Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2016: #100. Rachid Bouchareb’s La route des lacs

La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul)

Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Writers: Rachid Bouchareb, Zoe Galeron, Yasmina Khadra, Olivier Lorelle

Franco-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb continues a prolific shooting schedule with his latest project, La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul), which tackles an extremely topical scenario regarding terrorist recruits and ISIS when a mother discovers her child has joined the dangerous organization. Recently, Bouchareb has been navigating the US Pacific Southwest with English language items Just Like a Woman (2012) and his 2014 remake of Two Men in Town. For this latest, he pairs with regular co-writers Lorelle, Galeron, and Yasmina Khadra (who penned the exceptional 2012 film The Attack for Ziad Doueiri, which Bouchareb produced), and the film will be headlined by Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall and rising star Pauline Burlet (who appeared in La Vie En Rose as well as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past in 2013). Thus far, this sounds similar to Bouchareb’s 2008 film, London River starring Brenda Blethyn.

Cast: Astrid Whettnall, Pauline Burlet, Patricia Ide

Producers: 3B Productions’ Jean Brehat, Rachid Bouchareb.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). Elle Driver (international).

Release Date: Considering the subject matter, we’re wondering if Bouchareb might be due to reappear at Cannes where he last competed in 2010 with his Oscar nominated Days of Glory.