Annual Top Films Lists

Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #79. Jérémy Clapin’s Pendant ce temps sur Terre

Published on January 13, 2023

Pendant ce temps sur Terre

Jérémy Clapin made a huge splash with his debut film J’ai perdu mon corps (the animated film premiered in the Cannes Critic’s Week in 2019) – but for his sophomore film he moved into live action with a cast comprised of Wim Willaert, Sofia Lesaffre, Megan Northam and Catherine Salée. Production on Pendant ce temps sur Terre (aka Meanwhile On Earth) took place in August of last year in the region of Clermont-Ferrand. Clapin reteams with producer One World Films’ Marc du Pontavice.

Gist: This revolves around an “absent” hero: an astronaut lost in the emptiness of space. His absence is spoken about indirectly here, from planet Earth. He was the nation’s son, loved and admired by all. But he’s primarily always on the mind of his little sister Elsa, who’s the real “fully present” heroine in this story. Elsa has lived her life and her childhood by proxy, sustaining herself off the dreams and ambitions of her older brother and hero. He was her point of reference and her daily inspiration. While he floats around, somewhere up there, in the ether, Elsa also drifts, right here on Earth…

Release Date/Prediction: The team will likely try for a Cannes premiere with Locarno as a back-up plan.

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).