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PRODUCTION / FUNDING France

Arte France Cinéma backs Safe & Silent by Justyna Tafel

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- The Polish filmmaker’s first feature will be co-produced by the French-German network, as will Diego Céspedes’ The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo

Arte France Cinéma backs Safe & Silent by Justyna Tafel
Director Justyna Tafel (© DR)

The fifth selection committee of 2021 to be organised by Arte France Cinéma (under the leadership of Olivier Père) has decided to commit to co-producing and pre-purchasing two first feature film projects. Most noteworthy among these is Safe & Silent by young Polish director Justyna Tafel, which is due to be shot next summer with Agnieszka Grochowska up front in the cast (a talent awarded 2013’s Best Actress Eagle for Shameless [+see also:
trailer
interview: Filip Marczewski
film profile
]
, and recently well-received in My Wonderful Wanda [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bettina Oberli
film profile
]
and Leave No Traces [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan P Matuszyński
film profile
]
).

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Borrowing from the codes of the psychological thriller, Safe & Silent looks to show how technological innovations and an obsession with security can destroy the family unit. The pitch is as follows: in an ultra-modern housing development, Kinga - newly separated from her husband - is focused on a fresh start for her and her two children, but the omnipresence of surveillance cameras in her home changes everything. Production is steered by French firm Elzévir Films and Poland’s Centrala Film.

Arte France Cinéma will also be throwing its weight behind The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, which is Diego Céspedes’ first feature film project, set to be produced by French outfit Les Valseurs alongside Chile’s Quijote Films and Mexico’s Varios Lobos, and is scheduled to be shot in autumn 2022. "I’m looking to inscribe myself within a new wave of Chilean artists who reclaim the myths and legends characteristic of our country, without omitting the political dimensions involved", the director stresses. "In this light, my film tackles the topic of homophobia and transphobia in Chile, by way of a satire on the management of the HIV pandemic in the 1980s. Told from the viewpoint of a 12-year-old girl, the film explores loving homosexual relationships by way of a myth, invented by an entire population who were blinded by fear and a lack of understanding over this virus. Through sincere characters with brilliant yet fragile outlooks, I hope to give HIV victims their humanity back; individuals who were drowned in the anonymity imposed upon them by society at the time."

For the record, Arte France Cinéma is notably supporting upcoming films from Alice Rohrwacher, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ursula Meier, Arnaud Desplechin, Mia Hansen-Løve, Claire Denis, Bertrand Bonello, Pietro Marcello, Miguel Gomes, Philippe Garrel, Tarik Saleh, Alain Guiraudie, Abderrahmane Sissako, Lisandro Alonso, Jonas Trueba, Mikhaël Hers, André Téchiné, Quentin Dupieux, Louis Garrel, Albert Serra, Alexandros Avranas, Patricio Guzmán, Noémie Lvovsky, Alice Diop, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Anna Jadowska, Sophie Letourneur, Emmanuelle Nicot, Johanna Pyykkö, Karim Moussaoui, Tiago Guedes, Dinara Droukarova, Régis Sauder, Stephan Castang, Sofia Alaoui, Thomas Balmès and Dror Moreh, as well as animated films coming courtesy of Momoko Seto and Pierre Földes.

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(Translated from French)

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