LES FILMS DU WORSO PRESENTS THE PRAYER

LES FILMS DU WORSO PRESENTS THE PRAYER A F I L M B Y C É D R I C K A H N

Les Films du Worso presents THE PRAYER A F I L M B Y C É D R I C K A H N 107min France 2018 1.85 5.1 ANTHONY BAJON DAMIEN CHAPELLE ALEX BRENDEMÜHL LOUISE GRINBERG with the participation of HANNA SCHYGULLA INTERNATIONAL SALES 5, rue Darcet 75017 Paris Tél : 01 44 69 59 59 c.neel@le-pacte.com www.le-pacte.com INTERNATIONAL PRESS RENDEZ-VOUS In Berlin : Viviana Andriani +33 680168139 Aurélie Dard +33 677045220 viviana@rv-press.com www.rv-press.com Downloadable press material here www.le-pacte.com 2 3

SYNOPSIS Thomas, 22, is a drug addict. In an effort to put an end to his habit, he joins a community of former addicts who live isolated in the mountains and use prayer as a way to cure themselves. At first reluctant, Thomas gradually accepts to submit himself to a Spartan life of discipline, abstinence, hard work and frequent prayer. He discovers faith, but also love. And a new kind of torment. 4 5

INTERVIEW WITH CÉDRIC KAHN What was the starting point for the film? This project was born from three key encounters. Firstly, with a young writer named Aude Walker who introduced me to the subject, having done a lot of research for a potential book on religious experiences with drug addicts. Secondly, with screenwriting duo Fanny Burdino and Samuel Doux, who rose to the huge challenge of writing the script. And lastly, with producer Sylvie Pialat, who immediately committed to the project, using unknown actors in the same spirit as with my first films. This was your first time working with Fanny Burdino and Samuel Doux. What did they bring? Working with them was a decisive factor. I d already tried to write the script myself and failed. Being neither a believer, Christian, nor a former drug addict, I had to find my own way into the subject. We went over the whole thing together: reading the psalms and the documentation, meeting young people who d experienced this kind of thing. We talked to guys who d been involved in the past and who talked to us about their continued faith. Samuel went to meet some young people who are undergoing such experiences right now, to observe their rituals, see how they live their lives, and talk to them about their experiences. The writing started to take shape from that point onwards. And we d already taken several key decisions, such as centering the narrative on the story of one boy about whom we start out knowing nothing and who, as the narrative comes together, becomes emblematic of all the others. We wanted the film to start with his arrival and end with his departure, the before and after not being part of the story. And we also wanted to create an isolated place tucked away in the mountains, dedicated to prayer with its own rules and own pace, away from the constraints of the rest of the world. The relationships between the young residents are very powerful. There is camaraderie, fraternity, even sometimes a parental connection That s probably the real subject of the film, and in any case, it s what I find most moving: rebuilding human connections. The individuals arrive in absolute solitude, in a hugely distressed emotional state. What they learn beyond prayer are rules, sharing, and how to live in a community. And that s probably what saves them in the end. Incidentally, friendship is one of the three precepts of the community which are announced on arrival, along with work and prayer. And what is even more astonishing in terms of the connection is that the boys all come from different backgrounds and countries. I wanted this film to have that kind of melting-pot vibe: an intermingling of social backgrounds and nationalities, with kids from well-heeled families rubbing shoulders with those from the street, Spaniards and Americans alike, all linked by their ordeals and their prayer. Indeed, there is a great diversity of backgrounds with relation to religion When they arrive, some are very far from being religious, totally recalcitrant even. Others, by comparison, are raised in the sort of background that makes them great believers. But there is no obligation to pray, simply to respect the time for prayer, which can be taken as a simple pause or a moment to meditate. They are protected by religion and communal living, cut off from the world in a bubble inside which they can repair themselves and allow their wounds to heal. And after a while, the most worrisome thing for them becomes the outside world, synonymous with danger and temptation. Peace comes to them, but the fragility is always there. 6 7

