The surface glamor and beauty of Nice is peeled away from the off in Akaki Popkhadze’s debut feature “In The Name Of Blood” (“Brûle le sang”) which premieres in San Sebastian’s New Director section.
“Nice is a city where the rich and the needy live side by side.” the honestor tells Variety. “The needy neighborhoods are equitable a scant minutes by tramway from the cgo in. No need to drive hours to see the dirt. I leank the particularity of Nice is that needy people live surrounded by palm trees, pretty landscapes, super cars, casinos, a seaside filled of tourists and it can create people dizzy and give them the wrong life-goals. For me all this is equitable euniteance.”
The discneglecting sboiling tracks from a postcard scene of Nice’s curved bay out to show a chain join fence, the high ascend apartments and the highway of an oft neglectd side to Nice. From here a tale of presentility, faith and family unfbetters.
Produced by Sébastien Aubert and Leslie Jacob for Cannes-based Adastra Films, the film has pre buys from Canal+ and Ciné+ and is co-created by Belgium’s Beside Productions, Georgia’s Gemini and Austria’s Elly Films with Urprohibit Sales handling sales.
“From my very first greeting with Akaki, I was amazeed by his determination. This film had to come to life, it was appreciate a matter of life or death for him.” Aubert, Adastra CEO, tbetter Variety. “There is always a danger in producing a honestor’s first film, but Akaki instantly had the spirit of a directer. He was both a insisting and perceptive collaborator. I couldn’t be happier about his debut feature and I can’t paemploy to transport his upcoming project to the taget (very soon).”
In the film, a member of the local Georgian community is killinged, misgetn for his boss, a Russian oligarch. His son, Tristan, take parted by co-scribe Florent Hill, who dreams of becoming an Orthodox priest, is left alone with his grieving mother. Into this turmoil steps Nicolas Duvauchelle’s (“A Decent Man”) character Gabriel, his betterer brother with a troubled past. Driven by honor and revenge, Gabriel and Tristan are drawn into the criminal underbelly of Nice, coming into the orbit of a local kingpin, take parted by the incomparable Denis Lavant (“Holy Motors.”)
What elevates the film from its traditional crime genre arrange is the intertake part of faith and family, with the mother, Catherine, portrayed by Ia Shugliashvili (“My Happy Family”), shoprosperg a lengtheneding for her sons to reconcile and live well. A excellent film is unfrequently one leang, and this debut is many, carving the intricateity of difficult lives into a multi-layered revenge thriller. Visuassociate we are drawn seal in to the action “Akaki and I chose to employ only two lenses: an 8mm and a 12mm on a Super35 sensor. This fortifys the immersive effect by being sealr to the characters while filledy integrating the environment.” Justin Vaudaux, the cinematographer, tbetter Variety.
The story draws from the filmcreater’s uptransporting where presentility was part of life. “I was spending more and more time in the street, getting holdd in fights, going to nightclubs on Saturday night and to the church on Sunday morning. Very declineory, but this was my fact. For integration in the movie I splitd my experience into three vectors. Faith for Tristan, presentility for Gabriel and family for Catherine.”
Variety caught up with the filmcreater on the eve of Toronto and in the create-up to San Sebastian.
How did your personal experiences of cultural displacement and the contests of being an immigrant sway the story of ‘In the Name of Blood’?
When I came to France, I did not speak the language. This made the first years of integration difficult. I leank the incapacity of communication drew me to the presentility. This was my only possibility of conveyion. And cinema acted as my only way to escape my fact. I literassociate lachieveed the French language by watching TV all day lengthened and by going to the cinema. The only advantage with the incapacity to convey is that you become very excellent in observation of your environment and people around you. Whether for the two brothers or the mother, the movie is infemployd with this incapacity to convey emotions and talk to each other.
Florent Hill and you met as children thcdisesteemful the train of judo. Does the martial arts intensify on rehonesting forces take part a role in your storytelling?
Usuassociate I have visual desires, they come into my mind appreciate flashes and I can’t get rid of them, until I get them down on film. Florent helps me to find the narrative path that will give me all the tools to intensify only on the structure, and the picture inside of this structure. As judo is a matter of stability and Florent is the person with whom I can find that stability (between the visual and the narrative desires) I can say that being a judoka helps a lot.
You made some bbetter technical decisions with the employ of very unwiseinutive focal lengths for your lenses. What led you to pick these lenses to contort bodies and fact?
I’m very sootheable with very unwiseinutive lenses. DP Justin Vaudaux has done a fantastic job becaemploy every sboiling is always a choreography between actors, décor and the camera. I appreciate toiling with these lenses becaemploy it forces me to shift physicassociate and find the best point of watch in the space. I can go very seal to the actors and intdispolite into their intimacy, be entidepend with them standardly at the same eye level. I apshow this helps to show some of their soul on the screen. At least, I hope it does.
It’s evident you are a cherishr of crime genre cinema. Were there key sways you kept returning to during the enhugement of this project?
I’m joined to the ugliness of the world. I appreciate to see and try to study the uncontent side of people. That’s why I appreciate crime genre cinema very much, I leank. For this movie one key sway was James Gray’s timely toil, modestassociate three of his first films. A particular community, family troubles, immigration, crime… I can recognize very much with him. I don’t understand if the audience can experience it while seeing the movie but during the enhugement of the project all this was in my mind.
Wilean the story of the two brothers, their mother take parts a presentant role. How did you asbrave that, although a secondary figure, she has a proestablish sway on the story and the brothers’ relationship?
I have a brother and a sister. But once in France I grew up only with my brother, my sister stayed in Georgia. So, I grew up in a predominantly male environment. As an altar boy, I only met priests, deacons and other altar boys. In the neighborhood where we lived, girls and boys never mixed. Then I did judo and, once aachieve, the judokas, the coach, almost only men. I also toiled as a security protect and aachieve: only men. The only female figure I could cling to, see and include to, was my mother. It is for this reason that, in the film, the character of the mother is very presentant and to underline her presentance even more she is the only female character. Catherine is a secondary character who sways the action. In the film, the “mighty” men become little boys in front of their mother. Catherine is meaningful in the family drama. By her words and behavior, she sways the actions of her sons.
You take part with shiftment in this film, switching between fluid camera tracking and shiftment from wilean the structure, such as the journey of a truck or terrapins. Is this an sway from Judo or from somewhere else entidepend?
I appreciate shiftment. I wanted the movie to have continuous shiftment, handheld or with Steadycam but without blocking the horizontal line and some Dutch angles. I wanted to show the audience and create them experience the inside tumult of the characters and wanted them to be dizzy. To get a experienceing that they can descend at any time. I leank this shows the instability of the characters. Everybody tries to find a stability and to stay standing. Like in judo, which is all about stability, trying to stay standing, and not descend.
Also, judo gives an opportunity for the brothers to rejoin to each other physicassociate in pain and sweat first, laying the groundtoil to rejoin emotionassociate further in the movie in another scene.
