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PRODUCTION France

Friends from France act as amateur secret agents in USSR

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Shooting starts next Saturday in Germany on directorial duo Anne Weill and Philippe Kotlarski’s debut feature, Friends from France, which traces the misadventures of two young French people in USSR in 1982.

The film’s cast includes Soko [pictured] (nominated for the Best Female Newcomer César 2010 for In the Beginning [+see also:
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and soon to be seen in Bye Bye Blondie) and Jérémie Lippmann (discovered in Where Is Madame Catherine? and star of the TV series Paris 16ème).

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Scripted by the two directors, the film opens in summer 1982, in Leningrad. Jérôme Berkowicz and Carole Brikerman go through customs to enter the USSR. They’re cousins, they’re 18 years old and they would look like a perfect couple on a package tour if it weren’t for their unseasonal raincoats and the sweat pouring down Jérôme’s face. Beneath their clothes, there are false pockets full of books, key rings, chocolate, and medicines.

Everything about Jérôme is the opposite of Carole, and if he weren’t secretly in love with her, he would never have followed her. "Hello, we are friends from France", they whisper in phone boxes in the evening. Their mission is to discreetly contact the Soviet Jews persecuted by the regime, the "refuzniks", to offer them help and comfort. This experience will leave its mark on the two amateur secret agents forever.

Produced by Les Films du Poisson (On Tour [+see also:
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, The Tree [+see also:
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interview: Julie Bertuccelli
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, Land of Oblivion [+see also:
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), Friends from France is co-produced by Germany’s Vandertastic and Canada’s Amérique Films. Pre-bought by Canal+, the film also has backing through the advance on receipts from the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC), the Franco-German co-production mini-treaty and Emergence, among other sources.

Shooting will take place in Germany until November 15 before picking up again for a week in February in Israel. French distribution and international sales will be managed by Pyramide.

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(Translated from French)

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