23/11/2010

After attracting attention with her 2008 debut feature 57,000 Kilometers Between Us [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (selected at Rotterdam, London and Tribeca, among other festivals), Delphine Kreuter has been shooting her second feature Dubai Flamingos for the last two weeks.

The cast includes Spanish actor Sergi López (to be seen on screens in 2011 in Dominik Moll’s The Monk), Vanessa Paradis (forging ahead after the major hit Heartbreaker [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile]) and Florence Thomassin (who starred in the director’s first film and recently appeared in Turk’s Head [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The Princess of Montpensier [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]).

Scripted by Kreuter, the film centres on Vincent (Lopez), a flying instructor in the mirage city of Dubai. His wife Livia (Thomassin) has disappeared without trace. She has perhaps gone off with another man. Vincent decides to go looking for her.

In a car park, he has a strange encounter with Jackie (Paradis), a beautiful young woman in tears. She is weeping for her steppe wolf which died recently. Jackie says she must go and bury her animal in the north, for its soul to rest in peace.

Vincent, more concerned about his wife’s disappearance than the ramblings of an eccentric, leaves the site and looks in vain for his car in the middle of a dust cloud. Jackie then tells him he will never find his vehicle again and invites him into her spangly Mercedes with pink leather interior.

Produced by Paulo Branco for Alfama Films, Dubai Flamingos is co-produced by Portugal’s Clap Filmes. The two companies will release the film in their respective countries, while Alfama Films is also managing international sales.

Branco told Cineuropa that the film has not been pre-bought by any TV network: "In the French film industry’s current situation, I have no financing. This film is a crazy venture!" Whose shoot will last another three weeks in Dubai.

(Translated from French)