The feature film CHIEN BLANC directed by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette and produced by Nicole Robert will open the 28th edition of CINEMANIA on Wednesday, November 2 at the Cinéma Impérial, in the presence of the film team, before opening on November 9, 2022. Adapted from the true story of Romain Gary and Jean Seberg told in the french author’s must-read novel, CHIEN BLANC stars Denis Ménochet (as Romain Gary), Kacey Rohl (Jean Seberg), K.C. Collins (Keys) and the young Laurent Lemaire (Diego Gary). Francophone Film Festival.
1968. The United States is on the verge of implosion: Martin Luther King is assassinated and racial hatred puts the country on fire and bloodshed. Romain Gary, who lives in Los Angeles with actress Jean Seberg, takes in a stray dog. The dog, which quickly finds its place in the house, is docile and affectionate with everyone. Everyone except black people. It is that White Dog is a dog specially trained to attack Black protesters. For Seberg, very active in the Black Panthers, it is necessary to shoot this racist dog. For Gary, who sees him as a victim of the racism that is contaminating the country, he must be saved. He entrusts it to Keys, a Black master trainer, in the hope that he will heal his dog from the hatred that the white man has tied to his body. Inhabited by his own tragedy, Keys will not do his job halfway.
Co-written by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette (author of La Femme qui fuit) and Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne, CHIEN BLANC is Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s 4th fiction feature film, after the box office and critical successes of Le Ring (2008), Inch’Allah (2012) and La Déesse des mouches à feu (2020).
A major work of French literature, published by Gallimard (1970) and anchored in the post-segregationist society of the United States in the 60s.
“I am honoured by this recognition from the prestigious CINEMANIA festival. I congratulate the entire CHIEN BLANC team for their outstanding work and I thank everyone who believed in this film.” – Nicole Robert, Producer
“We could not have hoped better than CHIEN BLANC to launch the next edition of CINEMANIA: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette offers a film of great magnitude, which provokes reflection, launches the debate, and confirms once again his talent as a filmmaker deeply turned towards others and the great subjects of society. It is an honour for us to continue to follow his work, in the wake of the documentary we produced and broadcast last year.” – Guilhem Caillard, Managing Director of CINEMANIA.
The 28th edition of the CINEMANIA Francophone Film Festival will take place in Montreal from November 2 to 13, 2022. The full program will be unveiled on October 20.
