Dir. Matthieu Kassovitz, 1995, B&W, 97 min
With Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili
In French with English subtitles

Winner of Best Director Award at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival
Winner of Three César Awards including Best Film

Don’t miss this special virtual film release celebrating La Haine‘s 25th anniversary!

Mathieu Kassovitz took the film world by storm with this gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France—specifically the low-income banlieues on the outskirts of Paris.

Aimlessly passing their days in the concrete environs of a dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui)—a Jew, African, and Arab—personify France’s immigrant populations. Their bristling resentment at their marginalization simmers until it reaches a climactic boiling point.

A rough-hewn work of beauty, La Haine is a landmark of contemporary French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s ongoing identity crisis.

“raw, vital and captivating” — Los Angeles Times

“One of the most blisteringly effective pieces of urban cinema ever made.” — The Times

“One of the most nuanced and technically accomplished treatments of race, violence, and the politics of assimilation in recent cinema.” — Slant Magazine

“An unmissable response to an unending emergency.” — The Guardian