13/01/2021 - The actor will share centre stage with Zar Amir Ebrahimi in Guillaume Renusson’s first feature film, a Baxter Films and Les Films Velvet production set to be sold by WTFilms

Halted after a week of shooting back in March on account of the strict lockdown implemented across France, filming on Guillaume Renusson’s first full-length work White Paradise [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] finally resumed on Monday 11 January. Shining bright in the cast are Denis Ménochet (recently nominated for the 2020 Best Supporting Role César for By The Grace of God [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: François Ozon
film profile]; also well-received in Only The Animals [+see also:
film review
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interview: Dominik Moll
film profile]) and French-Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Tomorrow We Are Free [+see also:
trailer
interview: Hossein Pourseifi
film profile], Tehran Taboo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ali Soozandeh
film profile]) who are joined by Victoire Du Bois, Oscar Copp and Italy’s Luca Terracciano.

Written by Guillaume Renusson and Clément Peny, the story (which won the Audience Award for Best Screenplay for a First Feature Film at Angers’ European First Film Festival) revolves around Samuel who, in the aftermath of a recent tragedy, leaves to get away from it all in his chalet in the Italian Alps, a place of passage for migrants looking to cross the border between Italy and France. Samuel is nonplussed by the anger of those living in his village, who organise hunts in the mountains to track the migrants. One night, he comes across Chehreh who has fled her war-torn country for France. Faced with her distress, Samuel decides to help her make the crossing, telling himself it will only take a few hours.

Produced by Pierre-Louis Garnon on behalf of Baxter Films and Frédéric Jouve for Les Films Velvet, White Paradise has been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+. Also supported by the CNC by way of an advance on receipts, as well as by the PACA region (Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur) and Procirep, the feature film will shoot until 12 February (in the Hautes-Alpes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence departments) with Pierre Maillis-Laval at the wheel of photography. Distribution in France will be managed by Ad Vitam and sales by WTFilms.

Baxter Films and Les Films Velvet have previously worked together, most notably to produce Teddy [+see also:
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film profile] by Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma, which was awarded Cannes’ 2020 Official Selection label, has since taken home trophies from various other festivals and is currently awaiting its French release. Recent productions steered solo by Les Films Velvet are Red Soil [+see also:
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film profile] by Farid Bentoumi (likewise honoured by Cannes’ 2020 Official Selection and awaiting its French release) and Perfumes [+see also:
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interview: Grégory Magne
film profile] by Grégory Magne (a resounding success at the French box-office last summer), with the firm’s filmography also including all of Rebecca Zlotowski’s works, among other offerings, and, in post-production, Thierry de Peretti’s Undercover [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thierry de Peretti
film profile].

(Translated from French)