15/09/2014 - Ziad Bakri and Louis-Do de Lencquesaing are among the cast of this Good Lap, To Be Continued and Blonde Audiovisual production, with MPM Film on board as co-producer

Joyce A Nashawati

Today, not far from Athens, in the Attica region of Greece, the first clapperboard slammed on the shoot for the Franco-Greek production Heatwave [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the feature debut by Joyce A Nashawati. The director, who was born in Beirut and grew up in Ghana, Kuwait and Greece before going on to study in the UK and finally settle in Paris, turned heads with her short films La Permission, La morsure and Le parasol. According to Cineuropa’s sources, she has now assembled a cast including Ziad Bakri (The Time That Remains [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Louis-Do de Lencquesaing (Father of My Children [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Mia Hansen-Løve
film profile], In a Rush [+see also:
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film profile], currently appearing on the big screen in Des lendemains qui chantent [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Gwendoline Hamon (And If We All Lived Together [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Laurène Brun, Mimi Denissi, Yannis Stangoglou and Giorgos Gallos.

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Written by the director herself, the story unfolds during the hottest summer that Greece has ever known, with increasing water shortages and constant power cuts. Ashraf, a foreign drifter of around 40, has a new job: guarding a French expatriate family’s isolated villa, near a seaside resort. In this desolate landscape, crushed by the sun, human contact is rare and hostile. Water has become a precious commodity, and swimming pools are banned by law. Ashraf’s main solace is the soothing sea whenever the sun sets and softens its rays. One day, on his way to the villa, a sadistic police officer harasses him and takes away his residence permit. Retrieving his precious papers turns into a bureaucratic nightmare as lonely and feverish Ashraf starts sensing a menacing presence, a shadow moving closer and closer...

Produced on the French side by Good Lap Production (Philippe Akoka and Alain Peyrollaz) and To Be Continued (Lionel Guedj and D Marzotto), and by Fenia Cossovitsa for Greek outfit Blonde Audiovisual Productions, Heatwave is co-produced by Paris-based MPM Film (Marie-Pierre Macia, Juliette Lepoutre and Pierre Menahem). Pre-purchased by Ciné+, the feature is also backed by the CNC’s advance on receipts and the Greek Film Centre. The six-week shoot, the entirety of which will take place in Greece, will wrap on 25 October. Distribution in France and international sales are currently being negotiated.

(Translated from French)