A film project that originally had (at different junctures) the likes of Virginie Efira, Lily-Rose Depp and Adèle Haenel had a change of fleet with Camille Cottin, Anamaria Vartolomei and finally Lyna Khoudri coming aboard. The Cineuropa folks have confirmed that Julien Manier and the Li’l Quinquin tandem Bernard Pruvost and Philippe Jore have also joined the Bruno Dumont‘s L’Empire – a three month (in sections) production that began last week until beginning of September on the Opal Coast that will then move into Brussels, then Caserte, and Berlin in November. Tessalit Productions’ Jean Bréhat and Bertrand Faivre are producing. Khoudri just completed work on Romain Cogitore’s Une zone à défendre.
A tale that takes place both in outer space and Northern France’s picturesque Opal Coast, we begin with the banal daily life of a fisherman’s village to the escalation of rival clans are engaged in fierce and bloody battle following the announcement of the birth of Margat, the resurgent Prince, purple and ugly, the Beast of the Endtimes. Located on the Opal Coast, he is the child of a young couple already separated, as is common to life in a working class neighbourhood.
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).