The film opens with Thomas s arrival. His lost look connects him with the viewer right from the start... It became a look towards the viewer during editing. In the start, it was a classic, more narrative shot-reverse shot. He looked at the priest who picked him up in the street after he overdosed and convinced him to join the community. In the end, we decided that his face caught in that situation was enough for the audience to connect with him. I really liked the idea of starting the film with a simple face, the face of someone about whom we know nothing, in which we can sense all his distress. He s a lone wolf, almost like a character out of a western. There s a lot of singing in the film... Singing and sharing experiences are key pillars of therapy. At the center, the boys sing all the time in the chapel, after meals, beside the fire. There are no distractions allowed: no music, no TV, no newspapers. The spirit must never be idle in order to think about drugs. Outside of work, they pray and sing. Filming faith is no mean feat. How did you resolve that? Through doubt. Nothing is imposed on the spectator. They always have the possibility of forging their own belief, even in the scene with the miracle. I was keen that everything remain rational. And that the images create that subjectivity and that illusion. The songs in the chapel, the walking in the mountains, the echo in the fog I felt we could make that presence, that invisibility felt through the filmmaking techniques we had at our disposal. What is your own relationship with faith? I would define myself as agnostic. I have no certitude. I respect people who have faith, and in certain ways I even envy them. Faith is an intimate issue which, in many ways, goes beyond the framework of religion. If you think about it, everything in life love, passion, and commitment is all a question of faith. For example, I believe in the mystique of cinema. A successful sequence is always a miracle, it s a kind of magical conjunction of elements. The character of Sybille is decisive yet complex. She s the one who convinces him to take part in the experience, but she s also the person who makes him doubt his desire to become a priest... She is the most fictionalized person in the film and the key counterpoint. Probably the one who represents us the most. She represents the world outside. And that world outside is an obsession for the young people in the community; that desire to return to normal life, combined with a fear of falling back into old ways. Sybille speaks very freely compared to the rest of the community, while being capable of convincing him to go back there. And there is an ambiguity that runs throughout the film: does Thomas go back there out of religious conviction, or in the hope of seeing her again? With his child-like face, Anthony Bajon is a real revelation in this, his first role, which required a real physical and psychological intensity. How did you find him? I was looking for a boy with a lot of presence, intensity, and violence, but also with a certain candor, and a strong link with childhood. And I wanted him to be fairly undefinable on a social level. An actor who would be capable of embodying every part of the narrative. That s a lot to ask of a young actor, but to my eyes, Anthony had it all. How did you choose the other actors in the film? Right from the start, it was very clear for producer Sylvie Pialat and me that we didn t want faces that were well-known or too identifiable. And Sylvie often reminded me of that starting point. The first test was to get the actors to pray. It was kind of a strange casting! And those who did it well weren t necessarily the most religious, just the best actors. We assembled the cast without creating a hierarchy of roles, just trying to create a homogeneous, credible group. We were looking for an intensity and a lucidity in the performance. We also wanted to be able to see each character s story and the trials they d undergone, simply by looking into their eyes. 8 9

The exception among these actors was Hanna Schygulla in the role of the Sister Yes absolutely, it was deliberate. We thought it interesting that this highly symbolic character should be embodied by a legendary actress. Beyond her reputation, she gives off this natural aura, a combination of authority and gentleness that really adds to the character. And the fact that she s not French brings an additional dimension. Did the prayer and singing require special work with the actors? Yes, a lot of learning and quite a few rehearsals before shooting began. All the songs and guitar playing had to be done by the actors in the film. To me, it was unthinkable to cheat with that. The fervor had to come from within. We had to accept the imperfections and that was at the heart of the work. As in your previous film, WILD LIFE, nature has a key role. And to capture that, you worked with director of photography Yves Cape. We extended our collaboration and even refined it. WILD LIFE was shot with two cameras and a minimum of lighting to ensure a feeling of freedom, with a focus on movement and fluidity. Here, we very quickly felt the need to settle down, to interiorize the emotions of the characters. We didn t want the camera to move from its stand. It was all about precision, and the importance of being in the right place and allowing time to pass. We extended this to our work with Laure Gardette, who edited the movie, trying to use as few shots as possible to restrict the effects. Both elements required rigor and determination and, in that respect, both Yves and Laure were invaluable partners in the making of the film. How did you find the location? I wanted mountains, landscapes, a feeling of isolation, but also one of space and eternity. We looked in the Pyrenees and in the Alps. Then we came upon Trièves in the Isère, a wide plateau surrounded by mountains on all sides. It s a magical place, wonderfully preserved, and it offers a combination of beauty and ruggedness. It was the perfect place to tell this story. Indeed, the landscape became one of the characters in the film in its own right. 10 11

