- The second feature directed by French filmmaker is a comedy
09/10/2020.- The French comedy film Un triomphe will close the 65 Valladolid International Film Festival on October 31st. The second feature directed by filmmaker and actor Emmanuel Courcol, is a comedy about a theater troupe formed by inmates at a correctional centre. The film was produced by French director Robert Guédiguian, one of the filmmakers with a strongest connection to the Valladolid Film Festival and the winner, among other awards, of the 45th Film Week’s Golden Spike.
With a cast featuring Kad Merad, David Ayala, Lamine Cissokho, Sofian Khammes, Pierre Lottin, Wabinlé Nabié, Alexandre Medvedev and Saïd Benchnafa, Un triomphe focuses on the figure of Etienne, an endearing actor, for the most part unemployed, who directs a drama workshop in a state prison. There he brings together an unusual group of inmates to perform Samuel Beckett’s famous play “Waiting for Godot.” When he is allowed to take his colourful group of convicts on a tour outside the prison, Etienne finally sees the opportunity to prosper. Each performance in front of an audience becomes a new success, and a unique relationship begins to forge between the improvised company and its director. But before he has been able to assimilate the experience, the time comes for the last performance, which will take place in Paris.
Born in 1957, Emmanuel Courcol graduated from the National School of Theater Arts and Techniques (ENSATT – Rue Blanche) in 1957, and since then he has acted in some thirty plays and twenty films. He began his career on stage under the direction, among others, of Roger Planchon and Jean-Louis Thamin. He wrote several screenplays, in collaboration with Philippe Lioret, for ‘Mademoiselle’ (2001), ‘The Light’ (2004), ‘Welcome’ (2009, which garnered a César nomination for Best Screenplay), and ‘All Our Desires’ (2011). In 2012 he directed the short film ‘Géraldine je t’aime’, and ‘Cessez-le-feu’ (2015) was his first feature film as director.
