AFFFF25: Niki

Australian Premiere

Selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival 2024, this powerful debut from Céline Sallette is an introspective spotlight on one of the contemporary world's most iconoclastic artists. From sculptor and painter to author and filmmaker, who was Niki de Saint-Phalle before becoming the woman who refused to conform? 

1952: Fleeing an oppressive America in the throes of McCarthyism, Niki (Charlotte Le Bon) and her husband Harry (John Robinson) arrive in Paris ready to leave their past behind. Overwhelmed by motherhood and working as a model and actress, Niki hopes her bohemian life is enough to fulfil her – or silence the haunting episodes from her childhood. Just as secrets cannot be forgotten, talent cannot always lie dormant. When Niki is forced to face her demons, will she find something beautiful in the darkness? 

With an unflinching yet gentle eye, Salette sheds light on the archaic practices women were subjected to in the name of medicine, and their resilient, artistic triumphs in spite of it. An empathetic meditation on the pain we bury, Niki is the biopic that proves that art can liberate us from the wounds that cut the deepest.