28/07/2014 - A sure-fire hit at the box office, the filmmaker is directing a cast comprising Pierre Rochefort, Pio Marmaï, Mélanie Bernier and Kyan Khojandi; Mandarin Cinéma is producing

Over the course of four feature films, Rémi Bezançon has racked up some impressive figures. Love Is in the Air enticed 400,000 viewers in 2005 and bagged itself a nomination for the César for Most Promising Actor; The First Day of the Rest of Your Life [+see also:
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film profile] was a huge hit, taking almost two million admissions in 2008 and earning itself eight César nominations in 2009 (including for Best Film, Best Director and Best Writing), eventually cashing in on three of them (Best Editing and Most Promising Actor/Actress); A Happy Event [+see also:
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interview: Rémi Bezançon
film profile] took 463,000 admissions in France in 2011 in the wake of a world premiere at Toronto; and the filmmaker’s foray into animation with his Zarafa [+see also:
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film profile] was met with tremendous success, taking 1.4 million admissions in France and earning him a nomination for the César for Best Animated Film in 2013. There is therefore a great deal of interest surrounding the start of the shoot today for the director’s fifth feature: Nos futurs [+see also:
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film profile].

The cast includes Pierre Rochefort (Un beau dimanche [+see also:
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film profile]; very popular in Alyah [+see also:
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film profile] and currently appearing on screens in Maestro), Mélanie Bernier (The Brats [+see also:
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film profile]) and Kyan Khojandi (who rose to fame in the television series Bref and will be in seen in movie theatres this autumn in Lou! Journal infime).

Written by the director together with Vanessa Portal (who co-wrote A Happy Event) and Jean-François Halin (nominated for the César for Best Writing – Adaptation in 2007 for OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies [+see also:
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film profile]), the story revolves around Yann Kerbec (Rochefort), who, for far too long, has been leading a completely bland life devoid of any snags or complications, with everything purely functional. A life without joy or sadness that he plods through just like a zombie – until one evening, on his birthday, when he is led to revisit his past. His former years come back to him in the guise of Thomas (Marmaï), an old friend he hasn’t seen since the end of secondary school. Together with Thomas, he will relive what had been the best days of his life. His old friends, his first love and his memories that he assumed were long forgotten all come to the surface once again. But once the time for this nostalgic jubilation has passed, Yann sees that those days are over, that all those ghosts belong well and truly in the past, and that it is time for him to move on.

Produced by Isabelle Grellat for Mandarin Cinéma (which has produced all of the filmmaker’s features apart from Zarafa), Nos futurs is co-produced by France 2 Cinéma and Gaumont (which will handle distribution in France and manage international sales). Having been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the film’s shoot will last eight weeks, and will take place in Paris and in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

As for its recent productions, last Wednesday Mandarin Cinéma saw a theatrical release for Léa Fazer’s Maestro, while Cannes competitor Saint Laurent [+see also:
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Q&A: Bertrand Bonello
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interview: François Ozon
film profile] by François Ozon will be released on 5 November. The Paris-based firm has also just wrapped the shoot for En équilibre [+see also:
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making of
film profile] by Denis Dercourt (read the article).

(Translated from French)