04/03/2022 - The French film centre will support the screenwriter’s first feature which is co-directed by Benoît Sabatier, as well as first films from Simon Moutaïrou, Lucie Prost and Saïd Belktibia

Screenwriter-director Marcia Romano and journalist-director Benoît Sabatier

Four projects have been selected during the first 2022 session of the CNC’s first advance on receipts committee (dedicated to first feature films).

Stealing focus among these is Porcheville, which will be the first movie directed by Marcia Romano, who was nominated for this year’s Best Adapted Screenplay César courtesy of Happening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
film profile], as well as for 2016’s Best Original Screenplay César courtesy of Standing Tall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuelle Bercot
film profile], and who also co-wrote Peaceful [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Authentik [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Farewell Paris [+see also:
trailer
film profile], to name just three). The film will be co-directed by Benoît Sabatier, who also co-wrote the story revolving around a sixty-something man who rocks up in Marseille, develops a close bond with a young, local gang, becomes infatuated with a dealer, brings a band back together again, and hangs out in the town. What does he want? Is he using his grief as an excuse to play with fire and get on everyone’s nerves? Production is entrusted to Frédéric Dubreuil on behalf of Envie de Tempête.

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An advance on receipts is also winging its way to another screenwriter who has already made a name for himself and is likewise stepping behind the camera for the very first time: Simon Moutaïrou (nominated for this year’s Best Original Screenplay César via Black Box [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and notably the co-writer of Goliath, which is hitting cinemas next week). This project, entitled Ni Chaînes Ni Maîtres, is steered by Chi-Fou-Mi Productions.

The CNC is also backing Les Truites by Lucie Prost and produced by Folle Allure Films. A product of the Émergence film direction residency, the project consists of a story written by the filmmaker and revolving around Leo, a twenty-seven year old engineer, who have to hand over the farmland of his father - a farmer who committed suicide three years earlier - to a rare metal drilling company. But strange phenomena lead him to believe that the construction site is polluting the river of his childhood. He then embarks on a hallucinatory investigation that will confront him with his grief.

Last but not least, Rokya by Saïd Belktibia is another one of the lucky few to receive an advance on receipts. The movie is co-scripted by Louis Penicaut and produced by Iconoclast Films.

(Translated from French)