Kairos

From the Greek: Kairos, the right time.

KAIROS humorously reflects on uprootedness, the poetry of everyday life, solitude and the power of human contact.

After a year of filming abroad, 39-year-old Manu, a once prominent actor, returns to his hometown. He's keen to get back to work, but getting back into the business isn't as easy as he thought. No one expected his return and he has been replaced. After several unsuccessful auditions, he's no longer sure of anything. He left a girlfriend behind in Poland and finds himself with no ties. This questioning leads him to explore other aspects of his personality. Against all odds, he lands a job hosting a nightime call-in radio show. His listeners are mainly newcomers, refugees and exiles with varied backgrounds and life experiences, working graveyard shifts. Manu gradually appropriates this space, this gathering of mixed voices, to pose the philosophical questions that plague him. His words are so engaging that he becomes an anchor for many listeners. The show carries him. He finally feels useful. His life takes on new meaning. But the human kaleidoscope that emerges on the airwaves has a surprise in store for him. A dramatic incident forces him to make an agonizing choice, guided only by his moral compass and the strength of human bonds.

Starring — Emmanuel Schwartz, Olivia Palacci, Philippe-Audrey Larrue St-Jacques, Jennifer Alleyn, Elsa Guedj, François Chénier and Théodore Pellerin

Written & Directed by — Jennifer Alleyn

Cinematography — Marc Simpson-Threlford

Editing — Emma Bertin

Art Direction — Sylvie Desmarais

Original Music — Danys Levasseur

Producer — Jennifer Alleyn

Delegate Producer — Julie Prieur

Kairos. From Greek. The right time.

Kairos is about those decisive moments in life where everything can change; and our capacity to cease moments of opportunity.

Manu, a charming but egocentric actor returns to his hometown, had always relied on the words of others. Becoming a radio host, he has to write the script himself and learn to listen. Struck by the truth of his listeners' testimonies, we’ll see him gradually slip toward himself, in an existential shift.

The radio program imagined in the film is a space for speaking out, where we hear what we can't hear anywhere else: the voices from the shadow.

George Orwell said, "What if the goal was not to stay alive, but to remain human?"

In 2030, more than 200 million people will flee their countries in search of a new land. The challenge of integration, in a context of technological dehumanization, raises great questions.

Radio offers an anchor for mixed voices; these stories fly over borders, cross walls. And every listener finds there a home to overcome social isolation. Like these voices, I have roamed the city. My background as a documentary filmmaker led me to insert real life storiesinto the film.

I was born as a traveler. At three days old, I left my native Switzerland for Paris, and then to Canada. As I grew, I saw and felt the fracture that divided my mother daily, between her lost country and the one she was trying to adopt. At 21, I was born for a second time, thanks to a camera, which allowed me to meet people from all corners of the world. Through the 26 documentaries made for the show La course autour du monde, broadcast on Radio-Canada television, I touched the beauty that is human solidarity. A life-changing experience not unrelated to the quest of Kairos. The discovery of oneself through the other.

Written during the pandemic, when we were cut off from each other, Kairos is an ode to human solidarity. A voyage, almost a dream, in a city where voices come together.

— Jennifer Alleyn

Born in Switzerland, Jennifer Alleyn is a Canadian filmmaker, writer and photographer living in Montreal. B.A from Concordia University, she jumped right away into The Race Around the World (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) to shoot 26 documentaries within 26 weeks on five different continents, on her own. Followed the collective feature film Cosmos, winner of the CICEA award in Cannes in 1997 at the Directors' Fortnight. Her 2003 short film Svanok was awarded best short fiction film by the Quebec Film Critics Association and NYFF. Her first feature documentary, My Father’s Studio, a vibrant portrait of Canadian artist Edmund Alleyn, her father, was named best Canadian film at the International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal and also received a Gémeaux Award. For Impetus, her first feature, a hybrid drama which blurs the frontier between fiction and Cinema-vérité, she received the Creation Award 2019 for "her outstanding contribution to the development of Québec cinema". Premiered at Slamdance, USA, 2019, Alleyn’s stunning feature film debut, threading multiple narratives, delivers razor-sharp commentary that eludes pretense to reveal a rare something in modern cinema: true emotional intelligence. Jennifer carries a practice in visual arts and photography, which nourishes her cinema.

CEO of her own production company (Les Films de Jennie, founded in 2004), Jennifer Alleyn has been dedicated to auteur cinema for many years. She has nearly 20 years of experience in Quebec cinema as a screenwriter, director and producer. Involved in her community, on the boards of various institutions (ARRQ, Cinémathèque Québécoise, Cinéma Ex-centris, Cinéma du Musée), while producing shorts and documentaries. In 2018, she produced her first feature, Impetus, which received critical acclaim. Her ability to carry out ambitious projects (Impetus is shot in New York, in two languages, over several seasons, with a very small budget) proves the ingenuity and talent of this film lover. The first coproduction project she worked on, in 2001, with Les Films d'ici (Paris), has proven her ability to bring on international projects. Working as executive producer on her films My Father’s Studio and Ten Times Dix, Jennifer has acquired experience from established production companies like Amazone Film and ÉchoMédia.

By choosing to produce her new feature, Kairos with Les films de Jennie, with the help of the line producer Julie Prieur and in partnership with distributors and international sales agents at Filmoption International, Jennifer Alleyn naturally expanded the reach of her production.

FILMOGRAPHY
Kairos — Feature (2025)
Impetus — Feature (2018)
Ten Times Dix — Documentary (2011)
My Father’s Studio — Documentary (2008)
A few lost words — Short (2012)
The Imaginary Life of Jacques Monory — Short (2006)
Snavok (The Call) — Short (2005)
The Rossys — Short (2002)
Cosmos — Collective Feature film (1997)

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
Cosmos — C.I.C.E.A Award, Director's Fortnight, Cannes & sélection du Canada pour les Oscars (100 festivals and numerous prizes)
Impetus — Prix création 2019 "pour sa contribution exceptionnelle à la cinématograhie québécoise",
Svanok — New York Films and Vidéo Festival, Best short film Award, Critic's Award Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québecois,
My Father’s Studio — Winner Gémeaux Prize for Best portrait, Winner Best Canadian film at Montreal International Art Film Festival (FIFA)
Ten Times Dix — Winner Springboard to the World Award, Montreal International Art Film Festival (FIFA)