Viking

The Viking Society is recruiting volunteers for the first crewed mission to Mars. The goal is to form a B-team that will mirror the mission here on Earth to find solutions to the interpersonal problems that the Mars-bound crew is experiencing. David is a high school gym teacher who seizes this opportunity to revive his dream of becoming an astronaut and making a difference. Viking balances deadpan humour with profound poignancy in its story about a longing for a sense of purpose. It’s that rare kind of science fiction where gadgets and fantasy are overshadowed by the mysteries of the human psyche.

It’s been a long process to get to Viking. The first spark of the movie was an exhibit I saw in New York by photographer Vincent Laforet. He did these really large format pictures of astronauts lost in the desert. I think the pictures were taken in the Utah desert. These pictures struck me. I kept thinking about them for several years. I wanted to do a sci-fi movie after my last film, Tu dors, Nicole. These images kept coming back. Around 2014 or 2015, I heard about the Mars One project, where anyone could apply for a one-way trip to Mars. I was wondering who would apply for that kind of thing. At first, I wanted to tell the story of someone applying for this project. Then, the script became something else.

Director Stéphane Lafleur, from an interview with Seventh Row