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PRODUCTION France

Emmanuelle Béart to star in Vinyan

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Emmanuelle Béart has been added to the cast of Vinyan, the second feature by Belgian filmmaker Fabrice du Welz after his highly controversial The Ordeal [+see also:
trailer
interview: Fabrice du Welz
film profile
]
, which screened at the 2004 Cannes Critics’ Week.

Described as a supernatural thriller, the director’s new project (see article) – from the slate of French outfit The Film – is expected to begin production this spring and includes an eight-week English-language shoot in Thailand.

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Vinyan, which in Thai means “ghost”, is a spirit or a lost soul that comes back from the dead to haunt the living. Scripted by du Welz, the story revolves around the desperate search by the parents of a young boy after his disappearance during the tsunami in Thailand.

After six months in the country, the couple begin to run out of money and seriously consider returning home. The husband (an architect who helped with the reconstruction, for whom casting is underway) persuades his wife to abandon their search. However, she still thinks she has seen their child in a video made in Burma. This blurry image leads them on an expedition into the jungle, a decision that turns into a nightmare. Deceived by their guide who tries to blackmail them, the couple end up alone and increasingly vulnerable.

This journey into the unknown is described by the director as a "contrast between two worlds: the West, where death is a real taboo, and the East, where it is seen as part of life".

Produced by Michael Gentile for The Film, in association with Paris-based production financing specialists Backup Films, the €4m Vinyan received development funding from UK outfit Film4.

Wild Bunch are handling international sales on the title, as well as its French distribution.

The film’s DoP will be Benoît Debie (Gaspard Noé’s Irreversible, Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Innocence, The Ordeal; see interview).

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(Translated from French)

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