A film I profiled over a month ago was picked up for international distribution by Other Angle Pictures, a Paris-based company; a French time travel/slavery comedy titled Case Départ, which I understand translates as Return To The Start (or Beginning).
I already wrote that the film will open in France on July 6th. So, could this mean we’ll see it stateside eventually? Possibly! We’ll just have to wait to find out.
Also worth noting, in a recent Variety announcement about the film that I missed, execs from Other Angle Pictures say that the film has “remake potential;” all just talk, of course, but you’ve officially been alerted to this, so don’t be surprised if we do eventually announce that a Hollywood remake is in the works.
How the original film performs at the box office will likely be a determining factor as to whether that actually happens.
As a recap… Half-brothers, Joel and Régis, have a father in common, whom they hardly know. Joel is unemployed and miserable. He feels France is a racist country, and is that the government is to blame for all his failures, because he’s black, and uses that as an excuse for not actively looking for work. Régis, on the other hand, loves France, and essentially hates his black self, and blackness in general, refusing to acknowledge his African slave roots. In his words, delinquency and immigration go hand in hand. Both are soon called to the bedside of their dying father in the Antilles, when they are presented with a document that contains information on their ancestral slave heritage – a document that has been passed down through the generations. In trying to determine the value of the document, they accidentally destroy it – an act that they are punished for for by a mysterious old woman, who has been following them since their arrival in the Antilles; the punishment being to send them back in time, all the way to, of course, the Transatlantic slavery period – 1780 specifically – where and when they are sold as slaves. The two brothers then have to work together to find a way to not only escape from the plantation, but also to find a way to return to the present day.
The film stars Thomas Ngijol and Fabrice Eboué as the 2 half-brothers. The pair also wrote the screenplay. Lionel Steketee directed the film.
Watch the wacky trailer below:
