"The city is about to fall into chaos"
.
In competition at the Venice Film Festival (from August 31 to September 10),
Athena
, the new feature film by Romain Gavras is revealed in an explosive new trailer.
The release of this urban "tragedy" is scheduled for release on September 23 on Netflix.
Five years after
The World is Yours
and twelve years after
Our Day Will Come
, the director of the Kourtrajme collective, which he co-created, signs his third feature film.
He tells the story of Abdel, played by Dali Benssalah, recalled from the front after the death of his youngest brother, following an alleged police intervention.
The drama ignites the city of Athena, guided by the desire for revenge of Karim, another brother of Abdel.
“Every time they hit, we hit.
Every time they kill, we kill”
, launches the young boy, camped by Sami Slimane.
Moktar (Ouassini Embarek), the eldest of the siblings, sees his drug business darken.
Between clashes with the police, angry young people and a desire for justice, Abdel tries to calm the tensions.
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The first, brutal images of Romain Gavras' film evoke the Jury Prize at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival,
Les Miserables
, directed by Ladj Ly.
The filmmaker, also from the Kourtrajme collective, is the producer and co-screenwriter of
Athena
.
A few hours before the release of the trailer, a teaser was posted on Romain Gavras' Twitter account.
Young people brandish the French flag and batons aboard a visibly stolen police van.
A quotation from the Greek poet Homer appears on the screen:
“There is no remedy for an evil done”.
At the Venice Biennale, which will present
Athena
in world premiere on September 2, the director explains that he was inspired by Greek tragedy for this film:
“I am fascinated by its symbolic meaning, its unity of time and its way to transcend reality.
I wanted to get closer to this method of storytelling, translate it into images and create an immersive cinematic experience
.
