In this explosive debut feature, race and class tensions come to a head when a trio of police officers in the poverty-stricken Parisian suburb of Montfermeil are tasked with returning a kidnapped lion cub to its rightful (and ferocious) owner. On his first day on duty in a new district, Stéphane (Damien Bonnard, Staying Vertical) joins brash trigger-happy Chris (co-screenwriter Alex Manenti) and his partner Gwada (Djebril Zonga) as they patrol the racially divided streets of their beat. When members of a touring Roma circus accuse the local Muslim Brotherhood of kidnapping the cub, the three officers investigate, setting off a chain reaction that culminates in an astounding cinematic showdown and conflagration that will take your breath away. Using the famed Victor Hugo novel (originally set in Montfermeil) as a blueprint for a blistering portrait of contemporary France, Ly expanded his César Award-nominated short of the same name (using largely the same cast and crew) for his first narrative feature, which won a Jury Prize at Cannes.
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