Kassovitz shoots Rebellion
After filming a few scenes in secret in Châteauroux in mid-July, Mathieu Kassovitz will officially start shooting this Sunday in Anaa, French Polynesia, on his seventh feature, Rebellion.
The director of Hate, The Crimson Rivers and Babylon A.D. [+see also:
trailer
film profile] will also star in the film (for
the first time in a lead role since Munich and Amélie [+see also:
trailer
film profile]). The rest of the cast includes Sylvie
Testud (Lourdes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile]), Malik Zidi (The Queen
of Clubs, Best Male Newcomer Cesar 2007 for Poison Friends [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Alexandre Steiger (The Girl from Monaco [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).
Co-written by the director, Pierre Geller and Benoît Jaubert, with Serge Frydman acting as consultant, the film looks back at a recent and controversial historical event. On April 22, 1988, in Ouvea, New Caledonia, a group of Kanak freedom fighters attack a police station, kill four policemen and abduct 30 others, holding them hostage on a 160km2 island.
The French government sends the army, including 300 men and a real war arsenal to settle the situation. Captain Philippe Legorjus (Kassovitz), who commands the GIGN (National Police Intervention Group), spends ten days in negotiations, but in metropolitan France, the presidential elections between François Mitterrand and his Prime Minister, Jacques Chirac, jeopardise the process.
A total of 19 Kanak freedom fighters and two policemen die during the storming of the cave where the hostages are held and afterwards Captain Legorjus resigns from his position.
Rebellion is produced for around €14m by Christophe Rossignon and Philip Boëffard of Nord-Ouest Films. Its budget includes co-production support from Studio 37, UGC, France 2 Cinéma and MNP, as well as an advance on receipts from the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC).
Shooting will take place in Polynesia, Tahiti, Moorea and Anaa. The film will be released in France by UGC, while international sales are being managed by Kinology/Studio 37.
Nord-Ouest Films also currently has Vincent Garenq’s Guilty (“Presumed Guilty”, see news) in post-production; and Michel Ocelot’s Night Tales (3D animated film adapted from the TV series Dragons and Princesses) in production. In the project stage, the company has Philippe Lioret’s All our Desires and Christian Carion’s La Guerre de l’Eau (“The War of Water”).
(Translated from French)
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