Drew Xanthopoulos – The Sensitives #TDF20

March 6, 2018

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Drew Xanthopoulos, director of the film The Sensitives.

Drew Xanthopoulos talks to us about the heartfelt European premiere of his latest film The Sensitives, at TDF20 in the Habitat section. Dealing with a unique topic, Xanthopoulos manages to paint a picture that invites us to sink deeply into its composition. Its visceral aesthetics fully represent the director’s blood and tears that were shed to finish this film. The result is a powerful study on family, fear, and ultimately being part of something, no matter what.

The Sensitives: For the increasing number of people who are suffering from environmental illnesses, the modern world is full of unseen threats. Pesticides, perfumes, cell phones—any of these can send a “sensitive” into a debilitating downward spiral. Stunningly cinematic, The Sensitives, documents three families struggling with these issues. Joe, too sick to care for himself, faces an impossible choice: an uncertain future with his ever-burdened family or the lure of a safe community built for sensitives like him, far away. Twin brothers Sam and Nathan live with their mother, Karen, inside a sterilized safe home they haven’t left in years but a tragedy causes upheaval and uprooting in their fragile existence. And Susie, who decamped from society for a remote desert homestead decades ago, has finally found relief but contemplates leaving to advocate for awareness, risking her own health. Shot over three years, the film captures the hope and humanity that makes the marginalized undeniably relatable.

To discover more about the film, click here.