29/09/2016 - Marc Zinga, Alexandra Lamy and Louane Emera are among the cast of this film that pays tribute to resistance fighter Addi Bâ; the movie is being staged by Vertigo Productions

The first clapperboard will slam in Lorraine on 17 October for the French-Belgian co-production Nos Patriotes [+see also:
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film profile], the third feature by Gabriel Le Bomin, who rose to fame with Fragments of Antonin [+see also:
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film profile] (nominated for the César Award for Best Debut Film in 2007) and then went on to make 2010’s The Adversary [+see also:
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film profile]. 

Standing out among the cast are Belgian actor Marc Zinga (nominated for the César Award and the Lumière Award for Most Promising Actor in 2015 for May Allah Bless France [+see also:
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film profile], winner of the Magritte Award for Best Male Newcomer in 2015 for Scouting for Zebras [+see also:
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film profile] and nominated in 2016 in the Best Supporting Actor category for Dheepan [+see also:
film review
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Q&A: Jacques Audiard
film profile]; appearing recently in The African Doctor [+see also:
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film profile]), Alexandra Lamy (Ricky [+see also:
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film profile], Back to Mom’s [+see also:
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film profile], and due to be seen next year in Un conte indien and L'amour qu'il nous faut) and Louane Emera (César and Lumière Awards for Most Promising Actress in 2015 for The Bélier Family [+see also:
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making of
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Written by Gabriel Le Bomin, the story revisits true events that took place during World War Two and pays tribute to resistance fighter Addi Bâ, an infantryman of Guinean heritage who was hired by the French Army. After being captured by the Germans, he escaped and was involved in the founding of the first group of the Maquis des Vosges resistance fighters. Interestingly, he was belatedly honoured, only receiving the Resistance Medal posthumously in 2003.

Produced by Aïssa Djabri and Farid Lahouassa for Vertigo Productions, Nos Patriotes, which is being co-produced by France Cinéma and Belgian outfit Scope Pictures, has also been pre-purchased by Canal+. The shoot will take place in the Grand Est region (in Gérardmer, Epinal, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, Senones and Faucogney) from 17 October to 16 December. The French distributor and international sales agent will be announced at a later date. 

Notable movies in Vertigo Productions’ filmography include Dieumerci! [+see also:
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film profile] by Lucien Jean-Baptiste, The Last Diamond [+see also:
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film profile] by Eric Barbier, Tout ce qui brille [+see also:
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film profile] by Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran, Man to Man by Régis Wargnier, the La Vérité si je mens! trilogy, and Good Old Daze, When the Cat’s Away, Maybe and Not for, or Against (Quite the Contrary) by Cédric Klapisch.

(Translated from French)