Country: France
Year: 2022
Duration: 94'
Thomas, a frustrated reporter who works for a local newspaper in the North of France, is assigned to write a portrait of alternative musician and recent mayoral candidate Usé. Af-ter the interview, the two men happen upon the inanimate body of a man lying in a deso-late alley. To their surprise, the man – Jojo – rises before them like a zombie. He appears to be fine, but has lost his memory. Some clues lead them to Jojo’s little sister Marilou. Through a series of unexpected events, the newfound friends forge bonds and embark upon a surreal journey.
Biography
film director
Sébastien Betbeder
(Pau, France, 1975) studied at Le Fresnoy and has made numerous shorts, including Les mains d’Andréa (2006). That same year, he directed his first feature film, Nuage, selected at Locarno. In 2008, he presented La vie lointaine at the Torino Film Festival, and the next year the short Toutes les montagnes se ressemblent, directed in collaboration with Christelle Lheureux. In 2010, he shot Yoshido (Les autres vies), selected in Paris and Rotterdam. In 2012 premiered with Les nuits avec Théodore at Onde section, and the following year he won in Turin the Jury Special Prize with 2 automnes 3 hivers. He then presented in Turin the short Inupiluk (2014), and the comedies Ulysse & Mona (2018) and Tout fout le camp.
FILMOGRAFIA
La fragilité des revenants (cm, 1999), Le haut mal (cm, 2000), Des voix alentour (cm, 2003), Nu devant un fantôme (cm, 2005), Les mains d’Andréa (cm, 2006), Nuage (2007), La vie lointaine (mm, 2008), Toutes les montagnes se ressemblent (coregia Christelle Lheureux, cm, 2009), The Unbroken Line (cm, 2010), Yoshido (Les autres vies) (mm, 2010), Sarah Adams (cm, 2011), Les nuits avec Théodore (2012), 2 automnes 3 hivers (2013), Inupiluk (cm, 2014), Le film que nous tournerons au Groenland (cm, 2015), Marie et les naufragés (2016), Le voyage au Groenland (Viaggio in Groenlandia, 2016), Albin de la Simone: Dans la tête (video, 2017), Ulysse & Mona (2018), Debout sur la montagne (2019), Jusqu'à l'os (cm, 2019), Planète triste (cm, 2022), Tout fout le camp (2022), Mimi de Douarnenez (mm, 2023), Une tentative d'évasion (cm, 2024), L’incroyable femme des neiges (2025).
Declaration
film director
“Although the film concept was inspired by a real-life encounter with documentary inspiration, I did not want a narration only centered on his personality as a musician or on his liabilities as a politician; on the contrary, I aimed at a wider and more fanciful plot. I then in-vented the character of Thomas thinking of Thomas Scimeca (whom I had already directed in Le voyage au Groenland) who also amusingly had a physical resemblance to Usé. I imagined him in the shoes of a journalist from the Courrier Picard, commissioned to draw a portrait of Usé. He thus becomes the main character of the film (we enter and leave the story with him). At the heart of the film is the relationship between these two individuals along with this question: How will two lost beings manage to rebuild themselves through their encounter?”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, SCREENPLAY: Sébastien Betbeder. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Romain Le Bonniec. FILM EDITING: Céline Canard. SOUND: Roman Dymny. CAST: Thomas Scimeca, Nicolas Belvalette, Jonathan Capdevielle, Léonie Dahan-Lamort, Marc Fraize, Jackie Berroyer, Aloïse Sauvage, William Lebghil, Béatrice de Staë. PRODUCER: Frédéric Dubreuil. PRODUCTION: Envie de Tempête.
CONTACT:
Intramovies - Maria Lanfranchi maria@intramovies.com
