19/09/2024 - The director living in Belgium has just kicked off filming on her first fiction feature, starring French actress Manon Clavel in the lead role

This Monday saw filming commence on Kika, under the aegis of the French director living in Belgium, Alexe Poukine. The filmmaker initially turned heads with her two first documentary features, Dormir, dormir dans les pierres (2013) and That Which Does Not Kill [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile] (the latter presented in competition in the 2019 Visions du Réel Festival). In the former, Poukine homes in on her uncle’s singular fate to investigate what leads a man to become homeless. In That Which Does Not Kill, she delivers a bold reflection on rape culture, arranging for different people, who have all been physically annihilated at a given point in their lives, to tell the same story whilst shedding light on it from different angles. This year also saw the release of her latest documentary, Who Cares? [+see also:
film review
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile]  (awarded a Special Mention in competition in the Visions du Réel Festival), which focuses on the simulated consultations which nurses take part in to learn how to fully inform patients, in order to explore how possible it is to stay kind in an abusive system.

Kika is, in this sense, Alexe Poukine’s first fiction feature following her short film Palma, which scooped the Special Jury Prize and Acting Award in Clermont-Ferrand. Kika paints the portrait of a young woman whose partner has just died and who is stupefied to realise she’s pregnant. Not only is her heart in pieces, she’s also totally broke, so she’s forced to sort out her priorities: first of all, dig herself out of this hole, and secondly, think about whether or not to keep the child.

The lead role in the film is played by French actress Manon Clavel, whom we previously saw in The Truth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hirokazu Kore-eda
film profile] and Mother and Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léonor Serraille
film profile], and who’s also due to feature in the credits of the series Winter Palace. Starring opposite her is French actor Makita Samba (the acting revelation from Paris, 13th District [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], who’s also playing the hero in L’Affaire de l’esclave Furcy), alongside Belgian actor Thomas Coumans (recently credited in the series Cristobal Balenciaga [+see also:
series review
series profile]).

Having kicked off on 15 September, shooting on Kika will continue until 5 November in the Brussels region. The movie is being produced by Benoit Roland on behalf of Wrong Men - who is also currently shooting Valéry Rosier’s new film Parkings (see our news) - in co-production with Alexandre Perrier for Kidam, who previously supported the director on Palma and Who Cares?. Kika also enjoys support from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre, screen.brussels, RTBF, Voo, Proximus, the CNC, the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, Creative Europe MEDIA, Eurimages, and Cineventure.

(Translated from French)