He managed to “outdo” his 2022 Cannes experience of Revoir Paris and Albert Serra’s masterwork Pacifiction, with a three film presence on the croisette this year with premieres of The King of Algiers (aka Omar la fraise), Rosalie and the excellent The Pot au Feu. This week Benoît Magimel joins the cast of Ni chaînes ni maîtres – Black Box / Goliath scribe Simon Moutaïrou‘s directorial debut. Camille Cottin, Félix Lefebvre, Swala Emati, Ibrahima Mbaye Tchie and Anna Thiandoum are part of the cast. The Chi-Fou-MI’s Nicolas Dumont and Hugo Sélignac (Omar la fraise) produce the film. Look for this to possibly be ready in time for net year’s Cannes Film Festival.
1759. Mauritius is in the hands of the Kingdom of France. Massamba and Mati, slaves on Eugène Larcenet’s plantation, live in fear and toil. He dreams of his daughter being freed, her of leaving the green hell of sugar cane. One night she runs away. Madame La Victoire (Cottin), a famous slave hunter, is hired to hunt her down. Massamba (M’Baye) has no choice but to escape in turn. By this act, he becomes a “maroon”, a fugitive who breaks forever with the colonial order…
Update: The Cineuropa folks gives us more details – Antoine Sanier is onboard as the cinematographer while StudioCanal are handling int. sales.
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).
