18/04/2024 - Julien Colonna’s debut feature film - co-written by Jeanne Herry, produced by Chi-Fou-Mi and sold by Goodfellas - is world premiering in the Un Certain Regard section

There’s huge buzz surrounding Le Royaume, Julien Colonna’s first feature film which has been selected for the Un Certain Regard line-up in the 77th Cannes Film Festival (running 14 -  25 May). Anchoring the film in his native Corsica and in a subject with which he’s highly familiar thanks to his own family experience, the filmmaker has assembled a cast exclusively made up of non-professionals actors, including Ghjuvanna Benedetti, Saveriu Santucci, Anthony Morganti, Andrea Cossu, Frédéric Poggi, Régis Gomez and Eric Ettori.

Written by the director together with Jeanne Herry (nominated for the 2019 Best Screenplay César thanks to In Safe Hands [+see also:
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film profile] and in this year’s Best Adapted Screenplay category by way of All Your Faces [+see also:
film review
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film profile]), the story takes us to Corsica in 1994. Lesia is experiencing her first summer as a teen. One day, a man bursts into her life and takes her to an isolated villa on his scooter where she finds her father, in hiding, surrounded by his men. A local war breaks out and the noose tightens around the clan’s necks. Death comes knocking. They’re forced to go on the run, whereupon the father and daughter learn to look at, understand and love one another…

Le Royaume is produced by Hugo Sélignac and Antoine Lafon on behalf of Chi-Fou-Mi Productions and is pre-purchased by Canal+ and Netflix. The feature film also enjoys support in the form of an advance on receipts from the CNC, as well as backing from the Territorial Collectivity of Corsica and the SOFICA company Entourage. Photography comes courtesy of Antoine Cormier while the film’s music is composed by Audrey Ismael (who will also be attending Cannes with Wild Diamond). International sales are managed by Goodfellas and distribution in French cinemas falls to Ad Vitam.

For the record, Chi-Fou-Mi Productions will boast three films in the 2024 Cannes Film Festival showcase, also including Quentin Dupieux’s The Second Act [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which is set to open the Official Selection, and Beating Hearts by Gilles Lellouche, which will be unveiled in competition.

(Translated from French)