EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas has acquired international rights for French director Gaël Morel’s drama To Live, To Die, To Live Again (Vivre, Mourir, Renaître) set against the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s, ahead of its world premiere in Cannes.
Rising French actors Victor Belmondo, Lou Lampros and Théo Christine co-star as a romantically entwined trio whose youthful dalliance takes them into life-changing territory with the arrival of AIDS. While they expect the worse, the destiny of each character will take an unexpected turn.
Morel has taken inspiration from his own teenage fears around AIDS in the 1990s as well as research he did for a planned documentary on people who caught the virus and were saved at the last minute by the development of effective antiretroviral therapies.
Michèle Halberstadt and Laurent Pétin produced the film under the banner of their Paris-based film company ARP Sélection, which will also distribute the feature in France.
“We knew Gaël had this film in him, and that this story meant a lot to him. The script was really so beautiful and original. A real, straight melodrama,” said Halberstadt.
“A story about what it meant to be young in the 90s, unafraid, and how love can beat many odds in the most unexpected ways. We went for three young, upcoming actors that this film should definitely put on the map. The result is a very sincere and moving film.”
Morel broke into cinema as an actor, making his big screen debut in André Téchiné’s Wild Reeds in 1994 alongside Élodie Bouchez and Stéphane Rideau, before moving into writing and directing.
To Live, To Die, To Live Again is his ninth feature with other directorial credits including first film Full Speed (1996), After Him (2007), which played in Directors’ Fortnight, and Catch The Wind (2017), starring Sandrine Bonnaire.
The movie, which plays in Cannes Premiere, is Morel’s first feature in Official Selection.
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