11/02/2020 - Maltese is taking over the reins on the documentary feature that Pol Cruchten was preparing to shoot before his death in July 2019

Fabrizio Maltese (far right) and his crew (Vanni Bassetti, first assistant director, and Arnaud Mellet, sound engineer) about to depart from Luxembourg-Findel Airport on 22 January 2020 (© Red Lion)

Directorial duties on the documentary feature Visage(s) d’Afrique (lit. “Face(s) of Africa”), which Pol Cruchten was getting ready to shoot before his death in July 2019, have been taken over by Fabrizio Maltese. Initially, Maltese was meant to serve as DoP on what was billed as a coming-of-age tale shot in Africa. Luxembourgish production outfit Red Lion, with renewed support from the FilmFund Luxembourg, decided to hand the reins of the project over to him, after they had begun preparing the movie together with Cruchten.

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Visage(s) d’Afrique will be an insightful window to a land that has, up until now, rarely been shown in cinema: Mauritania, the birth place of filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), who is also involved in the project.

This is the fourth documentary feature by Fabrizio Maltese, following Twenty-Five Palms (2015), 50 Days in the Desert [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (2016) and California Dreaming [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which, since its theatrical release in Luxembourg in autumn 2019, has been screened at various festivals the world over, most notably at Cleveland, Galway, Tallinn, the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and the Transilvania International Film Festival.

Visage(s) d’Afrique, written by Stephan Roelants and Fabrizio Maltese, has been filming since Wednesday 22 January 2020 in both Senegal and Mauritania.

(Translated from French)