La Pacte lands Lucas Belvaux’s political drama “This Is Our Land”May 11, 2016 - 14:53 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Paris-based Le Pacte, which has four movies competing at Cannes, has boarded Lucas Belvaux’s “This Is Our Land (Chez nous)”, a drama starring Emilie Dequenne as a small-town liberal nurse who ends up becoming the leader of a fictional far-right party in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais mining basin. Written by Belvaux and Jérôme Leroy, “Chez nous” is produced by David Frenkel at French outfit Synecdoche and Patrick Quinet at Belgian shingle Artémis Prods, Variety reports. Dequenne (“Our Children”) stars opposite French stars Andre Dussollier (“Diplomacy”), Guillaume Gouix (“The Returned”) and Catherine Jacob. Frenkel, who previously produced Claude Lanzmann’s “The Last of the Unjust,” said the film was eminently political and social as it will shed light on the inner workings of a far right party that tries to polish its image and rhetoric in order to broaden its base. Belvaux (“The Law of the Weakest,” “38 Witnesses”) said “This Is Our Land” will give a “timely snapshot of today’s France where the (far-right) Front National party has gained grounds in the run-up to the presidential election.” Indeed, the Front National, led by Marine Le Pen, is a front-runner is next year’s presidential election, according to early polls. Although the main narrative thread of the film is fictional, most events depicted in the film happened in real life as the film is thoroughly documented, Belvaux said. The political party in the film, Le Bloc, is inspired by the Front National. “It’s a populist, nationalist, anti-European and xenophobic; and it brings together people with different ideologies,” per Belvaux, who hopes the film will spark debate during the presidential race. “Chez nous” has just started shooting and will wrap on July 4. Le Pacte will distribute the film in France in March and is handling international sales. Top stories Ara Aivazian said Azerbaijan continues the traditions of Turkey after seizing territories and forced Armenians out. The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. Partner news | Seven injured in massive gas station explosion in Armenia The Investigative Committee of Armenia has unveiled details about a massive explosion at a gas station on the Yerevan-Sevan highway. Pashinyan’s spokesperson denies intention to visit Baku for COP29 Pashinyan’s agenda doesn’t include a trip to Baku for the COP29 conference, his press secretary Nazeli Baghdasaryan has said. Russia accuses West of preparing invasion of CSTO countries NATO is preparing an invasion of the CSTO countries, the number of provocations in the air is growing, Sergei Shoigu has said. Lithuania sending €100,000 to help Armenia fight floods consequences Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took to social media to thank his Lithuanian counterpart for the contribution. |