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PRODUCTION / FUNDING France / Belgium

Philippe Lioret overcomes a series of obstacles to make Sixteen

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- The filmmaker has completed a shoot that was suspended for 11 weeks due to Covid concerns. Now in post-production, the film is headed by Fin Août Productions and sold by Orange Studio

Philippe Lioret overcomes a series of obstacles to make Sixteen
Director Philippe Lioret

If ever a shoot was to symbolise the resilience and the complications faced by a French film production continuing to work despite all the obstacles of pandemic times, it could well be Sixteen [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
by Philippe Lioret. After starting on 6 October 2020 in the Paris region, the shoot was stopped after just a few weeks following the director and the two main actors contracting Covid.  The indemnity fund put in place by the CNC for this kind of situation (read the news) was used and filming was finally carried out from 20 January to 13 February, after 11 weeks of interruption. As the action of the film takes place over 15 days at the end of the summer, this interruption was a real headache in terms of continuity (vegetation, snow, etc.).

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The 9th feature film from the director is now in the editing room. Revealed by Tombés du ciel (winner of the Best Director and Best Screenplay awards at San Sebastian in 1993), the director went through the Panorama section of the 2009 Berlinale with Welcome [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Philippe Lioret
film profile
]
and through the Giornate degli Autori in Venice in 2011 with All Our Desires [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, and his latest film was A Kid [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philippe Lioret
film profile
]
(2016). His new film Sixteen is a contemporary and urban reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet, played by Teïlo Azaïs and Sabrina Levoye. Also in the cast are Nassim Lyes Si Ahmed (Inside the Cell [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Jean-Pierre Lorit (nominated for the 2001 Most Promising Actor César award for A Question of Taste), Marie Dompnier (from the series Les témoins), Arsène Mosca, Fejria Deliba and Myriem Akheddiou.

Written by the director, the script centres on Nora and Léo, who meet on the first day of the first year of high school. Their eyes meet, and the deal is sealed. Nora lives in social housing, and Léo in a residential area. Nora’s brother, Tarek, works as a warehouseman at the local supermarket. Accused of stealing, he maintains his innocence, but the director of the shop refuses to listen and fires him on the spot. That director is Franck, Léo’s father. The two families confront each other, their differences become even more exacerbated and chaos reigns. Nora and Léo’s lives are set aflame and take a turn for the tragic…

Produced by Marielle Duigou as part of Fin Août Productions, Sixteen is co-produced by France 3 Cinéma and Belgian company Gapbusters. Pre-bought by OCS, the feature film is also supported by the Cinecap and SofiTVcine Soficas, and on the Belgian side by Wallimage, the RTBF, BeTV, Proximus and Voo TV. French distribution rights have been jointly acquired by Le Pacte and Orange Studio (which is also taking care of international sales).

For the record, Fin Août Productions is also behind Diastème’s Le Monde d’hier, currently in post-production (article).

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(Translated from French)

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