– Emmanuelle Béart, Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Shirley Souagnon headline the French filmmaker’s first feature film, produced by Apaches films and sold by Be For Films
Actresses Emmanuelle Béart (© Harold James/Agences Artistiques), Nadia Tereszkiewicz (© Marie Rouge/Unifrance) and Shirley Souagnon (© Agence Tempérance)
Filming will begin on 26 January for Le Courage des Oiseaux, the first feature film by Mathilde Profit, who has worked as a script supervisor (on Holy Motors [+see also:
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interview: Leos Carax
film profile] and Saint Omer [+see also:
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interview: Alice Diop
interview: Kayije Kagame
film profile], among others) and has attracted considerable attention with her short films First Goodbyes (Jean Vigo Prize in 2020, nominated for a César in 2021 and featured at MyFrenchFilmFestival the same year) and Perdre Léna (selected for the Unifrance Short Film Award in 2023 and shortlisted for the César Awards in 2025).
The cast is headlined by Emmanuelle Béart (nominated five times for the César Award for Best Actress between 1990 and 2001, César Award winner for Best Supporting Actress in 1987, and in 2026 in Stereo Girls and Demande à la montagne), Nadia Tereszkiewicz (César and Lumière Award for Best Newcomer in 2023 for Forever Young [+see also:
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interview: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
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interview: Arnaud Desplechin
film profile] and Heads or Tails? [+see also:
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interview: Alessio Rigo de Righi and M…
film profile], which was released yesterday in France) and comedian Shirley Souagnon (making her big screen debut, seen in season 5 of Spiral, among others).
Written by the director (who studied at Les Ateliers d’Angers) and Julie Debiton, the screenplay focuses on Nina, 30, Françoise, 60, and Céline, 45, who live in the same medium-sized town in eastern France and cross paths without knowing each other. Their daily lives are shaken by the announcement of the death of a fourth woman. They all knew her, either closely or from afar. For each of them, her passing brings back buried wounds and desires over the course of a weekend…
Produced by Jeanne Ezvan and Marthe Lamy for Apaches films and co-produced by Camille Gentet for Pan Cinéma, Le Courage des Oiseaux has been pre-bought by Canal+. Also supported by advance payments from the CNC, the Grand Est Region, the Sofica Imagellium, Cinécap and Cinémage, and the Procirep-Angoa, the feature film will benefit from 27 days of shooting in the city of Troyes from 26 January to 3 March, with Claire Mathon (César Award winner in 2020 for her work on Portrait of a Lady on Fire [+see also:
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interview: Céline Sciamma
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(Translated from French)
