The CINEMANIA Francophone Film Festival and SPHERE FILMS are very pleased to announce that the feature film CHIEN BLANC, directed by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette will open the 28th edition of CINEMANIA on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at the Imperial Cinema, in the presence of the film’s crew. The film will be released in theatres on November 9, 2022. Adapted from the true story of Romain Gary and Jean Seberg told in the French author’s classic novel, CHIEN BLANC stars Denis Ménochet (as Romain Gary), Kacey Rohl (Jean Seberg), K.C. Collins (Keys) and young Laurent Lemaire (Diego Gary).
Discover the trailer here.
1968. The United States is on the verge of implosion: Martin Luther King is assassinated and racial hatreds put the country to fire and blood. Romain Gary, who lives in Los Angeles with actress Jean Seberg, takes in a stray dog. The dog, who quickly finds his place in the house, is docile and affectionate with everyone. Everyone, that is, except Black people. This is because White Dog is a dog specially trained to attack Black protesters. For Seberg, who is very active in the Black Panthers, this racist dog must be put down. For Gary, who sees him as a victim of the racism that is infecting the country, he should be saved. He entrusts him to Keys, a black dog trainer, in the hope that he will cure his dog of the hatred that the white man has embedded in his body. Inhabited by his own tragedy, Keys will not do his job halfway.
Co-written by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette (author of La Femme qui fuit) and Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne, CHIEN BLANC is Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s fourth feature film, following the public and critical success of Le Ring (2008), Inch’Allah (2012) and La Déesse des mouches à feu (2020).
A major work of French literature, published by Gallimard (1970) and set in the post-segregation society of the United States in the 1960s, Chien Blanc is produced with the financial participation of SODEC, Telefilm Canada, The Harold Greenberg Fund, tax credits from Quebec, Canada and BC, and the collaboration of Radio Canada, Super Écran and CBC Films.
Produced by Nicole Robert for Go Films, a company now operating under the name Sphère Média, CHIEN BLANC is distributed in Canada by Sphère Films and will be released on November 9.
“I am honored by this recognition from the prestigious CINEMANIA festival. I congratulate the entire team of CHIEN BLANC for their remarkable work and I thank all those who believed in this film. – Nicole Robert, Producer
“We couldn’t have hoped for a better opening for the next edition of CINEMANIA than CHIEN BLANC: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette offers a film of great magnitude, which provokes reflection and debate, and confirms once again her talent as a filmmaker deeply concerned with others and the major issues of society. It is an honor for us to continue to follow her work, in the wake of the documentary we produced and broadcast last year. – Guilhem Caillard, General Manager of CINEMANIA.
The opening night is presented in association with CINEMANIA’s SOFITEL MONTREAL LE CARRÉ DORÉ.
The 28th edition of the CINEMANIA French Film Festival will take place in Montreal from November 2 to 13, 2022. The complete program will be unveiled on October 20th.
