FRONTIER(S) director Xavier Gens will once again shock and disturb with his latest film, an intense and extremely graphic post-apocalyptic thriller. Hitting hard with a jolt of adrenaline right from the onset, THE DIVIDE takes place immediately after a nuclear attack, leading audiences into the basement of a high-rise building alongside the few tenants who made it to safety before the blast. Locked inside for who knows how long, with no real hope for escape or rescue, each tenant must figure out how to survive with what they have, and with who they are trapped with.

As rations deplete and power within the group shifts, the survivors start to turn against each other with physical and psychosexual torment. Gens worked to set the mood and up the intensity by shooting the film’s scenes in chronological order, allowing improvisation and collaboration, and encouraging the cast to go to great lengths – including starving themselves – in order to understand what the characters would be going through. As a result, the performances (including Michael Eklund, last seen at CIFF in WALK ALL OVER ME) are powerful enough to easily silence a room.