07/04/2009

After the 200-metre-deep Ukrainian caves at the end of January, the heights of La Banne d'Ordanche in Puy-de-Dôme in February and Vercors in March, the shoot for Jacques Malaterre’s Ao: The Last Neanderthal is now relocating to Bulgaria.

Set for a December 16 theatrical release by its producer UGC, this is the debut cinematic feature by a director who has enjoyed TV success with his docu-fictions A Species’ Odyssey (nominated for the 2003 European Film Award for Best Documentary) and Homo Sapiens (2005). The cast includes UK actors Simon Paul Sutton and Aruna Shields.

Adapted from Marc Klapczynski’s novel Aô, l'homme ancien (“Aô, Ancient Man”), the film – co-written by the director, Philippe Isard and Michel Fessler – retraces the history of a dying species (which disappeared 30,000 years ago, after 300,000 years of reign over the planet). Ao, the last Neanderthal, is a pacifist and nomad, who lives in harmony with nature and travels across Europe in search of survivors from his clan.

Rejected by the groups he meets due to his ape-like features and colossal strength, he falls in love with a homo sapiens woman, Aki, who has just had a child but is imprisoned by her tribe. Ao helps her escape from the leader who lusts after her.

The film will be released in pre-historic language without subtitles and the score will be composed by major UK trip-hop artist Tricky.

Produced by Yves Marmion for UGC YM, Ao: The Last Neanderthal has a budget of around €13m. This includes co-production support from France 2 Cinéma and pre-sales from Canal +.

Shooting will wrap up in July. UGC is handling international sales, which have got off to an excellent start in terms of pre-sales (to Russia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and several European countries).

(Translated from French)