30/10/2018 - The Paris-based firm will be selling the directorial feature debut by Abdel Raouf Dafri, a Moana Films production that is currently being filmed

Director-screenwriter Abdel Raouf Dafri (© Le Film Français)

The Breitner Commando [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the directorial feature debut by screenwriter Abdel Raouf Dafri, is being sold by Paris-based firm Playtime, which will spring into action from tomorrow onwards at the American Film Market (AFM, 31 October-7 November), touting several other mouth-watering titles to boot.

For his directorial debut, Abdel Raouf Dafri – who won the César Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2010 for A Prophet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
film profile] (which, incidentally, he will soon adapt into a series), was nominated in 2009 for the César for Best Adaptation for the diptych Mesrine: Part 2 – Public Enemy #1 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Mesrine: Part 1 – Killer Instinct [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and was crowned with the Emmy Award for Best Drama Series in 2012 thanks to the second season of Braquo – has assembled a cast headed up by Belgium’s Johan Heldenbergh (nominated for the European Film Award for Best Actor in 2013 for The Broken Circle Breakdown [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Felix van Groeningen
interview: Felix Van Groeningen
interview: Felix Van Groeningen
film profile], popular in the recent movie Gaspard at the Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antony Cordier
film profile]) and Olivier Gourmet (Best Actor Award at Cannes in 2002 for The Son [+see also:
trailer
film profile], nominated for the César Award for Best Actor in 2012 for The Minister [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pierre Schoeller
film profile]). They are flanked by Linh Dan Pham (César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2006 for The Beat That My Heart Skipped [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Pierre Lottin (Les Tuche [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Steve Tientcheu (the series Transferts), Salim Kechiouche (Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Hichem Yacoubi (A Prophet), Lyna Khoudri (Blessed [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Aida Al Anfassi.

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The story, written by the newly turned director himself, begins in France in 1959. Colonel Breitner is given a secret mission: find the body of his former aide, Colonel Delignières, who has been reported missing in French Algeria, before the French Army burns the whole place to the ground. Breitner puts together a team of five outlaws, who are promised freedom if the mission succeeds. 

The Breitner Commando is currently filming and is being produced by Marc Missonnier for Moana Films. 

At the AFM, Playtime will be organising special promo-reel screenings for By the Grace of God [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: François Ozon
film profile] by François Ozon, 5 Is the Perfect Number by Italy’s Igort (toplined by Toni Servillo and Valeria Golino), Escape from Rakka [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Emmanuel Hamon (see the article), Who You Think I Am by Safy Nebbou (see the article) and Who Killed Lady Winsley? [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Hiner Saleem. Another screening that is sure to pique interest is the market premiere of the documentary Celebration [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Olivier Meyrou, which whisks us away to the heart of the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house, as the designer was working on his last collection and Pierre Bergé was bustling about behind the scenes.

Also of note among the movies set to premiere in 2019 is Memory Box [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil J…
film profile] (working title: The Notebooks) by Lebanese duo Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (FIPRESCI Prize at Locarno in 2005 with A Perfect Day [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; the pair also took part in Un Certain Regard at Cannes with Je veux voir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in 2008 and in Toronto with the doc The Lebanese Rocket Society [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Khalil Joreige
film profile] in 2012), a production staged by Haut et Court. The plot revolves around a single mother living in Canada whose past – connected to her youth in Lebanon in the 1980s – begins to resurface.

(Translated from French)