Robin Campillo ready to shoot Eastern Boys

by Fabien Lemercier

19/06/2012 - On July 9, Laurent Cantet’s editor for all his films and his co-scriptwriter for The Class [trailer, film focus] (Palme d’Or in 2008 and Cesar for best adapted screenplay in 2009), Heading South [trailer, film focus] and Time Out, Robin Campillo (photo), will start filming his second feature as a director after They Came Back (in the Horizons section at the Mostra de Venise in 2004). The film is called Eastern Boys and is to feature Olivier Rabourdin (nominated for a 2011 Cesar for best supporting actor in Of Gods and Men [trailer, film focus] and who recently appeared in Augustine [trailer]), Kirill Emelyanov, and Danil Vorobyev.

Written by the director, the screenplay tells the story of boys from the East (Polish, Russian, Romanian…) the eldest of whom are perhaps 25 years old. The youngest, we don’t know. In Paris, they hang out around the Gare du Nord. You might think they’re prostituting themselves. Muller, a discreet man in his late fifties, has spotted one of them: Marek. So one day, Muller bites the bullet and goes to speak to him. The young man accepts to see him again the next day. At Muller’s home. But the next day, when someone rings his doorbell, Muller has no idea of the trap he is about to fall into…

Produced by Hughes Charbonneau and Marie-Ange Luciani for Les Films de Pierre, Eastern Boys has garnered a pre-acquisition by Canal+, a €500,000 advance on receipts from the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC), support from the Aquitaine region, aid from the Pyrénées Atlantique department, and the support of Sofica Cofinova. Filming will wrap on August 25 after 18 days of work in Paris and 17 days in Aquitaine. Jeanne Lapoirie will be the director of photography and Arnaud Rebotini will compose the music. Sophie Dulac will handle the film’s distribution in France and Films Distribution will be in charge of international sales.

(Translated from French)