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SFFILM Festival

Cowboys

Directed by Thomas Bidegain

France/Belgium | 104

28 Apr
Thu, Apr 28, 2016 at 9:00 pm PT

Description

Noted screenwriter Thomas Bidegain brings the tough, tense attitude of his earlier scripts for A Prophet and Rust and Bone to a contemporary adaptation of John Ford’s The Searchers. When Alain’s 16-year-old daughter Kelly disappears at a French cowboy fair in 1994, he begins an epic journey to find her. Discovering that she has left of her own accord and wants to be left alone does not deter him; if anything, it spurs him to even more desperate action. As the multi-year quest leads him to far-flung locales in the Middle East, and he begins to involve his son George, the story expands to encompass an impressive array of themes and milieus. The choice of time period of Cowboys, set both before and after 9/11, allows for a provocative exploration of the paranoia and xenophobia that arose globally after that tragic event. As Alain trails his daughter to Belgium, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen, the motivating factors behind his search evolve from a place of love and concern into something darker and more obsessive. Bidegain is expert at revealing volumes in small moments—for all of the film’s globetrotting, it’s a fairly intimate story—and takes his time to let its impact seep into the viewer gradually. By the film’s denouement, as Kelly’s circumstances and Alain’s obsessions reach their endpoint, everyone in the family is utterly changed and yet trying to move forward in our perplexing and challenging new world. —Rod Armstrong

Director Thomas Bidegain

Thomas Bidegain is a French screenwriter and producer best known for his collaborations with director Jacques Audiard. He and Audiard together received the César Award for Best Original Screenplay for A Prophet (2009) and for Best Adaptation in 2013 for Rust and Bone. He has also collaborated with Joachim Lafosse on Our Children (2012) and The White Knights (SFIFF 2016) as well as Bertrand Bonello’s Saint Laurent (SFIFF 2015). Cowboys, his directorial debut, premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight Section at Cannes.

Film Details

Language French, English, Arabic

Year 2015

Runtime 104

Country France/Belgium

Director Thomas Bidegain

Producer Alain Attal

Writer Thomas Bidegain, Noé Debré

Editor Géraldine Mangenot

Cinematographer Arnaud Potier

Music Raphaël

Cast Antonia Campbell-Hughes, François Damiens, John C. Reilly