12/12/2024 - Gilles Lellouche, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Louis Garrel, Xavier Dolan and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi are among the cast of this Chi-Fou-Mi production being sold by StudioCanal

Actors Gilles Lellouche (© Marcel Hartmann) and Adèle Exarchopoulos (© Marie Rouge/Unifrance)

The lengthy shoot for Chien 51 by Cédric Jimenez has entered the final stretch: after having kicked off on 19 August, it is due to wrap on 18 December. This is the sixth feature by the filmmaker, after titles such as The Connection [+see also:
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film profile] (1.5 million admissions in France in 2014), The Stronghold [+see also:
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film profile] (premiered out of competition at Cannes in 2021, seven nominations for the 2022 César Awards and 2.2 million viewers in France) and November [+see also:
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film profile] (out of competition at Cannes in 2022, seven nominations for the 2023 César Awards and 2.39 million tickets sold in its home country).

Toplining the cast are the brilliant Gilles Lellouche (currently gracing screens in And Their Children After Them [+see also:
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film profile], glimpsed in Beating Hearts [+see also:
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interview: Aude Léa Rapin
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film profile] and in French theatres from 11 December in Saint-Ex [+see also:
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interview: Xavier Giannoli
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interview: Carine Tardieu
film profile]). Also among the cast are Artus (A Little Something Extra), rapper Lala &ce (acting on the big screen for the first time), Hugo Dillon (in French dark rooms from 25 December onwards in The Flood [+see also:
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interview: Gianluca Jodice
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interview: Léonor Serraille
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Adapted by the director himself and Olivier Demangel (BAFTA for Best International Programme for the series Class Act, also the writer of Atlantics [+see also:
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interview: Mati Diop
film profile] and Towards the Battle [+see also:
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film profile], among other films) from the dystopian novel of the same name by Laurent Gaudé, the story is set in 2045, in a Paris that is split into zones separating the country’s different social classes and which is monitored by the AI-powered Alma. Salia, an elite investigator from Zone 2, and Zem, a disillusioned policeman from Zone 3, are forced to work together to investigate the murder of Alma’s inventor. Their inquiry will soon unveil multiple layers of conspiracy that run far deeper, and which compel them to call into question their own allegiances and the true nature of the authorities ruling the country…

Chien 51 is being produced by Hugo Sélignac for Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, and co-produced by France 2 Cinéma, StudioCanal (which will be in charge of the international sales and the French distribution) and Jim Films, as well as Belgian outfits Shelter Prod and Artémis Productions. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+, Netflix and France Télévisions, the feature has also secured support from the Ile-de-France and Sud regions, from the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis and from the Entourage Sofica. The score will be composed by Guillaume Roussel (nominated for the César Award in his category in 2022 and 2024, for The Stronghold and the two instalments of The Three Musketeers [+see also:
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film profile]). The French theatrical release is slated for 15 October 2025. 

As a reminder, Chi-Fou-Mi Productions is about to wrap principal photography on Les enfants vont bien by Nathan Ambrosioni (see the news).

(Translated from French)