09/02/2021 - The first clapperboard is set to slam in March on Christian Duguay’s new film, a Nolita Cinema production sold by TF1 Studio

Actor Pio Marmaï and actresses Mélanie Laurent and Carmen Kassovitz

10 March will see shooting begin on Ride Above [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Canadian director Christian Duguay who is embarking upon his 4th feature film following on the heels of Jappeloup [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lou de Laâge
film profile] (1.8 million admissions in France in 2013 and a nomination for the Best Actor Lumières award as well as the Best New Female Hope César), Belle and Sebastian, The Adventure Continues [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (1.8 million French viewers in 2015) and A Bag of Marbles [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (1.3 million admissions in France in 2017).

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The cast comprises Pio Marmaï (nominated for the 2019 Best Actor César thanks to The Trouble With You [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pierre Salvadori
film profile] and whom we’ll soon be seeing in A Night Doctor [+see also:
trailer
interview: Elie Wajeman
film profile], How I Became A Super Hero [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Compagnons and La fracture, to name a few), Mélanie Laurent (who’ll be hitting screens in 2021 in Alexandre Aja’s Netflix film Oxygen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and in Le bal des folles which she herself directed for Amazon Prime Video) and also Carmen Kassovitz (revealed in Atomic Summer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]). Other cast members include Kacey Mottet-Klein, Charlie Paulet and June Benard,with an appearance by Carole Bouquet and Danny Huston.

Adapted by Christian Duguay, Christophe Donner and Lilou Fogli from the young adult novel Tempête au haras, written by the afore-mentioned Donner, the story centres around Zoé who was quite literally born and raised around horses. She leads a happy life at her parents’ racehorse stables, driven by the dream of someday becoming a jockey like her father. For Zoe, nothing beats being with horses, especially when it comes to her “best friend” Beautiful Intrigue, the stable’s prize mare who first taught the child how to walk. When Beautiful Intrigue gives birth to a foal which Zoe names Tempest, the girl is the first to see in him the champion her parents have been waiting and working for all their lives, the winner she will ride to victory… But Zoe’s dreams are shattered one stormy night, when a panicked Tempest accidentally injures the girl, leaving her permanently “disabled”. Furious at life, Zoe slips into despair and pulls her entire family down with her, especially her father who is on the verge of losing everything. But with the unshakeable support of her family and the help of Seb, a stable hand with a gift for communicating with horses, Zoe will seek to conquer the impossible in pursuit of her dream.

Ride Above is produced by Maxime Delauney on behalf of Nolita Cinema and is co-produced by TF1 Studio, IDL Films, Pathé Film and France 2 Cinéma. The Hauts-de-France region has also contributed towards the film’s overall budget of €12m. Filming will continue until 17 May, unfolding in Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, Oise, in Cabourg’s hippodrome and in the French department of the Manche. Distribution in French cinemas will take place in the first trimester of 2022, courtesy of Pathé, whilst international sales (which kicked off at the AFM) are in the hands of TF1 Studio.

(Translated from French)