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PRODUCTION / FUNDING France

Audrey Diwan’s Happening creates quite a buzz

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- Produced by Rectangle, sold by Wild Bunch International and adapted from the novel by Annie Ernaux, the filmmaker’s second feature film should enjoy its world premiere within a major festival

Audrey Diwan’s Happening creates quite a buzz
Anamaria Vartolomei in Happening

Shot on the quiet last summer, Happening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
film profile
]
by Audrey Diwan is unlikely to remain in the shadows for long, given the rumours flying around Paris predicting an enviable place for the film within the showcase of the biggest, upcoming international festivals (in competition at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, for example, potentially alongside Xavier Giannoli’s Lost Illusions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile
]
and Stéphane Brizé’s Another World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Brizé
film profile
]
).

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Starring in the cast of the filmmaker’s second feature film, following on from Losing It [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2019), are Anamaria Vartolomei (nominated for the 2012 Acting Revelation Lumières Award via My Little Princess [+see also:
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
film profile
]
, and well-received in The Sower [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
interview: Marine Francen
film profile
]
, Just Kids [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
interview: Christophe Blanc
film profile
]
and How To Be A Good Wife [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
film profile
]
, to name just three), the French-Kosovar actress Luàna Bajrami (nominated for the 2020 Best New Hope César for Portrait of a Lady on Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile
]
, also at her best in Ibrahim [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and The Hill Where Lionesses Roar [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luana Bajrami
film profile
]
), Louise Orry-Diquero (Occidental [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Neïl Beloufa
film profile
]
) and Switzerland’s Kacey Mottet Klein (nominated for the 2013 and 2017 Best New Hope Césars on account of Sister [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
interview: Ursula Meier
film profile
]
and Being 17 [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: André Téchiné
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
film profile
]
). Likewise in on the act are Louise Chevillotte (seen in Benedetta [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, The Salt of Tears [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Souheila Yacoub
film profile
]
and Synonyms [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nadav Lapid
film profile
]
), Pio Marmaï (who turned a fair few heads in Cannes this year by way of The Divide [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Catherine Corsini
film profile
]
) and Sandrine Bonnaire (recently well-received in Truk [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sarah Marx
film profile
]
and Into the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
).

Written by the director in league with Marcia Romano (nominated for the 2016 Best Original Screenplay César via Standing Tall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuelle Bercot
film profile
]
) and based upon Annie Ernaux’s novel of the same name, the Happening revolves around a very young woman called Anne who decides to have an abortion in an attempt to finish her studies and escape her working class family’s social destiny. It’s the story of France in 1963, a society which condemns female desire and sex in general… It’s a simple yet gritty story following in the footsteps of someone who decides to act against the law. Anne doesn’t have much time left: her exams are looming and her belly is expanding…

Happening is produced by Edouard Weil and Alice Girard on behalf of Rectangle Productions and in co-production with France 3 Cinéma. Pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature film benefits from an advance on receipts from the CNC, as well as support from the Ile-de-France region. Photography is helmed by Laurent Tangy (nominated for the 2019 César in his category for Sink or Swim [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), while distribution in France is entrusted to Wild Bunch, who are also managing international sales.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

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