We can start our week extending thanks to Arte France Cinéma, who’ve given two of France’s greatest directors the cash flow to support immediate endeavors: per Cineuropa, Claire Denis and Arnaud Desplechin can soon begin production on new features. The former’s is Le Cri des Gardes (The Cry of the Guards), which sounds an awful lot like The Fence, a project she detailed in March. Matt Dillon, Riley Keough, and Denis mainstay Isaach de Bankolé will star in the feature, described in these very Denis-like terms:
“As project supervisor Horn is welcoming his young partner Léone into the hut he shares with young and impetuous engineer Cal, a black man called Alboury appears outside the railings surrounding their quarters. Inflexible, hovering like a ghost in the darkness, he is determined to stay there until they return the body of his brother to him, who was killed on the site.”
Suzanne Lindon (writer-director of Spring Blossom and daughter of longtime collaborator Vincent Lindon) and Andrew Litvack (Stars at Noon) co-wrote the film, for which shooting is expected to start this January in Senegal.
Meanwhile, Desplechin has sights set on the scantly titled Une affaire, which tells “a story of impossible love through the career of virtuoso pianist Mathias.” François Civil, Charlotte Rampling, Hippolyte Girardot, and Nadia Tereszkiewicz lead the project, rolling cameras in October, which––probably you’ve noticed––is tomorrow. No word on where this leaves his drama The Thing That Hurts, which would’ve brought together Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, John Turturro, and Golshifteh Farahani; needless to say we hope it isn’t left in the lurch. (And maybe somebody in the U.S. should release his excellent Filmlovers!, but what do I know.)
Noted by Cineuropa, too, is J’oublierai ton nom (I Will Forget Your Name) a new feature from Yann Gonzalez (Knife + Heart) starring Vanessa Paradis as a schoolteacher who “seduces sad men who she never sees again. Her life turns upside down when she falls desperately in love with Terrence, driving her to the outer reaches of a troubling, fantastic world.” Shooting begins spring 2025. Arte France Cinéma has also thrown weight behind A Girl Unknown, the feature debut by Chinese filmmaker Zou Jing, about which further details are being withheld.
The post Claire Denis and Arnaud Desplechin’s Next Features Secure Financing first appeared on The Film Stage.
