13/07/2022 - Steered by Atelier de Production and sold by WTFilms, Sylvie Verheyde’s new feature is set to battle it out for this year’s Golden Leopard

It’s by way of a sequel that French director Sylvie Verheyde will be taking part in the international competition of the upcoming Locarno Film Festival (whose 75th edition will run 3 – 13 August 2022), namely unveiling Stella in Love [+see also:
film review
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interview: Sylvie Verheyde
film profile] which picks up where Stella [+see also:
film review
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film profile] left off (presented in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori in 2008).

Cast members Marina Foïs (nominated for the Best Actress César in 2008, 2012, 2017 and 2018, and hitting cinemas on 20 July in The Beasts [+see also:
film review
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interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Isabe…
film profile] and on 3 August in Year of the Shark) and Benjamin Biolay (nominated for 2009’s Best Supporting Role César for his part in Stella, and recently stealing focus in The Line [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ursula Meier
film profile] and France [+see also:
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interview: Bruno Dumont
film profile]) will be reprising their roles as the parents of lead character Stella (age 11 in the first instalment and roughly 17 in this new opus), who will be played by Flavie Delangle (of the series Skam) this time round.

Written by the director in league with William Wayolle, the story follows Stella during her last year of high school in the lead up to her exams. But she claims not to care about all that. What she does discover that year is nightclubs, specifically Bains Douches. It’s a whole new era: the 80s, Paris and its crazy nights. That year will determine her entire life. She pretends not to think about it, but deep down she knows…

This will be Sylvie Verheyde’s 7th feature film after Un frère (screened within the 1997 Directors’ Fortnight), Confession of a Child of the Century [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (gracing Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2012) and Madame Claude [+see also:
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interview: Florence Gastaud
film profile] (released on Netflix last year), to name just a few.

Stella in Love is produced by Thomas and Mathieu Verhaeghe on behalf of Atelier de Production, in co-production with France 2 Cinéma. Pre-purchased by Canal+, Ciné+ and France Télévisions, the feature film also enjoys CNC support in the form of an advance on receipts, as well as backing from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Dordogne regions. Its release in French cinemas is scheduled for 21 December, courtesy of KMBO, whilst international sales fall to WTFilms.

For the record, Atelier de Production are currently overseeing post-production on The Great Magic [+see also:
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film profile] by Noémie Lvovsky, having released Quentin Dupieux’s Incredible But True [+see also:
film review
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interview: Quentin Dupieux
film profile] in French cinemas back in June (following a world premiere in the Berlinale).

(Translated from French)