Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #145. Vaurien – Peter Dourountzis

Published on December 30, 2019

Vaurien

French director Peter Dourountzis will make his directorial debut with the thriller Vaurien, produced by Sebastien Haguenauer. The project is headlined by Pierre Deladonchamps (Stranger by the Lake, 2013) and Ophélie Bau (of Kechiche’s controversial Mektoub, My Love films). Jean-Marc Fabre (Camille Rewinds, 2012) serves as DP. Dourountzis won the UniFrance Grand Prize in 2015 for his short film “Errance.”

Gist: Possibly borrowing from his 2015 short film, this is about Dje (Deladonchamps) arrives in Paris penniless, relying on his charm to get by. He seizes every opportunity which comes his way, even if it means killing.

Release Date/Prediction: Dourountzis completed principal photography at the end of November 2019 and predict he will be ready in time for mid-year or fall festivals, perhaps with a premiere in Locarno.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.