Prisoner

Five characters struggle in their respective lives to get rid of a destiny imposed, suffered, or thwarted, in order to fully flourish in their respective choices. They will have to face their families, society, to be able to live their lives freely without being a prisoner.

Marion, is interpreted by Marion LECHEVALLIER. Marion is a former child star who played in a 90’s sitcom produced by Legrand Production. Marion was pushed by her very young mother to pursue a career that she could not do herself.

Ewa, interpreted by Elisabeth DUDA is a Franco-Polish character. Coming from an activist family, she did not want to join her father in the fight for the freedom of her country. She is a columnist on a PEOPLE show in Paris and has to return to Warsaw for her father’s funeral. The return to the family home will not be without its problems.

Nina, interpreted by Ingrid GRAZIANI is a young woman with Armenian origins. She was educated in a divided family. She has a taste for violence in adulthood and is confronted with many situations that remind her of her drives every day.

Taki, interpreted by Constantin VIALLE is a painter who writes in the street. He has just turned 18 and must leave the home in which he was welcomed for several years. He finds himself with nothing and must juggle between the violence of the street, the bad encounters and his lack of love due to his abandonment.

Pierre interpreted by Xavier MALY is a producer of TV programs. He is a careerist and puts his work before his family. In his youth, he was forced to abandon the woman he loved and never recovered. Since then he shows no empathy or feelings to anyone for fear of being alone again.

This project was born out of a desire to express myself through a rich and committed universe. Beyond a short film or a feature film, the series format allowed me to create characters that we could follow on a daily basis and to which we could attach ourselves. I wanted to approach strong themes related to imprisonment whether family, religious, cultural, echoing personal events.

I started writing in the fall of 2016, and the first pictures were shot in May 2017 in Questembert with the first actress who agreed to shoot on the project, Marion LECHEVALLIER. I gathered technicians around me who would become the main ‘actors’ of this adventure and without whom this project would not have been born, Mariline, François and Nohanne who would join us a little later. They all volunteered and gave of their time.

Prisoner is a project that is inspired by reality and that fits in with reality. For example, we filmed in a demonstration in Warsaw, Poland, during which the actors had to play their own role. I was very inspired by the actors in the creation of the characters.

The particularity of this project is the improvisation work with the actors. A skeleton has been written, sometimes some dialogues as well and the actors are inspired to play and improvise. We rehearse for several hours to arrive at a text and then we shoot. Usually with two cameras to be able to capture all the movements of the actors.

We have been running this project since May 2017 under different conditions depending on the city, the teams and the production. The team can be reduced and can also reach about 50 people as needed.

Team

Director: Ingrid FRANCHI

Born in Marseille, self-taught, I am a director and screenwriter. When I was 18, I directed my first short film, In Humain, which received two awards, including Best Film by a Young Director at the Video and Cinema Festival. My short film, L’Abaya, shot on film between Ouarzazate and Paris, has been shown multiple times in national and international festivals.

I learned my trade on set as an assistant director, stage manager, assistant camera and in books. I work a lot around the theme of the rights of women, the oppressed and children. I shot portraits of migrants for the Red Cross and my last humanitarian film was shot in an orphanage in Nepal on the outskirts of Kathmandu.

In 2018, I directed Road to Fight for Sfr Sport, a program presented by Lucie BERTAUD and produced by Punch prod. A 26-minute monthly portrait of a high-level athlete who has taken me to travel to many countries (USA, Thailand, Senegal) and to the four corners of France.

I directed the French part of Trainstation, multiple times selected and awarded at international festivals and a series A billion to one, awarded and broadcasted on Amazon Prime US. Two projects produced in collaboration with a group of independent filmmakers from Detroit.

Currently on the post production of the series PRISONER selected and awarded in twenty festivals, I am working on the development of a feature film, a documentary between France and USA and a short film between France and Armenia.

