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PRODUCTION France

Claire Devers shooting Pauvre Georges

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- Grégory Gadebois, Monia Chokri, Pascale Arbillot and Stéphane de Groodt are among the cast of this film being staged by Mon Voisin Productions together with Belgium and Canada

Claire Devers shooting Pauvre Georges
Actor Grégory Gadebois (© Jean-Claude Lother/Haut et Court/Canal+)

Having been absent from the silver screen since 2003, when she made Lost Seamen (in competition at Locarno), Claire Devers has been shooting her sixth feature-length fiction film, Pauvre Georges [+see also:
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film profile
]
, since 19 June. The filmmaker, who won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes in 1986 for Noir et blanc and was in competition on the Croisette in 1989 with Chimère, has assembled a cast including Grégory Gadebois (nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2012 for Angel & Tony [+see also:
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]
 and for the César Award for Best Actor in 2014 for One of a Kind [+see also:
film review
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]
, turning heads at Cannes recently in Redoubtable [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile
]
 and also set to grace screens in September in Espèces menacées), Canada’s Monia Chokri (who rose to prominence in Heartbeats, won the Jutra Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2013 for Laurence Anyways [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 and was also popular in A Taste of Ink [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Morgan Simon
film profile
]
), Pascale Arbillot (Little White Lies [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
Borderline [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
Fifty Springtimes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Belgium’s Stéphane de Groodt (who put on a strong performance in Corporate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Silhol
film profile
]
earlier this year) and Noah Parker.

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A chronicle of a small, quiet residential suburb that will undergo a seismic emotional change when a disruptive element appears out of nowhere, the film is an adaptation by Claire Devers and Jean-Louis Benoît of the novel Poor George by US author Paula Fox. The story revolves around Georges, who teaches at a school in Montreal and has just moved to the countryside with his wife. One day, he catches a teenager, Zack, red-handed rummaging through his things. Georges, whose dull, insular life is crying out for a "worthy cause", decides to take him under his wing, totally unaware that this decision will act as a trigger. From that moment on, we witness the implosion of a couple in a world where murmurings and arguments prevail over any real ability to face up to life.

Produced by Dominique Besnehard and Michel Feller for Mon Voisin ProductionsPauvre Georges is being co-produced by France 2 Cinéma, Belgian outfit Iris Productions and Canada’s Forum Films. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+Ciné+ and RTBF, the feature is also benefiting from support from the French-Canadian mini-treaty. The shoot, which kicked off in Belgium before continuing in Canada, will wrap on 4 August. The French distribution will be handled by Jour2Fête, while the international sales rights have been acquired by Orange Studio.

Mon Voisin Productions, which will release the comedy Bonne pomme [+see also:
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]
 by Florence Quentin (toplined by Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu) in theatres in August, also has such films as Adore [+see also:
trailer
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]
 by Anne FontaineMaddened by His Absence [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Sandrine BonnaireThe Night Clerk [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Raphaël Jacoulot and I Am a Soldier [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laurent Larivière
film profile
]
 by Laurent Larivière in its filmography.

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(Translated from French)

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