Gagarine (2022)
Director: Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh Run Time: 95 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2020
Starring: Alséni Bathily, Farida Rahouadj, Finnegan Oldfield, Jamil McCraven, Lyna Khoudri
Country: France
Language: French, Romany, Russian
About the film:
Official Selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. Youri, 16, has lived all his life in Gagarine Cité, a vast red brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris. From the heights of his apartment, he dreams of becoming an astronaut. But when plans to demolish his community’s home are leaked, Youri joins the resistance. With his friends Diana and Houssam, he embarks on a mission to save Gagarine, transforming the estate into his own “starship”–before it disappears into space forever.
“explores an underrepresented slice of recent French history through a personal lens… sweet and sentimental… an endearing survival story”
—Eric Kohn for IndieWire
The film was shot on the cusp of the actual demolition of the Cité Gagarine housing project in collaboration with its residents in Ivry-sur-Seine.
About the filmmakers:
Directors and screenwriters Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh met at the Paris Institute of Political Studies and traveled to South America and to the Middle East to work on projects centered on urban issues. They are resident artists in NYC with Villa Albertine, a program of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, with support from UniFrance — the partnership supporting the innovative program Young French Cinema.
Their debut feature Gagarine was featured in the 26th Edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.
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