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A l’abordage

Panorama 2020
© Geko Films
A warm summer evening in Paris; Félix meets Alma by chance. They laugh, dance and spend the night in a park. But their time together is cut short because she is about to go on holiday with her family. On an impulse, Félix decides to surprise her where she is holidaying and enrols a friend in the adventure. They carpool with a young man who gets tangled up in the undertaking. Nothing seems to go quite as planned.
A l’abordage is more than a breezy comedy of seduction. After a detour into documentary with the delightful L’île au trésor, Guillaume Brac brings to fiction his assiduous gaze into the depth and multiplicity of the human experience. Brac, working with a cast combining non-actors with young theatre-trained actors, has composed scenes of apparent simplicity that are nonetheless imbued with subtle and affecting social commentary. The summer hiatus temporarily reshuffles the deck and, armed solely with their personality and their artful use of language, these young people are given a chance to redefine their roles in friendship, love and society.
by Guillaume Brac
with Éric Nantchouang, Salif Cissé, Édouard Sulpice, Asma Messaoudene, Ana Blagojevic, Martin Mesner, Lucie Gallo, Cécile Feuillet, Nicolas Pietri France 2020 French 95’ Colour

With

  • Éric Nantchouang (Félix)
  • Salif Cissé (Chérif)
  • Édouard Sulpice (Édouard)
  • Asma Messaoudene (Alma)
  • Ana Blagojevic (Héléna)
  • Martin Mesner (Martin)
  • Lucie Gallo (Lucie)
  • Cécile Feuillet (Cécile)
  • Nicolas Pietri (Nicolas)

Crew

Written and Directed by Guillaume Brac
Written by Catherine Paillé
Cinematography Alan Guichaoua
Editing Héloïse Pelloquet
Sound Design Vincent Vatoux
Sound Mixing Vincent Verdoux
Sound Emmanuel Bonnat
Costumes Marine Galliano
Assistant Director Guilhem Amesland
Production Manager Thomas Hakim
Producer Grégoire Debailly
Co-Production Arte France Issy-les-Moulineaux

World sales

The Party Film Sales

Produced by

Geko Films

Photos

Berlinale Meets | Interview

Guillaume Brac

© Guillaume Brac

Born in Paris, France in 1977, he studied production at La Fémis. His first short film, Le naufragé, was released in a double bill with his mid-length film Un monde sans femmes in cinemas in France, Belgium and Japan. His debut feature, Tonnerre, screened in competition at the Locarno Film Festival while his first feature-length documentary, L’île au trésor, premiered in Karlovy Vary. In 2018, he won the Jean Vigo Award.

Filmography

2009 Le naufragé (Stranded); short film 2011 Un monde sans femmes (A World Without Women); medium-length film 2013 Tonnerre 2016 Le repos des braves; medium-length documentary 2017 Contes de juillet (July Tales) 2018 L’île au trésor (Treasure Island); documentary 2020 A l’abordage; Panorama

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020