SAMBA

US Premiere • Dramatic comedy • France, 2014

DCP • 1.85 • Dolby 5.1 • Color • 118 min

Directed by: Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache
Written by: Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin
Based on the book by: Delphine Coulin (Samba pour la France)
Cinematography: Stéphane Fontaine
Film Editing: Dorian Rigal-Ansous
Original Score: Ludovico Einaudi
Produced by: Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun (Yume – Quad Films)
Coproduced by:  Ten Films, Gaumont, TF1 Films Production
Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg (Alice), Omar Sy (Samba), Tahar Rahim (Walid), Izia Higelin (Manue)
International Sales: Gaumont
US Distributor: Broad Green • broadgreen.com
US Release date: 2015

Filmmakers Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache chase their monster hit The Intouchables with a comedic exposé on the plight of illegal immigrants. Omar Sy lends his incandescent talents to the role of Samba, a resourceful Senegalese illegal who has managed to stay off the books for ten years while closing in on his dream of becoming a chef. When the authorities finally catch up to him, it’s up to immigrant services volunteer, Alice, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, to prevent his deportation. Alice is a timid, white-collar burnout trying to bounce back from problems of her own, but once she meets Samba, she has more than charity on her mind. When Alice advises Samba to hide in plain sight for another year until he is eligible to reapply for legal papers, Samba and his womanizing “Brazilian” buddy Walid (A Prophet’s Tahar Rahim) embark on a riotous odyssey of thankless jobs and random identities. But while Samba is ready to jump through all kinds of bureaucratic hoops, he’s not so sure he’s ready to jump into a relationship.

The writer/director duo Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano have been inseparable from the beginning of their careers, when they made several award-winning shorts beginning in 1995. Always working in comedy, their acclaimed first feature, Just Friends (COLCOA 2005), starred Gérard Depardieu and Jean-Paul Rouve. Those Happy Days (2006 COLCOA Audience Award) marked their first collaboration with an actor who was then chiefly known for television comedy, Omar Sy, who would win an NRJ Ciné Award for Best Young Talent. Their third feature, So Close, had its World Premiere at COLCOA 2009. The Intouchables (COLCOA 2012) would become a signature film for the pair. One of the top grossing films in French box office history, it was nominated for 37 awards, including Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes, and Omar Sy’s breakout performance earned him both a Lumiere and a César Award for Best Actor, paving the way for roles in major Hollywood films like X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and the upcoming Jurassic World.  Samba, in collaboration with writer Muriel Coulin, sees the duo continuing their fruitful collaboration with Sy.

Quotes:

“Nakache and Toledano have another crowd-pleaser with international appeal on their hands.”
– Jared Mobarak THE FILM STAGE

“…an impressively lucid, and often hilarious, indictment of France’s two-tiered social system.”
– Jordan Mintzer

“Nakache and Toledano clearly know how to make a film that will please the majority of their audience.”
– Brad Brevet ROPE OF SILICON