17/09/2024 - Lou Lampros, Céline Sallette and Bertrand Belin lead the cast of documentary-maker Camille Ponsin’s first fiction feature, produced by Dharamsala

Actresses Lou Lampros (© Unifrance) and Céline Sallette (© Unifrance)

Today, Monday 16 September, has seen filming commence on Camille Ponsin’s first fiction feature, Les Furies. Well-known for her documentaries, having notably offered up Marie-Jo Will See You at 4 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (nominated for the Best Documentary Lumière in 2022), the director has put together a cast for her latest opus comprising Lou Lampros (well-received in My Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antoinette Boulat
film profile] and Peaceful [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and hitting cinemas on 25 September in To Live, To Die, To Live Again [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Céline Sallette (nominated for 2012’s Best New Hope César and recently seen in Green Tide; her first directorial effort, Niki [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], was presented in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and she’s also hitting screens on Max next year in the Malditos series) and Bertrand Belin (Jim’s Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu
film profile], Just The Two Of Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valérie Donzelli
film profile]).

Written by the director in league with Jean-Baptiste Delafon (who starred in Promises [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Kruithof
film profile] and in the series Of Money and Blood [+see also:
interview: Xavier Giannoli
series profile]), the screenplay (a finalist for this year’s Best Screenplay Award) delves into the depths of a remote valley in the Cévennes where a community of neo-rural folk live self-sufficiently, denying themselves nothing and sharing everything. Just like in the ‘70s, love and brotherhood are cardinal values. Everyone finds their place, what they need and their goals right here. Everyone except Anja, that is, an elusive and perturbed child who runs away from the community one day to live in a nigh-on state of wildness in the surrounding woods. Her distress, madness and fury sweep up everything in their wake: the community, all utopias, and even her own mother...

Les Furies is produced by Isabelle Madelaine on behalf of Dharamsala (who also co-produced Marie-Jo Will See You at 4). Pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+ and notably supported by way of a CNC advance on receipts and backing from the Occitanie region, the film will be shot in the Cévennes region, in the vicinity of Florac-Trois-Rivières, until 31 October. Its release in French cinemas is entrusted to Memento Distribution.

For the record, Dharamsala are currently overseeing post-production on Magma by Cyprien Vial (read our article - due for release in France in March 2025).

(Translated from French)