Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2022: #54. Romain Gavras’ Athena (Fka Moussa)

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Athena

Look for a title change to occur on Romain Gavras‘ third feature film project which is passing as RG03 and Moussa — a term we believe means the sexiest man on this planet. The encouraging news is that Gavras (who is best known as fashion commercial directors/music video helmer) doesn’t appear to be moonlighting as a filmmaker anymore with less time between features (his debut Our Day Will Come was released in 2010). Production began in late summer for a post production beginning in October and by the looks of some social media posts we gather that this is more thug life, gun play, cops and robbers — but will likely be more of a tonal shift from slapstick The World is Yours (which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2018). The grit might come from the participation of co-scribe Ladj Ly (of Cannes winning Les Misérables). Filmed in the southern suburbs of Paris, the Netflix funded project could land at a major fest (perhaps Ted Sarandos will give Thierry Frémaux that chance) and it stars Dali Benssalah (sparring parter for 007 in No Time To Die), Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek and of course Alexis Manenti (from Ly’s Les Misérables) is never too far behind. We believe this is cinematographer Matias Boucard first time working with Gavras. This is an Iconoclast production.

Gist: No details we released but this looks to be an action cops and robbers type film.

Release Date/Prediction: We believe Netflix will premiere the film in Cannes but in an out of competition slot.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury 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 was a New Flesh Juror for Best First Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival. His top films for 2023 include The Zone of Interest (Glazer), Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Pham Thien An), Totem (Lila Avilés), La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher), All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson). He is a Golden Globes Voter.

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