On 28 September, Ladj Ly, who made a huge splash with the documentary Speak-Up! [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] (co-directed with Stéphane de Freitas and nominated for the César Award in its respective category in 2018), wrapped the shoot for his debut feature-length fiction film, Les Misérables [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ladj Ly
scheda film], an extended reimagining of his short film of the same name that was nominated for the César Award in 2018, was awarded at Clermont-Ferrand the year before and was screened at over 20 international festivals. The three lead actors have stepped back into their previous roles for this larger-scale adventure – they are Damien Bonnard (Lumières Award for Best New Actor in 2017 for Staying Vertical [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Alain Guiraudie
scheda film], which also earned him a nomination for the César Award for Most Promising Actor the same year; set to grace screens soon in The Trouble With You [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Pierre Salvadori
scheda film], Sauver ou périr and Pure as Snow), Alexis Manenti (Truk [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Sarah Marx
scheda film], 9 Fingers [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: F.J. Ossang
scheda film], The Stopover [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Delphine e Muriel Coulin
scheda film]) and Djibril Zonga.

Written by Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini (Above the Law [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: François Troukens
scheda film]) and Alexis Manenti, the story revolves around Stéphane, who has just arrived from Cherbourg and joins the Montfermeil Anti-crime Squad in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, an inner suburb of Paris. On the same team as Chris and Gwada, two men with occasionally “peculiar” methods, he soon discovers the tensions among the different neighbourhood gangs. As they find themselves overwhelmed during an interrogation, a drone films every one of their movements…

Produced by Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral for SRAB Films, Les Misérables is being co-produced by Rectangle Productions and Lyly Films. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature has also secured backing from the Ile-de-France region, the Cineventure Sofica and Cinefeel Prod. The 30-day shoot took place from 20 August-28 September in Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil. The French distribution will be handled by Le Pacte and international sales by Wild Bunch.

A member of the Kourtrajmé collective (started up by Romain Gavras and Kim Chapiron) since 1996, Ladj Ly has a thorough knowledge of the environment where he has set his storyline and which he previously tackled in his documentary 365 jours à Clichy-Montfermeil (2005), about the urban riots, and the docu-fiction Go Fast Connection (2008), which took issue with how the media portrayed the suburb. 

Young Paris-based outfit SRAB Films released The Trouble-Shooter [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] by Julien Guetta in theatres this summer (racking up 145,000 admissions), and is currently shooting Banlieusards, by and starring Kery James, for Netflix (in executive co-production with Les Films Velvet).