“Wild Foxes”, an interview with director Valéry Carnoy

May 21, 2025

In "Wild Foxes", director Valéry Carnot points the finger at old patriarchal patterns, and the image of virility teenage boys are still raised with

"Wild Foxes", an interview with director Valéry Carnoy Bénédicte Prot

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Belgian director Valéry Carnoy, highly praised at international festivals for his short films “My Planet” and “Titan“, presented his debut feature, “Wild Foxes”, starring the up and coming young actor Samuel Kircher (known for his stunning performance opposite Léa Drucker in Catherine Breillat‘s “Last Summer“), at the Director’s Fortnight.

This arresting, both realistic and poetic film, revolving around a reflection on the way teenage boys are still led to build their minds and bodies according to an idea of masculinity inextricably tied up with patriarchy, invisible pain, friendship, and the need for a teenager to escape what has been imposed on him to grow up into who he really is or wants to be, is also a contender for the Caméra d’or of the 78th Cannes Film Festival.

On masculinity in a community of teenage boys who are also training to become boxers

“It was important for me to talk about virility/masculinity, and all the injunctions that go with it, and about what is it to be a man, I mean what is it to be a man today, because in a patriarchal society, it’s always a big deal.“

On the choice of becoming a boxing champion

“When you’re a teenager and you train at a sport at a very high level, there is the question of when you decided to do this and in the film, it happened when he was very young, so he didn’t really decide to do this. And boxing at a competitive level, it’s hard: you have to punch other people and you have to get the punches… And he got friends thanks to that, and because he’s good, he got even more friends, and popularity, but he didn’t really decide that that was what he wanted… It’s just the others who decide for him…And suddenly, because of the accident and all the psychological things happening to him, he understands that he doesn’t want to punch someone else, but because of the male pressure, because of all the things happening to him, because he is good, he has to keep going and going and this is very unfair, because he understands that as a teenager, he is not that and it’s not that what he wants to do… I thought all this struggling would make for a good script.“

About the encounter with Yas, a taekwondo student who also plays the trumpet in secret

“Yas wants to practice taekwondo, and she wants to make music: she just wants to be happy. She’s another kind of kid, she’s a bit of a guide for Camille, because she shows him that he doesn’t need to take himself too seriously: he can just be himself. That’s why this is an initiatory film, because Camille understand Yas and follows Yas, and discovers another way to be that the others don’t understand.“

Plot

At a sports boarding school, talented young boxer Camille narrowly survives a fatal accident, saved by his best friend Matteo. After a swift recovery, an inexplicable pain gradually takes hold of him, threatening his dreams of greatness and his relationship with the team. In the ring and in a man's world, there’s no room for weakness.

Written by: Bénédicte Prot

Catherine Breillat My planet Samuel Kircher Titan

Guest

Valéry Carnoy

Film

Wild Foxes

Festival

Festival de Cannes

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