back

Le Gang des Bois du Temple

The Temple Woods Gang
Forum 2023
© Sarrazink Productions
Three men are taking a walk between the apartment blocks of a suburban housing estate, feeding pigeons. They belong to a gang of small-time crooks who pulled off a major coup during the armed robbery of a Saudi Arabian prince’s car. Their conversation revolves around acquiring a bionic prosthetic hand, a long-cherished dream that the stolen money can make a reality. They don’t yet know that they are being pursued. The tranquillity of the scene stands in stark contrast to the later shootout with cold-blooded killers and establishes a space beyond the genre conventions of the classic gangster film – as does the stunning performance of a chanson by Breton singer Annkrist at a funeral service at the beginning of the film. The prince’s ecstatic dance to raï music in a nightclub, during which his bodyguard fails to notice that he’s being watched, also forms part of this poetics of digression. At the end, when a neighbour who is friends with the gang looks out from his balcony at children and pigeons playing, while the verticals of the banlieue architecture glow in the autumn light, everything is peaceful again.
by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche
with Régis Laroche, Philippe Petit, Marie Loustalot, Kenji Meunier, Salim Ameur-Zaïmeche, Kamel Mezdour, Nassim Zazoui, Lucius Barre, Mohamed Aroussi, Slimane Dazi France 2022 French, English 112’ Colour

With

  • Régis Laroche
  • Philippe Petit
  • Marie Loustalot
  • Kenji Meunier
  • Salim Ameur-Zaïmeche
  • Kamel Mezdour
  • Nassim Zazoui
  • Lucius Barre
  • Mohamed Aroussi
  • Slimane Dazi

Crew

Director Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche
Screenplay Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche
Cinematography Pierre-Hubert Martin
Editing Grégoire Pontecaille
Music Annkrist, Sofiane Saïdi
Sound Design Nikolas Javelle
Sound Bruno Auzet
Production Design Mohamed Aroussi
Costumes Julia Fouroux
Make-Up Marine Soulie
Production Manager Sarah Sobol
Producer Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche
Executive Producer Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche

World sales

REASON8 Films

https://reason8films.com https://reason8films.com

Produced by

Sarrazink Productions

Photos

Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche

© Flavien Prioreau

Born in Beni-Zid, Algeria in 1966, he studied sociology in France. In 1999 he founded his own film production company Sarrazink Productions. In 2001 he made his first feature film, Wesh wesh, qu’est-ce qui se passe? (Berlinale Forum 2002). Histoire de Judas was shown at the Berlinale Forum in 2015.

Filmography

2001 Wesh wesh, qu’est-ce qui se passe? (Wesh Wesh, What's Going on?); 83 min. 2006 Bled Number One (Back Home); 100 min. 2008 Dernier maquis (Adhen); 93 min. 2012 Les chants de Mandrin (Smuggler's Songs); 97 min. 2015 Histoire de Judas (The Story of Judas); 99 min. 2019 Terminal Sud (Headed South); 96 min. 2022 Le Gang des Bois du Temple (The Temple Woods Gang); 112 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023