Saturday screening of “Agnus Dei” making-of
Saturday, 24 October, is not only the time of the election silence. It is also a day of an exceptional meeting. Outstanding director and this year’s juror of Tofifest, Anne Fontaine, will present at 15.00 the making-of her latest film Agnus Dei starring, among others, Agata Kulesza and Agata Buzek. Free entry.
The latest film by Anne Fontaine, author of the memorable Coco Chanel and The Girl from Monaco, is based on true events. Agnus Dei was shot entirely in Poland and features a number of outstanding Polish actresses among its cast including Agata Kulesza, Agata Buzek, Joanna Kulig, and Anna Prochniak.
Following the end of the Second World War, the French Red Cross is undertaking a repatriation campaign, gathering French citizens in a hospital. One of the doctors is young Matylda Beaulieu (played by Lou de Laâge, a rising star of French cinema). One day, a sister from a convent located just a few kilometres away comes to the hospital begging for help for a dying woman. The bedridden woman turns out to be a pregnant nun... The ugly truth comes to light: all the sisters in the convent have become victims of a gang rape by soldiers from the Red Army. Matylda is willing to bring help, but Mother Superior (played by Agata Kulesza) will do all in her power to hide the truth, so as to prevent a scandal. Upon arrival, Matylda receives a cold welcome from the sisters, and slowly enters a world previously unknown to her. She soon befriends Sister Maria (played by Agata Buzek). Together, they will discover a terrible truth lurking behind the walls of the convent...
AGNUS DEI, a French-Polish co-production, is being directed by Anne Fontaine (Coco Chanel, Perfect Mothers). The script has been written by Sabrina B. Karine, Alice Vial, Anne Fontaine, and Pascal Bonitzer. The author of cinematography is a French cinematographer Caroline Champetier (Ponette, Holy Motors, or Of Gods and Men). Production design has been entrusted to Joanna Macha (Jack Strong, Traffic Department, Córki Dancingu), and costumes to Katarzyna Lewinska (In Darkness, In the Name Of..., Body).
The film is being produced by: Mandarin Cinema and Aeroplan Film, in co-production with Canal+ France, Canal+ Poland, Mars Film, France Television, with the financial support of he Polish Film Institute and Eurimages. The film will be distributed by Kino Świat.
The cast includes: Lou de Laâge (Respire/Breathe, It Happened in Saint-Tropez, Jappeloup), Agata Kulesza (Ida, Rose, Moje córki krowy), Agata Buzek (Reverse, Hummingbird), Joanna Kulig (Sponsoring, Lasting Moments, Disco Polo), Anna Prochniak (City 44), Katarzyna Dabrowska (Days of Honour), Vincent Macaigne (Kingston Avenue, The Rendez-Vous of Déjà-Vu, A World Without Women).
The film will have its première in 2016.
Anne Fontaine
She is one of the most important French director and screenwriters of today. In 1993, she debuted with Les Histoires d’amour finissent mal… en général (Love Affairs Usually End Badly), which was awarded the Prix Jean Vigo Award in the Cinema of France. Four years later, she made Nettoyage à sec (Dry cleaning), which won the Golden Gazelle award for best screenplay at the Venice International Film Festival. Then, she drew the attention of film critics and audiences with Nathalie... and The Girl from Monaco. Both films were perverse critiques of bourgeois hypocrisy, mocking the moral duplicity of the French. Coco Chanel – a blockbuster with a spectacular performance of Audrey Tatou, turned out to be a great international success for Fontaine. The film was based on the life of the legendary fashion designer. In 2013, she released Perfect Mothers, a controversial film starring Robin Wright and Naomi Watts. She feels at home with cinema of genre, but also in bold social dramas. All her films focus on the world of women, analysing their complex motivations, discovering their passions, fascinations, and secrets.
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