Robert Guédiguian shooting Don’t Tell Me the Boy Was Mad
- Syrus Shahidi, Grégoire Leprince Ringuet, Ariane Ascaride, Simon Abkarian and Serge Avedikian star in this Agat Films production sold by MK2
After kicking off with two days in Armenia on 24 and 25 April, the shoot for Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad [+see also:
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trailer
film profile], the 19th feature film by Robert Guédiguian, has been under way in earnest since 30 June. A total of 11 weeks of filming are scheduled in Ile-de-France, Marseille, Lebanon and once again in Armenia. The cast includes Syrus Shahidi (who rose to fame in 24 jours, la vérité sur l'affaire Ilan Halimi [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Grégoire Leprince Ringuet (nominated for the César for Most Promising Actor in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011 for Strayed, Love Songs [+see also:
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trailer
film profile], La belle personne [+see also:
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film profile] and The Princess of Montpensier [+see also:
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trailer
film profile]), Ariane Ascaride (who collaborates regularly with the filmmaker, won the César for Best Actress in 1998, and was nominated in 2003 and 2012 for The Snows of Kilimanjaro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robert Guédiguian
interview: Robert Guédiguian
film profile]), Simon Abkarian (popular in L'armée du crime [+see also:
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film profile], currently on screens in Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem [+see also:
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trailer
film profile]) and Serge Avedikian (Paradjanov [+see also:
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film profile]).
Written by the director together with Gilles Taurand (winner of the Osella for Best Screenplay at Venice in 1997, winner of the César in 1995 and nominated five additional times, including for Farewell My Queen [+see also:
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interview: Benoît Jacquot
film profile] in 2013), the story sees Aram, a young man of Armenian descent from Marseilles, blow up the Turkish Ambassador’s car in Paris. A passing young cyclist is seriously hurt in the incident, and he seeks to understand what’s going on when Aram’s mother bursts into his hospital room to ask his forgiveness. For his part, Aram becomes a dissident with his friends in Beirut until the day he decides to meet up with his victim to turn him into his spokesperson...
For the record, Robert Guédiguian was selected in competition at Cannes in 2002 with Marie-Jo and Her Two Lovers, at Berlin in 2005 and 2008 with The Walker of the Champ de Mars and Lady Jane [+see also:
film review
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film profile], as well as at San Sebastian in 1998 and 2004 with Where the Heart Is (winner of the Special Jury Prize) and My Father Is an Engineer. At Cannes, he also presented L'armée du crime out of competition in 2009 and The Snows of Kilimanjaro in Un Certain Regard in 2011.
Produced by Robert Guédiguian himself for Agat Films & Cie, Don’t Tell Me the Boy Was Mad is co-produced by France 3 Cinéma. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature is also backed by the Ile-de-France and PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) regions, as well as by Sofica La Banque Postale Image 8, Soficinétv and Indéfilms. Distribution in France will be handled by Diaphana, while MK2 will head international sales.
Agat Films currently has Une mère [+see also:
trailer
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
film profile] by Christine Carrière (read the article) in post-production.
(Translated from French)
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