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PRODUCTION France

Jérémie Renier stars in Clément Cogitore’s The Wakhan Front

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- Swann Arlaud, Kévin Azais and Finnegan Oldfield also feature among the cast of this feature debut filmed in the utmost secrecy by Kazak Productions and sold by Indie Sales

Jérémie Renier stars in Clément Cogitore’s The Wakhan Front
Actor Jérémie Renier

According to Cineuropa’s sources, from late October until the beginning of December, Clément Cogitore was in France and Morocco filming the Franco-Belgian production The Wakhan Front, shrouded in the utmost secrecy. Having studied at the Le Fresnoy school and made a splash with his short films (including Un archipel out of competition at Locarno in 2012, the documentary Bielutine, dans le jardin du temps at the Directors’ Fortnight 2011 and Parmi nous in competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2012), for his feature debut the filmmaker has assembled a cast that includes Belgian actor Jérémie Renier (popular recently in Saint Laurent [+see also:
film review
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Q&A: Bertrand Bonello
film profile
]
and nominated for the César Award for Best Actor in 2013 for My Way [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Swann Arlaud (who turned heads in Crawl [+see also:
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interview: Hervé Lasgouttes
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]
and is currently appearing on the big screen in Chubby [+see also:
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trailer
film profile
]
), Kévin Azais (who rose to fame toplining Love at First Fight [+see also:
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interview: Thomas Cailley
film profile
]
), Finnegan Oldfield (who was filming in Bang Gang over the summer and is currently hard at work on the set of Les Cowboys) and Marc Robert.

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Written by Clément Cogitore in collaboration with Thomas Bidegain (A Prophet [+see also:
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interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
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]
, Rust & Bone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard
film profile
]
), the story is set in Afghanistan in 2014. As the troops are preparing to pull out, Captain Antarès Bonassieu and his section are assigned to a monitoring and supervision mission in a remote valley in Wakhan, on the border with Pakistan. Despite the tenacity shown by Antarès and his men, they will gradually begin to lose control of this supposedly peaceful area. One night in September, some of the soldiers start to disappear mysteriously in the valley...

Produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond for Kazak Productions, The Wakhan Front is co-produced by Belgian outfit Tarantula. Having been pre-purchased by Orange Cinéma Séries (OCS), the feature is also benefitting from the CNC’s advance on receipts, and backing from the Cinémage and La Banque Postale Image Soficas, as well as from the Wallonia-Brussels fund. Interestingly, the project was also supported at the writing stage by Ciclic and the Lower Normandy region, and was selected by the Torino FilmLab, the Les Arcs Coproduction Village, the Cinémart and Le Groupe Ouest. Distribution in French theatres will be handled by Diaphana, while international sales will be managed by Indie Sales.

For the record, Kazak consecutively produced Jimmy Rivière [+see also:
trailer
interview: Teddy Lussi-Modeste
film profile
]
by Teddy Lussi-Modeste, Fool Circle [+see also:
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trailer
film profile
]
by Vincent Mariette and Mercuriales [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Virgil Vernier (which has just hit theatre screens and is among the hopefuls for the Louis Delluc Prize 2014 for Best Debut Film).

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(Translated from French)

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