Foreign Film News

Moving Ahead: Camélia Jordana, Sofiane Zermani & Damien Bonnard Housed in Manèle Labidi’s “Reine mère”

Published on April 14, 2023

Franco–Tunisian filmmaker Manèle Labidi who gave us the Venice Days selected Arab Blues (aka Un divan à Tunis) back in 2019, is setting up shop on her sophomore project with production set to begin in June in Paris. Reine mère will feature singer-actress Camélia Jordana, rapper-actor Sofiane Zermani and established veteran Damien Bonnard (who actually has a small part in Yorgos Lanthimos’ upcoming Poor Things). We had announced late last year that the comedy received some ARTE France Cinéma coin. Labidi will be re-teaming with Kazak Productions’ Jean-Christophe Reymond on the project – he of course backed the Palme d’Or winning Titane. Here’s the unofficial synopsis:

Amel and her family learn that their landlord wants to get his apartment back in a few months. As Mouna, her eldest daughter, begins to have visions of Charles Martel, and their demand for new social housing drags on, Amel has no choice but to reinvent herself…

Eric Lavallée

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).