Paris-based Loco Films has acquired international sales to Kosovan drama The Hill Where Lionesses Roar about three bored teenagers who set up a heist gang, targeting local traders.
The film generated strong buzz when it was showcased at the Works in Progress event of Les Arcs Film Festival this week, where it won the €5,000 ($5,584) Alphapanda audience engagement award.
It is the debut feature of 18-year-old French-Kosovan director Luàna Bajrami, who is best known in France as an actress. She has just been short-listed by France’s Cesar Academy for its 2020 revelation award for her performance as the servant girl in Céline Sciamma’s Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.
Bajrami does not appear in the film. Her young cast consists rather of actresses Era Balaj, Flaka Latifi and Urate Shabani and rising actor Andi Bajgora.
“It’s a film full of energy and passion about three young girls living in a village in Kosovo, who to escape the situation, decide to set up a gang and start robbing local businesses,” said Loco Films chief Laurent Danielou. “I was conquered by the sublime scenes that were shown at Les Arcs and the meeting with Luàna, who is as luminous and passionate as her film.”
“It’s the third film I’ve handled by an 18-year-old filmmaker after Xavier Dolan’s I killed my mother and Nathan Ambrosioni’s Papers flags,” he added.
The film wrapped in October and post-production should be finished by spring 2020.
It is produced by Quentin Just and Adrien Ferrand at Paris-based Vents Contraires and Val Rahmani at Kosovan commany OrëZanë Film
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