– Zita Hanrot, Grégory Montel and Faouzi Bensaïdi star in the director’s follow-up to her breakthrough film Blessed, produced by Tessalit Productions and distributed by The Bureau Sales
Actress Zita Hanrot
Since 18 May, Algerian director Sofia Djama has been filming A Quarter to Thursday in Algiers in Marseille, her second feature film following Blessed (winner of the Orizzonti Award for Best Actress at Venice in 2017 and nominated for the 2018 Lumière Award for Best Debut Film).
The cast features Zita Hanrot (winner of the 2016 César Award for Most Promising Actress for Fatima, and recently seen in No Way Back), Grégory Montel (notably acclaimed in the series Call My Agent! and Little Tickles, and soon to be seen in French cinemas in Un champ de fraises pour l’éternité), the Moroccan actor and director Faouzi Bensaïdi (who reunites with the filmmaker after Blessed, also appearing to great effect in Sofia, among others, and selected for the Directors’ Fortnight with his latest directorial effort, Deserts) and Hadjar Benmansour (who also starred in the director’s debut feature and appeared in Houria).
Written by the director, the screenplay plunges us into a strange country where presidents never die. Goussam, a young woman with a flat stomach and lungs full of hope, must have a clandestine abortion. She is supposed to get help from her two loser friends, Cherifa and Riad. Riad is to introduce her to an old, alcoholic and depressed Russian gynaecologist who has recently returned home after a long, forced exile in Russia. Meanwhile, Trump, Riad’s little dog, dies and throws a spanner in the works of Goussam’s abortion plans…
A Quarter to Thursday in Algiers was introduced by Jean Bréhat for Tessalit Productions and co-produced by French company Furyo Films and Belgian company Artémis Productions. The film is supported by advance funding from the CNC, the Doha Film Institute and the French Institute in Algiers (IFA). Filming will take place in Marseille until 18 June, with Pierre Aïm (nominated for a César in his category in 1996, 2004 and 2012, and who also has to his credit the three films of Tarik Saleh’s “Cairo Trilogy”) as director of photography. It is also worth noting that several animated sequences by Mehdi Djelil, known as Bardi, will be included in the film. Distribution in French theatres will be handled by JHR, whilst international sales are managed by The Bureau Sales.
Among the films currently in post-production at Tessalit Productions are Sylvie Meyer’s documentary 3 Cruel Tales and the co-production Leila by Italian director Ginevra Elkann.
(Translated from French)