Main chief operator: François WELTERLIN

Secondary chiefs operators: Bastien BRUERE//Alban COUSINIE//Ingrid FRANCHI//Benjamin LE MEUR//Edward SCOTT

Camera A: Ingrid FRANCHI

Main camera B: Mariline LAGNEAU

Secondary camera B: Bastien BRUERE//Alban COUSINIE//Alexane DOUZET//Benjamin LE MEUR//Nicolas TOUINT

Camera assistant: Louise COUSINIE//Raphaël GAUTIER//Benjamin TRAISSARD

Steadicam : Sillas SAMBA

Electro : Jérémy BOUYER//Fabien DUCHAMP//Baptiste NOHARET//Stéphanie PONTHUS//Vincent MIAILLE

Machinists : Paul BERTEAUD//Nathan JAEGLE

First director assistants: Maira BROGNIART//Lucine DORSO//Rac Lesné//Nohanne//Marie JANTET//Amélie ROCHARD//Clémence SOLAR//Tom MILCENT//Sandy SEVENNE

Second and third director assistants: Flavien CARON//Laurine DESCHAMPS//Arthur GLAIN//Aristéa LINAKIS//Lisa QUILICCI//Kenya TERRISSE

Scripts: Louise BRIDE//Damien MATEY//Coline LAFONT//Coline LEBRUN//Aude SEYROUX//Line VIARDOT

Sound engineers: Mateusz ANDRZEJEWSKI//Tom BEAUSEIGNEUR//Cesar BOUCHETON//Pierre CARLIER//Pierre COURTY//Juliette DAUGE//Léo DESNOYELLES//Emilie FANTIN//Guillaume FARKAS//Leslie GABORIEAU//Alyssa GOUCHENE//Mathieu IMBERTY//Nicolas IVASIC//Benjamin JOLIVET//Adèle LEGOFF//Loick LELARGE//Thomas NICOLAS//Louis SIMON//Marie TANG

Make-up: Maxime BERRO//Marilou BRUN//Camille BROSSARD//Alexia DELMAS//Alexandra FEIGNANT//Sarah HAMON// Coline VEY

Costumes: Roxane DERAY

Dressers : Sarah HAMON//Laita JEHANNE//Constantin VIALLE

Decorators : Anaya//Mélissa ANTOYE//Benoit DAGORNE//Rémi GARMIER//Tao GASSIN//Jean-Joel GBAYORO//Noé GIRERD//Michel GIRERD//Sam KAMAILY// Juliette LEDUC-ALARI//Perrine MOTTEZ//Eleonore THOMAS-LEPIGEON//Robin//Alice PASSALACQUA

Many thanks to Cynthia HERNOUT and her chief Christophe.

Stage managers: Véronique BOILLOT//Valentin CERVANTES//Maeva CHAZALON//Julie CHRETIEN//Laetitia DESMURS//Florian DURANT//Klémentine FRANCERIES//Aziliz JOUAN//Théo JOUVE//Mathis GUILLET//Florence HUGUET//Laure HALLOT//Geoffrey LEPICIER///Jean LOIR//Dimitri MATHIEU//Wilhelm MARTIN//Arthur MEURISSE//Vincent MIAILLE//Marianne NEDELEC//Remy PASQUIER//Joris PELLECUER//Simon PICARD//Galaad PICARD//Maxime PAINDESTRE///Emily THOMAS//Benjamin TRAISSARD//Valentin TRUCHET//Piotr WILHELMI

Stage manager trainee: Marie HELMLINGER

Sutlers: Amandine BOUMARD//Loic COLONGO//Anne GAUTIER//Elise FORGET//André FRANCHI//Thierry LEROUX//Eloine THEVENET FOUILLOUX

Photographs: Appoline ALLESANDRINI//Gilles BADER//Mathéo BAUMGARD//Alexis CABIROL///Titouan DENIAUD//Roberto DI MOLA//La Grande Faucheuse//Raphaël KAUFFMAN//David LAIR//Maina LOAT//Barbara MAUD///Marie MERCIER//Denis PLOTNIKOV//Piotr WILHELMI

Making of: Nohanne//Théo KERJOANT//Benjamin LEMEUR//François MESSAGE//Anne Lise METAIS//Tom MILCENT//Nicolas TOUINT//Elian VILLAIN

Child actor coach: Nohanne