Six debut features in preparation at Emergence
The winners of the 12th Emergence session, selected by a jury presided by Laurent Cantet, have been hard at work since last Monday in Essonne, where they will stay until April 16. The programme includes shooting scenes for their debut features.
Pierre Pinaud (winner of Best Short Film Cesar 2009) is working on On Air (Estrella Productions). It centres on an obnoxious and well-known radio presenter, who is looking for the mother she never knew and worms her way into a family from the suburbs, without revealing her identity.
Alice Winocour’s Augustine explores the relationship between Professor Charcot, a clinician researching hysteria, and a young servant-girl interned in a mental hospital in Paris in 1885 (produced by Dharamsala).
In Vincent Mariette’s Chiens Errants (“Stray Dogs”, Kazak Productions), two brothers and their half-sister who are reunited by the death of their parent and in search of a supposed nest egg hidden away by their father.
Ronan Le Page will shoot La Veuve et l'Orphelin (“The Widow and the Orphan”, co-written by Philippe Lasry), about a single mother who will do anything to ensure her son gets a scholarship for one of Paris’ most prestigious schools, even if it means pretending to be a widow.
Anne Weil and Philippe Kotlarski’s Friends from France (produced by Les Films du Poisson) recounts the eventful journey of two people who illegally smuggle books in Hebrew, key-rings, chocolate and medicine into USSR in 1982.
Finally, Teona and Thierry Grenade are preparing Dzma-Frère (“Dzma-Brother”), which is set amidst the chaos of Tbilisi, just after independence. A 16-year-old boy tries to emulate his idols: Tony Montana and Vito Corleone. But he must prevent his little brother, a young piano genius, from following his example.
Several projects that recently took part in Emergence will soon be released in theatres: Brigitte Sy’s Les Mains Libres (“Free Hands”), Katell Quillévéré’s Un Poison Violent (“A Violent Poison”), Teddy Lussi-Modeste’s Jimmy Rivière, Isabelle Brocard’s Ma Compagne de Nuit (“My Night Companion”), Renaud Fély’s Pauline et François and Audrey Fouché’s Memories Corner.
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
