The fall fest season is revving up.
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced that French director Ladj Ly’s new feature Les Indésirables will world premiere at it 48th edition, running from September 7 to 17.
It is the first international world premiere title to be unveiled by TIFF ahead of fuller line-up details in the coming weeks.
Les Indésirables is Ly’s second fiction feature after his award-winning debut Les Misérables, which won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2019 and went on to make its North American premiere at TIFF that same year.
Les Misérables won a slew of French Césars the following year and was also France’s Academy Awards submission, getting through to the final nominations stage in the Best International Film category, going up up against Parasite.
Ly’s work, capturing life in Paris’s tough outer suburbs and police violence, has been back in the spotlight in recent days, following rioting in France, in response to the shooting dead of a 17-year-old boy by a police officer on the outskirts of the French capital on June 27.
TIFF described Les Indésirables as “a timely tale of timely tale of revolution, which beautifully captures a pivotal moment in history.”
Long-time Ly collaborator, Alexis Manenti stars as an idealistic young doctor, who takes on the role of mayor in an outer city suburb following the sudden the death of his predecessor.
He intends to continue the policy of his predecessor, who dreamed of rehabilitating this working-class neighbourhood.
Anta Diaw stars as a young French woman of Malian origin, living in one of its dilapidated tower blocks, who refuses to see her family driven out of the neighbourhood where she grew up.
Other cast members include Jeanne Balibar, Steve Tientcheu and Aristote Luyindula.
“We are honoured to showcase Ladj Ly’s remarkable talent once again with the World Premiere of his latest work, Les Indésirables,” said Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF.
“This deeply personal film beautifully captures the struggles and aspirations of a community, reflecting Ly’s unparalleled storytelling skills.”
Les Indésirables is a Goodfellas film produced by Srab Films and LyLy Films. Goodfellas is handling international sales.