SILVER

2019 Oscar® Selection, France

Ladj Ly's powerful Cannes Jury Prize winner made history in September when it became the first film by a black director selected to represent France at the Academy Awards®. Inspired by the riots which swept the Parisian banlieue in 2005, Ly's urgent, frenetic debut centers on three members of an anti-crime unit and their tense relationship with the community in the tough Montfermeil district, where they are charged with patrolling the neighborhood and keeping the peace. Stéphane (Damien Bonnard) has just joined the unit from a far sleepier beat in Cherbourg. Gwada (Djibril Zonga) is still learning the ropes, but grew up in Montfermeil and knows the area intimately. Chris (Alexis Manenti) is the cynical team leader, a hot-headed, streetwise taskmaster with questionable methods and even more dubious motives. When an arrest gets out of hand, which is caught on camera by a drone, the trio risk inflaming tensions beyond anything they can control. Winner, Jury Prize, 2019 Cannes Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Toronto, Busan and Chicago film festivals. DIR/SCR Ladj Ly; SCR Giordano Gederlini, Alexis Manenti; PROD Toufik Ayadi, Christophe Barral. France, 2019, color, 102 min. In French with English subtitles. RATED R

No AFI Member passes accepted.