Laurence Coly: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: French actress Guslagie Malanda has signed with Anonymous Content for management, on the heels of a career-elevating awards run with the acclaimed Alice Diop film, Saint Omer.

Alice Diop’s French drama Saint Omer opens in theaters today, and I remember the emotions I felt when I saw the film at Venice last year. It was a very personal experience for me — as if someone was telling my story on screen. At the beginning of my eventual interview with Diop, I asked where she sees herself within the French film industry. She made it clear she has stopped contemplating how she fits in. “It’s a question that I’m asked a lot, but I no longer ask myself where I fit in with French cinema,” she said. Can’t blame her for thinking that way. Creators of color often are asked those questions — or about the state of inclusion in Hollywood and how they would improve it. Questions that their white counterparts frequently and unfairly avoid. 

In “Saint Omer,” the taut courtroom drama by French-Senegalese director Alice Diop, the revelations arrive not in the totality of the evidence, not between the imposing walls of the courtroom, or in the loneliness of a witness. It happens in the silent spaces between the words, and in the unconscious spasm of a muscle.  READ MORE: Overlooked & Underrated: The 25 Best Films Of 2022 You (Prolly) Didn’t See The accused is Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanga), a student and Senegalese immigrant who arrived in France for school, but now finds herself on trial for the murder of her baby.

Neon’s boutique label Super has secured U.S. rights to Alice Diop’s acclaimed drama Saint Omer, following its world premiere earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival, where the film won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, as well as the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future Award for Best Debut Feature.

Tilda Swinton is gracing the red carpet at the 2022 Venice Film Festival!