Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2017: #46. Laurent Cantet’s The Workshop

The Workshop

Director: Laurent Cantet
Writer: Robin Campillo

French filmmaker Laurent Cantet returns to France for his seventh feature, The Workshop, co-written by his usual collaborator, Robin Campillo. Notable French actress Marina Fois stars as Olivia, a novelist heading a writing workshop in La Ciotat, the exercise requiring her students to use the town’s industrial past and the dockyard to create a noir narrative. A student (Lucci) who agreed to take part in the workshop begins to have unexpected feelings resurface regarding the project as well as some tension with Olivia. Since winning his Palme d’Or for The Class in 2008, Cantet has branched out with different projects in different locations, including the NYC 1950’s of Foxfire and the Havana set Return to Ithaca (2014).

Cast: Marina Fois, Matthieu Lucci.

Production Co./Producer(s): Archipel 35 (Denis Freyd), France 2 Cinema.

U.S. Distributor: Rights available.

Release Date: Filming took place in the south of France through September and October, which means Cantet could very well return to Cannes, where he only previously competed once with The Class. He competed in Venice in 2005 with the excellent Heading South, while Return to Ithaca premiered in the Venice Days sidebar, where it scooped up the top prize there. Considering the pedigree, Cantet might be looking to return to Cannes, but this might also be a plum steal for TIFF (where Foxfire premiered).

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