor

Nassim Gordji Tehrani

Production Design

Julia Irribarria

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Secret in Their Eyes

Dir. Juan José Campanella
129 min

This month's Talking Pictures screening is a multi-layered, poignant thriller interweaving the personal lives of a prosecution investigator (Ricardo Darin) and a judge, with a manhunt spanning twenty-five years. Stay for cookies, coffee and a chat after!

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

American Doctor

Dir. Poh Si Teng
93 min

One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Sunless

Dir. Chris Marker
103 min

Chris Marker's dazzling and discursive essay film ranges across Japan, Africa, San Francisco, Iceland, politics, philosophy, ritual, movies and memory. It's a film for the permanently curious.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Meet Me In St. Louis

Dir. Vincente Minnelli
113 min

Vincente Minnelli's heartwarming evergreen chronicles an ordinarily tumultuous year in the life of a prosperous household in 1904. It's debatable that MGM ever conjured a more affecting musical.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema