Known for his short films Évasion (2015) and Doubout (2018), Pierre Le Gall has been shooting his debut feature film, Du fioul dans les artères, since 3 February. The cast is led by French actor Alexis Manenti (awarded the Best Male Newcomer César and Lumière trophies in 2020 for Les Misérables, recently well-received in The Mohican, and hitting cinemas in L’étrangère this year) and Polish talent Julian Swiezewski (notably at his best in Sweat and nominated Best Supporting Actor at this year’s Polish Film Awards for White Courage), with Armindo Alves de Sa (Athena) likewise in on the action.

Written by the director (who took part in La Fémis’ screenplay workshop in 2021, as well as an Emergence residency) together with Camille Perton (Arenas) and Martin Drouot (O Fim do Mundo), the story follows dedicated and passionate truck driver Étienne. On the road each and every week, to the detriment of his love life, Étienne contents himself with brief encounters in car parks with total strangers. But when he meets a Polish trucker called Bartosz, his heart skips a beat. Despite incompatible itineraries, Étienne will do anything to make time for this relationship…

Du fioul dans les artères is being produced by Nicolas Blanc on behalf of Ex Nihilo. The film has been pre-purchased by Ciné+/OCS and enjoys support from Pictanovo (of the Hauts-de-France region), the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg and the SOFICA companies Indéfilms, Cinecap and Cineaxe. The seven-week film shoot will wrap on 30 March, with Antoine Cormier (The Kingdom) heading up photography. Editing will fall to Xavier Sirven (nominated for the 2025 César in his speciality thank to Souleymane’s Story) while the film’s music will be composed by Santiago Dolan (who won last year’s Argentinian Sur Award for Best Original Score via Puan). Sales are steered by Pyramide International and the movie’s release in French cinemas will be managed by Pan Distribution.

For the record, Agat Films & Ex Nihilo are currently overseeing post-production on The Great Arch by Stéphane Demoustier (read our article), Spices and Lies by Amine Adjina and Her Difference by Lola Doillon. The firm will also be launching Michel Leclerc’s Le mélange des genres (toplined by Léa Drucker and Benjamin Lavernhe) in French cinemas on 16 April, as well as Lawrence Valin’s Little Jaffna (unveiled in Venice’s International Critics’ Week) on 30 April.