Cazes’s Ombline explores motherhood in prison

by Fabien Lemercier

09/11/2010 - Catapulted to the forefront of the international scene at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in The Princess of Montpensier [trailer], rising star Mélanie Thierry (Best Female Newcomer Cesar 2010 for One for the Road [trailer]) yesterday started shooting Stéphane Cazes’s debut feature, Ombline, which tackles the subject of motherhood in a prison environment.

Penned by the director and awarded the 2008 Sopadin Prize for Best Junior Screenplay, the script centres on Ombline, a young woman of around 20, who is imprisoned for a four-year sentence when she is two months pregnant.

She gives birth to Lucas and keeps him in prison for the legally authorised 18 months. She has to raise him and discover her role as a mother amidst the violence and misery of the prison environment.

Produced by Jérémy Zelnik for Dibona Films and Ilann Girard for Arsam International, Ombline is co-produced by Belgian company Entre Chien et Loup. Pre-bought by Canal + and CinéCinéma, the film has also received an advance on receipts from the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC), as well as backing from the Midi-Pyrénées region, the Gan Foundation, the Belgian French Community and Bruxelles Images.

Shooting will last until December 22 in France (notably at Saint-Michel prison inToulouse).

(Translated from French)