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PRODUCTION / FUNDING France

EXCLUSIVE: Nadir Moknèche films You Promised Me the Sea

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- Youssouf Abi-Ayad, Kenza Fortas, Arturo Giusi-Périer, Saadia Bentaïeb, Zinedine Soualem, Lubna Azabal and Zaya Dehar are in the cast of this Blue Monday production sold by Pyramide

EXCLUSIVE: Nadir Moknèche films You Promised Me the Sea
Actor Youssouf Abi-Ayad (© Jean-Louis Fernandez), actress Kenza Fortas and actor Arturo Giusi-Périer

The first clapperboard slams today in Rennes for You Promised Me the Sea  (working title: Saïd, Hadjira et Vincent), the 6th feature film by Nadir Moknèche after Le Harem de Mme Osmane (2000), Viva Laldjérie (2004), Délice Paloma [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2007 Lumière Award for best French-language film), Goodbye Morocco [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2013) and Lola Pater [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Piazza Grande at Locarno in 2017).

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The cast includes Youssouf Abi-Ayad (theatre director and actor, well received on stage in Le Ciel de Nantes by Christophe Honoré among other productions), Kenza Fortas (Best Newcomer César winner and nominated for the Best Female Newcomer Lumière award in 2019 for Shéhérazade [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, also appreciated in The Stronghold [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Arturo Giusi-Périer (Spring Blossom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Suzanne Lindon
film profile
]
), Saadia Bentaïeb (a standout in Custody [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Legrand
film profile
]
, in French cinemas on 20 April in The World After Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas
film profile
]
, nominated for the 2021 Ensor award for Best Actress for Ghost Tropic [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bas Devos
film profile
]
), Zinedine Soualem (Heaven Will Wait [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Belgian actress Lubna Azabal (seen recently in Adam [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
and the series L'Effondrement, Cheyenne & Lola and Braqueurs) and Zahia Dehar (An Easy Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rebecca Zlotowski
film profile
]
).

Written by Nadir Moknèche in collaboration with Naïla Guiguet (La Montagne) and Michael Barnes, the script centres on Saïd, 27 years old, who still lives with his parents. He is in a secret relationship with Vincent. Unable to face his family, he accepts an arranged marriage with 25 years old Hadjira, who comes from the South of France. After a sad love story and some trouble with the law, she also resigned herself to obeying her mother. Trapped by their respective families, Saïd and Hadjira unite despite themselves, to each recover their own freedom…

Produced by Nathalie Mesuret and Bertand Gore for Blue Monday Productions, You Promised Me the Sea is co-produced by Le Bureau. Pre-bought by TV5 Monde and Ciné+, the feature film benefits from the support of the Brittany region, the Images de la diversité fund of the CNC, as well as the Cinéventure and Cofinova Soficas. The six weeks of filming will take place in Rennes until 18 May with Kristy Baboul (Gold for Dogs [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
) as director of photography. French distribution and international sales will be handled by Pyramide.

For the record, Blue Monday Productions currently has, in post-production, Mother and Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léonor Serraille
film profile
]
 by Léonor Serraille. In French cinemas from 4 May are Little Lesson of Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Éve Deboise and, on 1 June, Broadway [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
from Greek director Christos Massalas (discovered in January in the Big Screen competition in Rotterdam).

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(Translated from French)

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