FILMOGRAPHY Réalisateur DIRECTOR CÉDRIC KAHN BIOGRAPHY Cédric Kahn was born in Crest, France, in 1966. He starts working in the film industry as a film editor, then as a screenwriter. In 1991, after two shorts, he directs his first feature film, BAR DES RAILS, selected at the Venice Film Festival. Three years later, his second feature, TROP DE BONHEUR, is selected at Directors Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival and wins the Jean Vigo Award. In 1998, L ENNUI, based on Alberto Moravia s novel, receives the prestigious Louis-Delluc Award. ROBERTO SUCCO is selected in competition at Cannes in 2001, and RED LIGHTS competes at the Berlinale three years later. He directs actors such as Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi and Yvan Attal (REGRETS, 2009), Leïla Bekhti and Guillaume Canet (A BETTER LIFE, 2011), Mathieu Kassovitz (WILD LIFE, 2014). In addition, he also works as an actor in several films directed by Elie Wajeman, Joachim Lafosse, Pawel Pawlikowski... 2018 LA THE PRIÈRE PRAYER 2014 VIE WILD SAUVAGE LIFE 2011 UNE A BETTER VIE MEILLEURE LIFE 2009 LES REGRETS REGRETS 2005 L AVION 2004 FEUX RED LIGHTS ROUGES 2001 ROBERTO SUCCO 1998 L ENNUI 1996 CULPABILITÉ ZERO GUILT ZÉRO 1994 TROP DE BONHEUR 1994 BONHEUR 1992 1991 BAR DES RAILS Acteur ACTOR 2018 COLD WAR by de Pawel Pavel Pawlikowski MARCHE OU CRÈVE CRÊVE by de Margaux Bonhomme 2016 L ÉCONOMIE AFTER LOVE by DU Joachim COUPLE Lafosse de Joachim Lafosse UN UP FOR HOMME LOVE À by LA Laurent HAUTEUR Tirarde Laurent Tirard 2015 LES THE ANARCHISTES ANARCHISTS by d Élie Elie Wajeman 2013 TIREZ MISS AND LA LANGUE THE DOCTORS MADEMOISELLE by Axelle Ropert d Axelle Ropert 2012 ALYAH by d Élie Elie Wajeman 12 13

ANTHONY BAJON Anthony Bajon is a French actor, born in 1994 near Paris. He studied drama at Studio Muller. One of his first appearances was in THE OGRES by Léa Fehner (2015). Since, he worked, among others, with André Techiné (GOLDEN YEARS, 2017), Jacques Doillon (RODIN, 2017), Thomas Lilti (IRREPLACEABLE, 2016). THE PRAYER is his first lead role. DAMIEN CHAPELLE Damien Chapelle is a Belgian actor, dancer and director, born in 1988, in Liège. He starred in more than 10 films, among them ENDANGERED SPECIES by Gilles Bourdos (2017), PLANETARIUM by Rebecca Zlotowski (2016), PARISIENNE by Danielle Arbid (2016), METAMORPHOSES by Christophe Honoré (2014), GIRLHOOD by Céline Sciamma (2014) ALEX BRENDEMÜHL Alex Brendemühl was born in 1972 in Barcelona, from a German father and a Spanish mother. He is an film and stage actor who played in numerous Spanish, French and German feature films, but works occasionally as a director and a scriptwriter. He is best known for starring in FROM THE LAND OF THE MOON by Nicole Garcia (2016) and THE GERMAN DOCTOR by Lucía Puenzo (2013). He also made an appearance in DJANGO by Etienne Comar, opening film at Berlinale 2017. 14 15

CAST CREW THOMAS PIERRE MARCO SYBILLE PÈRE LUC AGNÈS OLIVIER SŒUR MYRIAM THE BOYS Anthony BAJON Damien CHAPELLE Alex BRENDEMÜHL Louise GRINBERG Antoine AMBLARD Maïté MAILLÉ Magne-Havard BREKKE Hanna SCHYGULLA Inaki AGUIRRE Birane BA Lucas BARRAUD Colin BATES Carlos BONILLA Dan BUGA Davide CAMPAGNA Dzianis CHPOUTALAU Stefan CREPON Mehdi DJAADI Warren FERRI Sébastien GOURBAT Paul LEMAIRE Erwin LEPOUTRE Raphaël LIOT Guillaume MARTINET Geoffrey MASSART Antò MELA Thomas PAULOS Marly PHILLIPS Tendry RAJAONSON Massimo RIGGI DIRECTOR SCRIPTWRITERS ORIGINAL IDEA BY DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY EDITING SOUND FILM SET COSTUMES CASTING ASSISTANTS TO DIRECTOR PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCERS PRODUCTION COPRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF WITH THE SUPPORT OF FRENCH DISTRIBUTION INTERNATIONAL SALES Cédric KAHN Fanny BURDINO Samuel DOUX Cédric KAHN Aude WALKER Yves CAPE Laure GARDETTE Nicolas CANTIN Sylvain MALBRANT Olivier GOINARD Guillaume DEVIERCY Alice CAMBOURNAC Antoine CARRARD Mathieu VAILLANT Quentin JANSSEN Aude CATHELIN Sylvie PIALAT Benoît QUAINON Les films du Worso ARTE France Cinéma Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Cinéma Tropdebonheur Productions Versus Production Cinécap Cofinova 13 Indéfilms 6 Cinémage 12 Cinéventure 3 Canal + Ciné + ARTE France Centre National du cinéma et de l Image Animée Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tax Shelter of the Federal Government of Belgium and Inver Invest Le Pacte 16 17

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