Berlin

by Alex Deleon

Rarely is an opening festival film so compelling and overwhelming that you feel as if the festival ended right there the trip to Berlin would have bern justified, 

Reda Kateb as Django Reinhardt.  the gypsy musician with the German sounding name, made me forget I was watching an actor playing a part but felt like I was watching the jazz legend Django himself back from the great beyond in the flesh.

Magnificent, beyond words.

Alex

Berlin 67 Day ONE

Thursday February, 9, 2017

France in 1943 during the German occupation. Every night, guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt delights Parisian audiences with his witty, life-affirming ‘gypsy swing’ music. Whilst many other Romany people are finding themselves the target of racist persecution and being murdered in concentration camps, Django believes himself to be safe due to his popularity – until agents of the Nazi propaganda machine demand that he goes on tour to Germany in order to counteract the influence of ‘negro music’ from the USA. Django Reinhardt refuses. One of his Parisian admirers helps him, his pregnant wife and his mother to hide out in a village close to the Swiss border; here he meets members of his large extended family who are also on the run. But when he tries to cross Lake Geneva into Switzerland with his wife and his mother, the Nazis are hot on his heels. In his directorial debut, Etienne Comar portrays an unconventional artist and free spirit whose life is as improvised as his music. Faced with the question of whether or not to allow his art to be misused for politcal purposes, he has to make a decision of vital significance.

WITH

Reda Kateb (Django Reinhardt)
Cécile de France (Louise)
Beata Palya (Naguine)
Bim Bam Merstein (Negros)
Gabriel Mirété (La Plume)
Vincent Frade (Tam Tam)
Johnny Montreuil (Joseph Reinhardt)
Raphaël Dever (Vola)
Patrick Mille (Charlie Delaunay)
Alex Brandemuhl (Hans Biber)
Ulrich Brandhoff (Hammerstein)

CREW

Director

Etienne Comar

Screenplay

Etienne Comar, Alexis Salatko

Director of Photography

Christophe Beaucarne

Editor

Monica Coleman

Music

Django Reinhardt, performed by Rosenberg Trio, Warren Ellis

Sound

Cyril Moisson, Vincent Guillon, Stéphane Thiebaut

Production Design

Olivier Radot

Costumes

Pascaline Chavanne

Make-up

Nelly Robin

Assistant Director

Luc Bricault

Casting

Stéphane Batut

Production Manager

Philippe Hagège

Producers

Olivier Delbosc, Marc Missonnier

Executive Producer

Christine de Jekel

Co-production

Arches Films, Curiosa Films, Moana Films, Pathé, France 2 Cinéma, Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes Cinéma

BIOGRAPHY

Etienne Comar

After graduating from the Parisian film school La Fémis, he began working at Erato Films as a production manager on films including Boris Godunov by Andrzej Zulawski and Van Gogh by Maurice Pialat. He then produced 15 feature films with Playtime and Vendôme Production before, in 2009, moving to Arches Films to work as a screenwriter and producer on titles such as Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men) by Xavier Beauvois and Mon roi (My King) by Maïwenn. Django is his first feature film as a director.

Filmography (as director)

2017 Django

© Thaddé Comar

PRODUCED BY

Fidélité Films
Paris, France
+33 1 55349808
contact@fidelite.fr

WORLD SALES

Pathé International
Paris, France
+33 1 71723305
sales@patheinternational.com
www.patheinternational.com