Tony Gatlif’s Tom Medina enters into post-production
- David Murgia, Slimane Dazi, Karoline Rose and Suzanne Aubert all shine bright in the cast of the filmmaker’s 19th feature, a Prince Films production sold by Les Films de Losange
Halted by the health crisis after several weeks of filming across February and March, Tony Gatlif revived his Tom Medina film-set at break-neck speed once lockdown had ended. He’d wrapped shooting by the end of May, becoming the first director in France (by far) to resurrect a suspended production, a fact which won’t come as a great surprise to many, given his cast-iron character teeming with love for life and freedom. Tom Medina [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is the 19th feature by the filmmaker, who has notably won acclaim in Locarno (scooping the Silver Leopard in 1997 for Gadjo dilo), Berlin (gracing the 2012 Panorama line-up with the documentary Indignados [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tony Gatlif
film profile]) and, most importantly, in Cannes, where he has featured in the Official Selection showcase five times by way of Exiles (the winner of Cannes’ Best Direction award in 2004), Latcho Drom (claiming the Un Certain Regard Award in 1993), Transylvania [+see also:
film review
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film profile] (closing film, screened out of competition in 2006), Geronimo [+see also:
film review
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film profile] and Djam [+see also:
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film profile] (both the focus of Special Screenings in 2014 and 2017).
Starring in the cast is Belgium’s David Murgia (revealed in Bullhead [+see also:
film review
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interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile] and awarded the 2017 Best Supporting Role Magritte for The First, The Last [+see also:
film review
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interview: Bouli Lanners
film profile], having been nominated a further four times since 2014), Slimane Dazi (especially well-received in A Prophet [+see also:
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interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
film profile], Only Lovers Left Alive [+see also:
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film profile], Paris Prestige [+see also:
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film profile] and The Nile Hilton Incident [+see also:
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interview: Tarik Saleh
film profile]), the French-German singer and musician Karoline Rose, and Suzanne Aubert.
Written by the director, the story opens in the mystical French region of Camargue where Tom Medina turns up, on probation, on the doorstep of big-hearted Ulysses. Tom dreams of becoming a good person. But he’s thwarted by the hostility flung in his general direction, which shows no sign of abating. When he crosses paths with Suzanne, who has been separated from her daughter, Tom will create his own system of justice to take revenge on the world…
Produced by Princes Films (the director’s own company) in co-production with the LUMA Foundation (Maja Hoffmann), Tom Medina has been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+. The film benefits from an advance on receipts from the CNC and enjoys the support of the Provence-Alpes-Cotes d’Azur region, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and the French department of Landes. Filming unfolded in Arles, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and in Nouvelle Aquitaine, with Patrick Ghiringhelli (a previous collaborator of Gatlif’s on Geronimo and Djam who recently proved his expertise by way of Only the Animals [+see also:
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interview: Dominik Moll
film profile]) at the helm of photography. French distribution and international sales will both be entrusted to Les Films du Losange.
(Translated from French)
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