Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2022: #84. Cédric Jimenez’s Novembre

Published on January 7, 2022

Novembre

Perhaps France’s answer to Antoine Fuqua, Cédric Jimenez has padded his decade long filmography working mostly with gritty texts that either get in tight with the criminal world or police procedurals. Jimenez gained traction on the film fest circuit with 2014’s La French (a Toronto selection) with Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche, he moved to WWII HHhH (The Man with the Iron Heart) starring Jason Clarke, Rosamund Pike, Jack O’Connell, Jack Reynor, and Mia Wasikowska and most recently was invited to Cannes with an Out of Comp slot for BAC Nord which reunited the filmmaker with Lellouche. Next up we find him working with Dujardin again plus the weighty cast Anaïs Demoustier, Sandrine Kiberlain, Jérémie Renier, Lyna Khoudri and Cédric Kahn in a project set against the backdrop of the Paris terror attacks of 2015. Novembre is written by Atlantics scribe Olivier Demangel and production began sometime in May of 2021 in France, Belgium and Greece.

Gist: This unfolds during the five days following the attacks which shook Paris, and revolves around the sprawling investigation carried on by a highly-secretive police brigade called SDAT (anti-terrorist sub-directorate) to track down the terrorists – including the two masterminds — behind the attacks.

Release Date/Prediction: We’d be inclined to say this fifth feature could also break into the Croisette but with an October 5th domestic release date in France this would be likely timed for a Toronto Intl. Film Festival showcase.

Eric Lavallée

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).