World premiere

Veins

Local title
Tõmbsooned
Original title
Nervures
Director
Raymond St-Jean
Country
Canada
Year
2025
Festival
29th Black Nights Film Festival
Programme
Official Selection - Competition
Genre
Thriller
Subject
elderly people, environment, sustainability

We are all interconnected. What becomes of our close ones after death?

Isabelle travels to a nearly abandoned small town of Saint-Étienne with her girlfriend to visit her parents and receives quite a shock when she hears from her mother that her father died a few days ago and has already been buried. Isabelle wants to know why she was not notified of her father’s death sooner, or invited to the funeral. However, she only receives obscure explanations from both her mother and her uncle.

Light is cast on the questionable event by the widely-travelled Dr Hubert who, with his Swedish wife, has allegedly found a mysterious and efficient cure for clients who are suffering from the worst of pains. Isabelle feels and sees that inexplicable metamorphoses are taking place with her mother and her weird and unearthly behaviour may be related to the secret being kept from her.

The genre of body horror, which has again become popular among the broader audiences (good examples include “The Procedure” and “Together”), hereby receives a welcome addition in the form of this mystery in the style of classics H. P. Lovecraft and David Cronenberg, which will make us think of our loved ones whose death we do not want to accept.

Helmut Jänes

Director
Raymond St-Jean
Screenwriter
Martin Girard
Cast
Romane Denis, Marie-Thérèse Fortin, Sylvain Marcel, Anana Rydval, Richard Fréchette
Producer
Nicolas Comeau
Cinematographer
Jean-François Lord
Production Design
Marie-Hélène Lavoie
Editing
Matthieu Laclau
Music
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier
Sound
Benoit Dame, Stéphane Thiebaut
Production
1976 Productions
World sales
Reason8
Runtime
Language
French
Subtitles
Estonian, English
Director
Raymond St-Jean

Raymond St-Jean (1961) is a film director, screenwriter, and multimedia designer. After studying communication at the University of Quebec in Montreal, he began his career directing music videos and short films. Over the years, he has explored a variety of genres, directing dramas, documentaries and performing arts films. His films have been broadcast in Canada and Europe and showcased at numerous festivals. His feature-length documentary “A Chair Fit for an Angel” (2013) was screened at over ten international festivals and won the Best Canadian Film Award. His previous feature film “Dusk for a Hitman” (2023) was received with favourable reviews and an excellent reception from audiences. He has also designed video projections for Cirque du Soleil.

Filmography:
Cabaret Neiges Noires (1997), A Chair Fit for an Angel (doc, 2014), Louise Lecavalier: Sur son Cheval de Feu (doc, 2017), Crépuscule pour un tueur (Dusk for a Hitman, 2023), Nervures (Veins, 2025)

Grand Prix for The Best Film, grant of 20 000 euros from the city of Tallinn, Award for Best Director, grant of 5000€ from Alexela

Screenings

1st Lux Hall Apollo Kino Coca-Cola Plaza
Screening110121 / Tõmbsooned
SubtitlesEnglish, Estonian
Q&A duration
Screening duration
Trailer