24/03/2015 - Michéle Ray-Gavras and Costa Gavras’ company will be bringing the new film by Mehdi Charef, starring Denis Lavant and Rossy De Palma, to theatres on 3 June

KG Productions, the outfit belonging to Michéle Ray-Gavras and Costa Gavras, is branching out to become a distributor and will bring Graziella [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Mehdi Charef, which it produced, to French theatres on 3 June. The movie by the director of Algerian heritage stars Denis Lavant (Holy Motors [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leos Carax
film profile]) and Spanish actress Rossy De Palma (Broken Embraces [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile]). 

“We have decided to set up a distribution company,” Michéle Ray-Gavras told Cineuropa during the Bari International Film Festival, where the film was presented, “because in France, the small and medium-sized enterprises are no longer willing to distribute this type of movie, which are neither comedies nor mainstream titles. They prefer not to risk it, and they buy the rights for foreign films at the festival markets at an attractive price.” 

Graziella tells the story of a former projectionist and a nurse who meet up again after spending 20 years in jail. They both work in a boarding school while they wait for their unconditional release, but they need to completely rebuild their lives because the entire community and even their own families have disowned them. “I drew inspiration from the work I did in prison years ago, while I was teaching inmates to read and write,” explains the director. “I’ve depicted their courage and their will to live.” 

Graziella was completed seven years after Cartouches Gauloises [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was presented as a Special Screening in the Official Selection of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. 

(Translated from Italian)