French director Edouard Bergeon, whose Cesar-nominated debut feature “In the Name of the Land” was a box office hit in 2019, has penned another eco-thriller, “The Green Deal.”
The movie, which is partly set in the Indonesian forest, has been boarded by Playtime and will be pitched to buyers at the Toronto Film Festival.
“The Green Deal” explores crimes and colliding interests in the exploitation of a palm oil and the production of biofuels. The movie is produced by Christophe Rossignon and Philip Böeffard at Nord-Ouest Films, the well-established banner behind “Merry Christmas” and more recently Thomas Cailley’s “The Animal Kingdom,” which was produced by Pierre Guyard.
“The Green Deal” stars Alexandra Lamy as Carole, an English professor leading a tranquil life in rural France. Her world crumbles when she learns that her son, Martin, conducting research for his Ph.D. in Indonesia, has been arrested in Borneo on drug trafficking charges with a potential death sentence looming.
Convinced of his innocence, Carole discovers that Martin is, in fact, a crucial witness to crimes committed by powerful palm oil producers and their influential international backers. In a bid to save her son and expose the hidden truths of the palm oil industry, Carole journeys to Indonesia to confront the lobbies that champion the deceptive cause of “biofuels”.
The film is being co-produced by France 2 Cinéma and Belgium’s Artémis Productions. Domestic distribution will be handled by Diaphana Distribution, which previously handled Cannes prizewinning films such as “Close”, Oscar-winning “Drive My Car” and “Titane.”
A journalist-turned-filmmaker, Bergeon made a critically acclaimed feature debut with “In The Name of the Land” which was inspired bytrue events and his own family history. The movie nabbed three Cesar nominations and turned out to be one of the highest grossing French films of 2019.
Playtime is at the Venice Film Festival with several films, including Celine Rouzet’s “For Night Will Come” and Delphine Girard’s “Through the Night.”
