04/06/2024 - The two actresses top the bill of the feature-length fiction debut by documentarian Tamara Stepanyan, the shoot for which is imminent, with production by La Huit Production and Pan Cinéma

Actresses Camille Cottin (left, © Georges Biard) and Zar Amir Ebrahimi

8 June will see the start of the shoot for Sauver Les Morts (lit. “Save the Dead”), the feature-length fiction debut by Armenian documentarian Tamara Stepanyan, who turned heads with Embers (victorious at Busan in 2012 and screened at Locarno in 2013), Those from the Shore (which clinched awards at Amiens and Boston, among others, in 2017) and Village of Women [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (unveiled in competition at DOK Leipzig in 2019).

The filmmaker, who has been based in France since 2013, has assembled a cast including two solid leads: Camille Cottin (nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2016, famous worldwide for her role as Andréa in the series Call My Agent!, popular recently in The Empire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bruno Dumont
film profile] and Stillwater, and set to be glimpsed on screens from 18 September in Ni chaînes ni maîtres and from 6 November in Une chose et son contraire) and Iran’s Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Best Actress Award at Cannes in 2022 for Holy Spider [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ali Abbasi
interview: Ali Abbasi
interview: Zar Amir Ebrahimi
film profile], also giving a strong performance in Tatami [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and White Paradise [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], soon to grace screens in L’effacement and Reading Lolita in Tehran). They will be flanked, among others, by Hovnatan Avédikian and Denis Lavant (nominated for the César Award for Best Actor in 2013 for Holy Motors [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leos Carax
film profile]), who will put in an appearance.

The story, written by the director together with Jean-Christophe Ferrari, Jean Breschand (La papesse Jeanne [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Jihane Chouaib (The Beast in the Jungle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Patric Chiha
film profile]) and Romy Coccia di Ferro (Slumlord [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), revolves around Céline, who comes to Armenia for the first time in order to straighten things out after the death of Arto, her husband. She discovers that he had been lying to her, that he went to war, that he used a fraudulent identity, and that his old friends have accused him of being a deserter. And so she embarks on a new journey to investigate Arto’s past: disabled ex-servicemen from the battles of 2020, veterans of the victorious clashes of the 1990s, terrors from a never-ending war. A woman is chasing after a ghost. How can she bury him? Can we save the dead?

Produced by Stéphane Jourdain for La Huit Production (who previously teamed up with the filmmaker for Village of Women) and by Camille Gentet for Pan Cinéma, Sauver Les Morts is being co-produced by Armenian outfit Visan. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature has also secured support from the CNC’s advance on receipts and from the National Cinema Center of Armenia (NCCA). The seven-week shoot will take place almost entirely in Armenia, apart from one day in Paris, with Claire Mathon (César Award in her category in 2020 for Portrait of a Lady on Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile], and nominated in 2014 and 2023 for Stranger by the Lake [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile] and Saint Omer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alice Diop
interview: Kayije Kagame
film profile], respectively) in charge of the cinematography. The French theatrical release will be handled by Pan Distribution, with the international sales still under negotiation.

As a reminder, La Huit Production recently staged This Is the End [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Vincent Dieutre (screened at the 2023 Berlinale Forum).

(Translated from French)