The Apocalypse Comes Quietly In Belgium's THE FIFTH SEASON

Selected by both Venice and Toronto, Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodsworth's The Fifth Season presents a very quiet take on the apocalypse. One where the end comes simply because spring refuses to. TIFF describes the film like this:

In a secluded village deep in the Ardennes, a community gathers to set alight an effigy of Uncle Winter atop a mountain of brush. When the pyre refuses to burn, winter cannot pass into spring and nature stagnates: the bees disappear, seeds refuse to sprout and cows no longer offer milk. Desperation turns to madness as the villagers suffer the deteri-oration of their land, their relationships, their bodies and their minds. Tractors circle in endless loops; birds refuse to sing; a young girl's nose bleeds endlessly. As the adult world crumbles around them, three adolescents -- Alice, Thomas and Octave -- toil on the farms, explore the deep forests and attempt to make some sense of the chaos that has engulfed their village. Alice and Thomas are in a budding relationship, while Octave watches the world from his wheelchair, perked atop his parents' food truck. For all three, without the turning of the seasons, maturation remains just out of reach. The villagers turn on each other as the natural order collapses, engaging in strange, farcical acts of malice. In the end, only the prospect of human sacrifice offers them any hope.

An English subtitled trailer for this one has just arrived online. Take a look below.