Luxbox Boards Religious Drama ‘Marie & Jolie,’ Starring Aïssa Maïga, Laetitia Ky (EXCLUSIVE)

Paris-based sales agent Luxbox has backed Erige Sehiri’s next feature, “Marie & Jolie.”

Written by Sehiri, Anna Ciennik and Malika Cécile Louati, and produced by Henia Production and Didar Domehri of Maneki Films, the drama explores the quiet Christian communities in the predominantly Muslim metropolis of Tunis. Pathé Afrique and Jour2Fête have boarded as respective Tunisian and French distributors, while production is now underway.

Actors Aïssa Maïga (“Bamako”) and Laetitia Ky (“Night of the Kings,” “Disco Boy”) join newcomer Deborah Naney as women sharing a house that hides an Evangelical church. Upon taking in a child migrant who survived a shipwreck, each member of this makeshift family must reconsider their place in the house and in society.

“We often hear about people who migrate from Africa to Europe, while 80% of migrants actually migrate within Africa,” says Sehiri.  “Among them, some settle in North Africa. Telling their stories opens up new perspectives, another way of looking at the world.”

“I chose each actresses because of who they are in the real world,” Sehiri continues. “They had to immerse themselves in the reality of today’s Tunisia, with its economic and migratory crises, and both violence and racism towards the Black population, and then free themselves from all of that.”

Sehiri and producer Didar Domehri previously collaborated on Sehiri’s second feature, “Under the Fig Trees.” After winning at Final Cut in Venice in 2021, the film was selected to represent Tunisia at the 2023 Oscars.

“I’m very happy to produce the new film by the talented Erige Sehiri,” says Domehri. “Here again, she creates complex characters and conveys a subtle and original perspective on the place of women and their migration in Tunisia. Focusing on a trio of women facing an increasingly complicated situation, the filmmaker more than ever demonstrates her talent to shed light on often-invisible stories.”

The project, which is present at Venice Gap-Financing Market, was developed with the support of Cofinova Développement 19, the European Union’s Creative Europe MEDIA Programme, Procirep, and Ango, and has received production funding by Canal+ International, the Doha Film Institute (Qatar), the Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and the Fonds Image de la Francophonie, with the participation of TV5MONDE, and with financial support from the Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund+ Europe program.