04/11/2010

Luxembourg-based production company Samsa Film is currently in pre-production on A bout portant, a noir-ish police thriller written by the Luxembourg duo Christophe Wagner (who will also direct) and Frédéric Zeimet.

Their screenplay for the film has now been shortlisted for the prestigious Concours Sopadin Scenario Prize in the category Grand Prix for Best Screenwriter. Past winners include multiple César winner Séraphine, The Boat Race (which was also co-produced by Samsa), Go, Live and Become and Laurent Cantet’s Time Out.

A bout portant tells the story of Werner, a young Luxembourg police inspector and father-to-be who has just been released from the hospital after a car accident when his childhood friend and brother-in-law, Rodrigues, is murdered. Together with a stern oldie from the police force, Jung, Werner investigates the case, which soon reveals to have ties to the vase Rodrigues was investigating when he died.

The film, which sounds like a policier à la luxembourgeoise and thus a rarity on Luxembourg screens, where genre fare is practically non-existent, will go into production in 2011. Claude Waringo from Samsa will produce.

The project has already received backing from Film Fund Luxembourg and ALGOA Luxembourg and Slate Funding from the MEDIA Programme.

Co-screenwriter Zeimet has another shot at winning the Sopadin Prize with a screenplay he wrote on his own: Chère maman, cher papa, which is nominated in the Prix Junior for Best Screenplay category.

The prizes will be handed out in Paris on November 22 during an awards ceremony presented by French actress Julie Gayet.