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La Haine joins IFcinéma on the 30th anniversary of its release
Published on 10 June 2025
A cult film in French cinema, La Haine went viral when it was released in 1995. Winner of the Prix de la mise en scène at the Cannes Film Festival, three César awards and two million box office receipts, it helped put Mathieu Kassovitz on the map as a director and Vincent Cassel as an actor. To mark the film's 30th anniversary, the French Institute has acquired the rights for IFcinéma, enabling public, non-commercial cinema screenings worldwide.
A passion for the 7th art
Born in Paris on August 3, 1967, Mathieu Kassovitz grew up in the film industry with his mother, a film editor, and his father, a director. He quickly followed in their footsteps, starting out as an assistant director on film and television productions. In 1990, he shot Fierrot le Pou, his first short film, for which he won several awards. Five years later, he moved on to feature films with Métisse, but it was with La Haine that he was definitively revealed to the general public in 1995. While he pursued his acting career with hits like Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulainor Vie sauvage, he made five more feature films as a director, including Les Rivière pourpresand Babylon A.D.
La naissance de la haine
In the Paris suburbs, three friends meet up in the early hours of the morning after riots in a housing estate following a massive police blunder. One of them is determined to avenge his friend if he doesn't survive, and takes a policeman's gun to do so. His two accomplices try to calm him down and mediate to keep things from getting out of hand. Their itinerary will stretch from 10 a.m. until dawn the next day.
A hard-hitting vision of suburbia
In La Haine, Mathieu Kassovitz seeks to show how the vicious circle of hatred is set in motion. When it was released, the film made its mark with its highly critical social approach, unusual in French cinema. The filmmaker turned it into an indictment of the police, while at the same time depicting the daily lives of suburban youth. Particularly creative in framing, camera movements, but also lighting, he multiplied visual innovations while maintaining a breathless pace from start to finish.
A cult, multi-award-winning film
Presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995, La Haine won the director's prize and was an instant hit on its theatrical release, with two million admissions. Eleven times nominated for a César in 1996, it won three awards, including Best Film and Best Editing. Considered a cult film, it launched the careers of Mathieu Kassovitz and Vincent Cassel. To mark the film's 30th anniversary, the French Institute has acquired the rights and is making the film available on its IFcinéma platform. This will enable non-commercial screenings of the film to be organized all over the world by the French cultural network abroad.
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