28/06/2023 - Adam Bessa and Tawfeek Barhom topline the director’s first feature film, produced by Films Grand Huit alongside Nikofilm and Hélicotronc

Actors Adam Bessa and Tawfeek Barhom and actress Julia Franz Richter

The first clapperboard is set to slam on 3 July in Strasbourg on Les Fantômes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonathan Millet
interview: Pauline Seigland
film profile], the first fiction feature film by Jonathan Millet who turned heads with his short film Et toujours nous marcherons (in competition in Clermont-Ferrand in 2017), among other works. Stand-out names in the cast include French-Tunisian actor Adam Bessa (awarded the Best Actor Award in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2022 and nominated for the 2023 Acting Revelation Lumière via Harka [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], well-received this year in The Channel [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and one of the main protagonists in the American Netflix two-parter Tyler Rake), Israeli-Palestinian talent Tawfeek Barhom (nominated for the 2023 Best Actor Guldbagge via Boy From Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tarik Saleh
film profile], previously at his absolute best in The Idol [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and A Borrowed Identity [+see also:
trailer
interview: Eran Riklis
film profile]), Austria’s Julia Franz Richter (nominated for the Austrian Film Award for Best Actress in 2021, 2022 and 2023 thanks to The Diver Inside [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], 1 Verabredung im Herbst and Rubikon [+see also:
film review
interview: Leni Lauritsch
film profile]) and Syria’s Hala Rajab.

Written by Jonathan Millet himself together with Florence Rochat, based on an original idea by the former, the story (which scooped the 2022 Grand Prize for Best Original Screenplay) unfolds in modern-day Strasbourg, which Hamid explores methodically. He’s a member of the Yaqaza cell, a secret organisation composed of Syrian citizens who track down war criminals. He sets out on the trail of his former torturer whose face he has never seen. On a hunch, he starts following this man, to the point of becoming obsessed…

Les Fantômes is produced by Pauline Seigland (read our interview) on behalf of Films Grand Huit, in co-production with Arte France Cinéma, Germany’s NiKo Film and Belgium’s Hélicotronc. Pre-purchased by Canal+, Ciné+ and Arte, the feature film also enjoys support from the CNC (by way of an advance on receipts and the Images de la Diversité fund), the French-German co-production mini-treaty (FFA German Federal Film Board, CNC) Eurimages, German Federal Film Board, the Brittany and Grand Est regions, the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg and the Gan Film Foundation. The eight-week film shoot will unfold in Strasbourg, Jordan and Germany, with Belgian Olivier Boonjing (the winner of the 2017 Magritte in his speciality for Parasol [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and nominated for Zero Fucks Given [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Marre and Julie Le…
film profile] in 2023) heading up photography, and editing entrusted to Laurent Sénéchal (Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile]). The movie’s release in French cinemas will be steered by Memento Distribution.

For the record, Films Grand Huit were recently responsible for Disco Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giacomo Abbruzzese
film profile] by Italy’s Giacomo Abbruzzese (awarded the Silver Bear for Best Artistic Contribution at this year’s Berlinale) and are currently overseeing post-production on Mi bestia [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Colombia’s Camila Beltran, as well as on Rabia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mareike Engelhardt
film profile] by Mareike Engelhardt.

(Translated from French)