If the shooting schedule remains intact, we can circle a 2025 Cannes Film Festival playdate for the next Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne film project and quite possibly a 2025 Lido premiere for Laura Wandel‘s sophomore project — which could logically be L’intérêt d’Adam – a project that was workshopped at the 44th Cannes Residence. Both of these films would be housed by the Dardenne’s les Films du Fleuve prod company label.
For the Dardennes, casting is currently underway for what is tentatively August to October 2024 shoot. No word on the title, synopsis or location, but we imagine this will be shot in their own backyard and tonally will once again fall under the social realism umbrella. Will the opt for non-professional actors or seasoned or a mix of both – we’ll likely learn more when it comes to trade announcements during Cannes in May. They are currently looking for late teens to possibly fill the lead role. True to form, this falls under their film per three-year pace after 2016’s The Unknown Girl, 2019’s Young Ahmed and more recently, 2022’s Tori and Lokita.
Wandel who received tons of accolades for her feature debut in Playground (aka Un monde) (our Nicholas Bell wrote that the Un Certain Regard ★★★★ selection “packs an emotional wallop, ending perfectly with a bookend sequence where the intention of a hug provides a comfort and salvation reflecting a devastating but perfect exemplification of love and maturity for a young girl and her brother.”) looks to be working with an age demographic that is younger than the players in her previous film. Filming is set for an autumn start date.
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).
