Critics’ Week
With the Cannes Film Festival’s 77th edition coming up on the horizon and set to
take place from May 14th to the 25th, Jonathan Millet’s French-Syrian feature
film GHOST TRAIL — the opening film for the 63rd Critics’ Week, which is set to
take place from May 15th to the 23rd — will be holding three different screenings
at the French festival.
The film will be screened three times on Wednesday, May 15th at 8:30 am,
followed by another screening at 2:15 pm, and then the film’s official premiere
will be held at 7:45 pm as part of the Critics’ Week Opening Ceremony. All
screenings of GHOST TRAIL will be held at Espace Miramar.
It is then scheduled to screen twice on Thursday, May 16th — the first at 9 am at
La Licorne and the second at 7 pm at Le Raimu — and at 2 pm on Friday, May
24th at STUDIO 13.
In a manhunt thriller inspired by true events, the past and present collide,
exploring themes of justice and redemption.
Based on the true story of a secret group who hunt down the regime’s fugitive
leaders, the film starts off in Syria and follows Hamid, who joins a secret group
tracking Syrian regime leaders on the run. His mission takes him to France,
pursuing his former torturer for a fateful confrontation.
A joint production between France and Syria, the film stars French-Tunisian star
Adam Bessa, known for Netflix’s EXTRACTION and EXTRACTION 2, and winner of
the Best Actor Award at Canne’s Un Certain Regard for HARKA, as well as Tawfeek
Barhom, and Julia Franz Richter.
Directed and co-written by Millet alongside Florence Rochat, GHOST TRAIL was
lensed by Olivier Boonjing, edited by Laurent Sénéchal, and produced by Pauline
Seigland and Philippe Logie. In terms of the bigger companies at play, the film was
produced by Films Grand Huit, Nikofilms, and Hélicotronc, while MK2 handles the
film’s World sales and MAD Solutions handles its Arab World sales.
Hailed as a “thrilling sensory film in which French-Tunisian actor Adam Bessa’s
subtlety leaves us breathless” by the Critcs' Week's Artistic Director Ava Cahen,
GHOST TRAIL was supported by several grants and organizations such as Canal+
Ciné+ & Arte, Eurométropole de Strasbourg, Eurimages, Franco-German Mini-
Treaty, the Images of Diversity Fund, Cofinova 20, Cinémag 18, Indéfilms 12,
Cinéaxe 5, BeTV, and the Berlin Regional Fund.
Jonathan Millet was born in Paris. After studying philosophy, he spent many years
filming distant or inaccessible countries for image databases. Alone with his
camera, he crossed and filmed around fifty countries (Iran, Sudan, Pakistan, all of
South America, the Middle East, and the length and breadth of Africa).
Encouraged to go to the most remote regions, Millet learned to capture faces and
spaces, in an attempt to transcribe an atmosphere in a few shots.
After this experience, he directed three short films, OLD LOVE DESERT (2012),
YOU GO ROUND IN CIRCLES IN THE NIGHT AND YOU ARE DEVOURED BY FIRE
(2015), AND ALWAYS WE WILL WALK (2016) — which was nominated for the 2018
César Award — and a medium-length film, LA VEILLÉE (2017). These films were
selected in numerous festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand, Pantin, and Brest.
He also directed the feature documentary CEUTA, SWEET PRISON, which was
released in cinemas in January 2014 after more than 60 festival selections.
His latest film TELL ME ABOUT THE STARS (2017) was shot in Antarctica and
nominated at the Docudays UA International Documentary Human Rights Film
Festival.