The Holy Boy, an Italian fantasy film directed by Paolo Strippoli, arrives in French theaters on September 2, 2026. In a mountain village touted as Italy’s happiest, a teacher discovers that locals gather around a teenager whom they credit with the power to absorb their suffering. The film is restricted to viewers 12 and over with a warning.
Sergio, a former judoka turned teacher, arrives in Remis hoping for a fresh start. Still haunted by a painful event, he confronts the inhabitants’ almost unreal serenity. That calm rests on Matteo, a teenager whom the whole community surrounds with a conspicuous fervor.
Each week the villagers crowd around the boy to cradle him and ease their pain. The ritual elevates Matteo into a figure who is at once guardian and holy, even as the story never asks what this power does to the teenager. The arrival of Sergio unsettles that balance and slowly exposes what the valley has been trying to keep hidden.
Michele Riondino plays Sergio, while the young Giulio Feltri lends his features to Matteo. Romana Maggiora Vergano, Roberto Citran and Paolo Pierobon round out the cast in this tale set at the crossroads of psychological drama, religious fantasy and folk horror.
The screenplay, written by Paolo Strippoli, Jacopo del Giudice, and Milo Tissone, probes the tactics people use to dodge suffering. By confiding his negative emotions to a child, the village doesn’t overcome them; it shifts them aside and builds around Matteo a collective belief that anyone’s sense of stability depends on him.
Screened out of competition at the Mostra de Venise 2025, The Holy Boy continues Paolo Strippoli's foray into genre cinema after A Classic Horror Story and Piove. The film was also shown at Strasbourg's European Fantastic Film Festival and at the Grindhouse Paradise festival in Toulouse.
To extend the in-theater experience, check out the September movie releases, the films to watch right now, and our selection of the year’s horror films.
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