EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas has boarded sales on Thomas Ngijol’s Cameroon-set police investigation tale Untamable (Indomptables) ahead of its premiere in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in May.
The feature marks a change in register for Paris-born, French-Cameroonian actor and director Ngijol, who is best known as a comedian in France, where he is a household name.
Ngijol directs and also stars as Police Chief Billong who is investigating the murder of a police office in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé.
A man of principle and tradition, Billong is facing a personal crisis as he struggles to maintain order in the streets and at home, pushing him to breaking point.
The drama is inspired by Mosco Levi Bouko’s 1998 documentary Un crime à Abidjan about an Ivory Coast police commissioner, which Ngijol has fictionalized and transposed to Cameroon.
Ngijol entered show business as a stand-up, getting his first break on Jamel Debbouze’s Canal+ show the Jamel Comedy Club.
He broke into cinema in 2010 with time-traveling slavery-themed comedy Case départ, co-written and directed with Fabrice Éboué, followed by Le Crocodile du Botswanga, Fastlife and African superhero movie Black Snake.
He is joined in the cast by a host of Cameroonian actors including Danilo Melande (Bikers), Bienvenue Mvoe, Thérèse Ngono (Les Batailles des Chéries) and Ariana Ntomba.
Pascal Caucheteux and Anaïs Lonkeu at Why Not Productions are producing alongside Ngijol, under the banner of his company Chronic.
Why Not Production is coming off a high-profile year as the producer of Jacques Audiard’s Oscar-winning, Cannes 2024 Jury Prize winner Emilia Pérez, with other past films at the festival including 2023 opener Jean du Barry, Ken Loach’s The Old Oak and Palme d’Or Winner I, Daniel Blake as well as Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation and Beyond the Hills among others.
Further titles on the Goodfellas Cannes slate include Palme d’Or contenders Young Mothers, Renoir, Nouvelle Vague, Fuori and Woman and Child, as well as Out of Competition title Vie Privée, Cannes Premiere selection Orwell: 2+2=5, Midnight Screener Exit 8, and feature-length animations Arco and Little Amélie which debut as Special Screenings.
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