Ladj Ly’s politically-charged feature debut, Les Misérables is all set to release in India on 13 March. Sanjay Suri, actor-producer, under his production house Kahwa Films will be releasing the French drama.

The film which was nominated for best international feature film at the 2020 Academy Awards, picked up the Prix du Jury at Cannes last year.

Excited to be releasing the French Oscar-nominated drama & winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes, 2019
"Les Miserables", directed by @LadjLy on March 13th, in association with In2 Infotainment & CA Films. Distributed all over India by Rakesh Sippy@kahwafilms pic.twitter.com/P3uuR7dUvD

— sanjay suri (@sanjaysuri) February 24, 2020

After the notable win at the Cannes Film Festival, Les Miserables has traveled to various prominent festivals such as Toronto Film Festival and Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI). Recently, Ladj Ly’s Oscar-nominated drama also won best film, male newcomer and script at the Lumières Awards. The 25th edition of the awards was presided over by French actress Isabelle Huppert. Alexis Manenti, one of the leading actors of Les Miserables won best male newcomer, and also shared the best screenplay gong with Ly and Giordano Gederlini, writes Variety.

In an interview to IndieWire, director Ly said that he was inspired by the violent 2005 Paris riots, which involved youth of African descent, in a three-week uprising stoked by increased unemployment, poor housing conditions, and routine harassment at the hands of the police.

“The entire film is from my life, my history, so it’s like my autobiography,” he said. “Hugo’s (Victor Hugo’s 1862 book of same name) time was a different era, but poverty and social misery remain in the area. I could have just taken the book and made it contemporary, but with my film, I wanted to portray how we live in these very policed ghettos today, and the consistent threats of violence we face.”

Les Miserables was inspired by the 2005 French riots and examines the tensions between neighborhood residents and police that helped inflame the rioting. It centers on three cops who find themselves overrun during the course of an arrest. The film was produced by Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral of SRAB films.

Credits: firstpost.com