18/07/2024 - Blandine Madec and India Hair lead the cast of the director’s debut feature film, which is produced by Cinq de Trèfle and Comme des Cinémas

Monday 29 July will see the first clapperboard slam on Les jeux, a debut feature film by actress Valentine Cadic (notably seen in Our Struggles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillaume Senez
film profile]) who previously turned heads for her short films Omaha Beach and The Summer Holidays (selected for Clermont-Ferrand’s national competition in 2023, as well as for this year’s MyFrenchFilmFestival). Stand-out names in the cast include Blandine Madec (making her first feature film appearance and reuniting with the director having toplined The Summer Holidays) and India Hair (awarded the 2013 Best Newcomer Lumière Award for Camille Rewinds [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], nominated for the Best New Hope César Award in 2013 and 2021, recently well-received in Jeanne du Barry [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], All To Play For [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Delphine Deloget
film profile] and the series Polar Park, and soon to be seen in Les Barbares, Trois amies and Planète B).

Written by Valentine Cadic and Mariette Désert (nominated for the Best Original Screenplay César in 2014 thanks to Suzanne [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Katell Quillévéré
film profile] and likewise acclaimed for The Passengers of the Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mikhaël Hers
film profile]), the story takes us to the heart of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Thirty-year-old Blandine has travelled from Normandy to watch the swimming competitions and to meet up with a half-sister she lost contact with 10 years earlier. Accustomed to calm surroundings and solitude, Blandine discovers a vibrant city with unfamiliar codes. As the days go by, the young woman meets people, gets lost, hesitates, tries to (re)forge bonds and navigates the city centre which is inflamed by this extraordinary event…

Produced by Arnaud Bruttin on behalf of Cinq de Trèfle and Masa Sawada and Antoine Jouve for Comme des Cinémas, Les jeux enjoys support in the form of an advance on receipts from the CNC and from Transpa (via the Mon film dans un camion Prize). Shooting will continue until 30 August, with distribution in French cinemas entrusted to New Story.

For the record, Comme des Cinémas recently co-produced My Sunshine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hiroshi Okuyama
film profile] by Japanese director Hiroshi Okuyama, which was unveiled in May in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section.

(Translated from French)