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PRODUCTION France

Nathalie Baye and Malik Zidi shooting La volante

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- Directed by Christophe Ali and Nicolas Bonilauri, the feature, produced by Cinema Defacto and Tarantula, will be sold internationally by Bac Films

Nathalie Baye and Malik Zidi shooting La volante
Nathalie Baye

Last Monday in Metz, the shoot for La volante [+see also:
trailer
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]
, the third feature film by Christophe Ali and Nicolas Bonilauri, got under way. Having turned heads with Le Rat (revealed in the New Directors section of San Sebastian in 2000 and subsequently screened at Rotterdam), the directing duo then went on to make Wild Camp [+see also:
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]
 (selected in the Berlinale Panorama in 2006). According to Cineuropa’s sources, the cast of La volante includes Malik Zidi (nominated four times for the César Award for Most Promising Actor – including in 2001 for Water Drops on Burning Rocks – and winning in this category in 2007 for Poison Friends [+see also:
trailer
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]
; also popular in titles such as The Queen of Clubs [+see also:
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]
and Rebellion [+see also:
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]
), Nathalie Baye (nominated seven times for the César Award for Best Actress, and winning in this category in 1983 for La balance and in 2006 for The Young Lieutenant [+see also:
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]
; giving a fine performance recently in Laurence Anyways [+see also:
film review
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]
) and Sabrina Seyvecou (Family Tree [+see also:
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]
, Outside the Law [+see also:
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]
, My Way [+see also:
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]
).

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Written by the two directors together with Jacques Sotty and Philippe Blasband, the story sees 27-year-old Thomas (Malik Zidi) urgently rush his wife Audrey (Sabrina Seyvecou) to the maternity ward of a hospital one night in his car. On the way, he knocks down a young man and fatally injures him. At the hospital, his son Léo comes into the world while a few metres away, Marie-France (Nathalie Baye), the mother of the young man, finds out that he is dead. Seven years later, she is hired as a “mobile” secretary in Thomas’ administrative office, while he remains completely unaware of their shared past. A skilled manipulator of people, she quickly makes herself indispensable on both a personal and a professional level. No one seems to suspect this helpful, charismatic woman – no one except Léo, that is...

With production outsourced to Tom Dercourt for Paris-based outfit Cinema Defacto (which has been a partner of the filmmaking duo since their feature debut) and to Tarantula Luxembourg, La volante is co-produced by Belgian firm Artemis Productions. Having been pre-purchased by OCS (Orange Cinéma Séries), the film is also being backed by the Lorraine region, Film Fund Luxembourg, Tax Shelter Films Funding and the MEDIA Programme. The shoot, which will take place in Metz, Luxembourg and Belgium, will wrap on 2 December. Distribution in France and international sales will be handled by Bac Films.

Cinema Defacto’s filmography includes such titles as The Way Out [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petr Václav
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]
by Petr Václav (unveiled last May in the ACID programme at Cannes – read the interview with the director), The Summer of Flying Fish [+see also:
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]
by Marcela Said, Layla Fourie [+see also:
film review
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]
by Pia Marais, All Good Children [+see also:
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]
by Alicia Duffy, Adrienn Pal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agnes Kocsis, director of P…
film profile
]
by Agnes Kocsis, Eat, for This Is My Body [+see also:
trailer
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]
by Michelange Quay and The Page Turner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Dercourt
interview: Michel Saint-Jean
film profile
]
by Denis Dercourt.

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(Translated from French)

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