One summer evening on the banks of the Seine in Paris, Felix dances with Alma and then they spend the night together in a park. In the morning, he has fallen in love, while she takes the train for a family holiday in Die, in the Drôme. Encouraged by the old lady he looks after as a home help, Felix decides to join her by surprise. Equipped with camping equipment borrowed from their childhood leisure centre, he embarks on the adventure with his best friend Chérif, as well as an uptight mama's boy, Édouard, who drives them in a carpool. But when an incident on arrival forces Edouard to linger with them at the campsite, Alma takes the surprise in stride...

A film by Guillaume BRAC

starring Éric Nantchouang, Salif Cissé, Édouard Sulpice, Asma Messaoudène, Ana Blagojevic

France, 2020, Feature drama, 1h35mn, comedy/all audiences

NOTE BY THE PROGRAMMER

Life in a nutshell
Summer is a time for encounters, love and its misfortunes, but also its capacity to subvert the rigidity of social boundaries: Guillaume Brac brings back into play in À l'abordage, the fruit of his collaboration with a class of the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique, these elements that run through his filmography (Un monde sans femmes, Tonnerre or the documentary L'île au Trésor). With great gentleness, this comedy probes with humour and melancholy, through its male trio and their sentimental tribulations, the fault lines separating milieus, sexes and "youths". Embodied with the grace and ardour of first times by a troupe of student actors making their screen debut, this little world is tamed in a natural setting lovingly filmed in all its variations of light, summoning up our most tender summer memories.

Producer: Grégoire Debailly (Geko Films)

DIRECTOR/RÉALISATEUR : Guillaume Brac
SCREENPLAY/SCÉNARIO : Guillaume Brac, Catherine Paillé
CINEMATOGRAPHY/IMAGE : Alan GUICHAOUA
SOUND/SON : Vincent VATOUX, VINCENT VERDOUX, EMMANUEL BONNAT EDITING/MONTAGE : Héloïse PELLOQUET

CAST
Éric NANTCHOUANG (Félix),
Salif CISSÉ (Chérif),
Édouard SULPICE (Édouard),
Asma MESSAOUDÈNE (Alma),
Ana BLAGOJEVIC (Héléna)
Martin MESNER,
Lucie GALLO,
Cécile FEUILLET,
Nicolas PIETRI

Production:
ARTE France
Geko Films

Distribution (France): JOUR2FÊTE
www.jour2fete.com/distribution/a-labordage

French Realease: 21 July 2021
Contact presse : Karine Durance

AWARDS / FESTIVALS
- Special Mention of the Fipresci Jury, "Panorama" section, 70è Berlinale 2020
- Grand Prix, Cabourg 2020
- Critics' Prize, Champs-Élysées Film Festival 2020
- Artistic Expression Award, Medfilm Festival of Rome 2020

Summary for official catalogues