Kechiche: from suburbs towards the south
The 14th of June will see shooting begin in Sète of La Graine et le mulet, the third feature of Abdellatif Kechiche. With the impetus from his previous film, the phenomenal L'esquive [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was honoured fourfold at the last Cesars (best film, director and screenplay, best young actress) and achieved 400 000 tickets in the French cinemas, the director this time chose to retrace the turbulent story of a North African family in the South of France. The screenplay was written by the director some years ago and benefited in 2002 from a re-write subsidy from the National Film Centre (CNC). Notable among the cast is Bruno Lochet, a regular visitor to the world of Kechiche, having acted in the director’s first film, La Faute à Voltaire (2000).
Seduced by the harbour town of Hérault (nicknamed "the pearl of the Mediterranean") under advice from his executive producer Pierre Grunstein, Abdellatif Kechiche held a large local casting, as is his habit, last December and the crew has been on-site since mid-April. The shoot, which will last until mid-October, will be concentrated mainly in the l'île de Thau district. The town of Sète has already served as a film backdrop for among others André Téchiné (Les Innocents - 1987).
Having signed up with Claude Berri for two films, Abdellatif Kechiche benefited for La Graine et le mulet from the production power of Pathé (which should handle both French distribution and international sales). The project’s financial details (for the moment subjected to a media black-out) will surely bring together Pathé Renn Productions and Hirsch in a co-production, and TF1, a classic combination used by Claude Berri to finance features. L’Esquive is still showing in certain European territories; it was released in Spain last week, will be distributed from the 10th of June in Austria, having already reached Italy (11 February 2005), Germany (10 March 2005) and the Portuguese and Belgian screens last year.
(Translated from French)
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