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PRODUCTION France / Belgium

Shoot in sight for Cédric Kahn’s Happy Birthday

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- Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Bercot and Vincent Macaigne topline this Les films du Worso production, which will be sold by Elle Driver

Shoot in sight for Cédric Kahn’s Happy Birthday
Actors Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Bercot and Vincent Macaigne

The first clapperboard will slam on 19 June for Happy Birthday [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the 11th feature by Cédric Kahn, the director of such movies as Bar des rails (Venice Critics’ Week in 1991), Trop de bonheur (French Cinema section at Cannes in 1994), L'ennui (Perspectives section at Venice and Louis Delluc Award in 1998), Roberto Succo (in competition at Cannes in 2001), Red Lights (in competition at Berlin in 2004), A Better Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cédric Kahn
film profile
]
(Toronto in 2011), Wild Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 (Special Jury Prize at San Sebastián in 2014) and The Prayer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cédric Kahn
film profile
]
 (Silver Bear for Best Actor at Berlin this year). 

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For his new opus, the filmmaker has assembled a cast comprising Catherine Deneuve (nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress in 1993, Special Award at Cannes in 2008, Silver Bear at Berlin in 2002, Volpi Cup at Venice in 1998, César Award for Best Actress in 1981 and 1993, and nominated a further 11 times in the same category; set to grace screens soon in Claire Darling and Bad Seeds [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Emmanuelle Bercot (Best Actress Award at Cannes in 2015 for My King [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
; on the bill at Cannes a couple of weeks ago in Girls of the Sun [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eva Husson
film profile
]
, and who has recently been shooting both School’s Out and Jumbo), Vincent Macaigne (nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2014 for The Rendez-Vous of Déjà-Vu [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, for the Lumière Award for Best Actor in 2016 for Les Deux Amis [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 and for the César Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2018 for C’est la vie! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
; hitting screens later this year in Non Fiction and Pure as Snow), Laetitia Colombani and Alain Artur. The director (who made an appearance in Cold War [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile
]
 and gave some fine performances in Alyah [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 and After Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile
]
) is also among the main actors.

The story, written by Cédric Kahn with contributions from Fanny Burdino and Samuel Doux (who previously worked with the filmmaker on The Prayer), revolves around a group of family members who get together one summer’s day to celebrate their mother’s (Deneuve's) birthday: her husband (Artur), her two sons, one (Kahn) accompanied by his wife (Colombani) and their two little boys, the other (Macaigne) with his brand-new fiancée, a video camera in order to record the day for posterity, and a young, 18-year-old girl who seems to have grown up there. All seems to be calm and cheerful until the unexpected arrival of the younger sister (Bercot), who disappeared four years prior. Although she is hailed as a heroine, she is about to sow the seeds of chaos...

Produced by Sylvie Pialat and Benoît Quainon for Les Films du WorsoHappy Birthday will have a budget of €5.35 million, including co-productions by France 2 Cinéma, Tropdebonheur Productions and Belgium’s Scope Pictures. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature is also being backed by the Cofinova, Cinéventure, Cofimage, Cinémage and Cinécap Soficas, as well as by the Procirep. The shoot will take place from 19 June-2 August in the Lot-et-Garonne department of the Nouvelle Aquitaine region. The French distribution will be handled by Le Pacte, while Elle Driver is in charge of the international sales. 

As a reminder, Les Films du Worso has just unveiled the excellent To the Ends of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillaume Nicloux
film profile
]
 by Guillaume Nicloux in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and has the co-productions Keep Going [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile
]
by Belgium’s Joachim Lafosse (see the article) and The Whistlers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile
]
 by Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu in post-production.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

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