Proxima Competition / Avant / Après / Belgium 2025
Jérémy and Baptiste encounter one another quite by chance, yet they quickly realise they have something in common: the desire to feel good about themselves once again and to find a solution to their receding hairlines in order to achieve this goal. Their shared journey to Istanbul to receive hair transplants develops into a surprisingly intimate experience during which, alongside new heads of hair, a fragile bond starts to grow as well. In his feature debut Manoël Dupont follows the two men with a sense of empathetic detachment and an appreciation for fine detail and humorous dialogue. The film likewise gently explores the themes of queer identity, vulnerability and human intimacy. The pair’s meanders through the Turkish metropolis heighten the atmosphere of the quest – namely the search for beauty in things that aren’t perfect.
Petra Vočadlová
80 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Manoël Dupont
/ Screenplay Manoël Dupont
/ Dir. of Photography Thibaut Egler
/ Music Theo Rota
/ Sound Paul Levy
/ Editor Romain Waterlot
/ Art Director Sofia Dilinos
/ Producer Boris Baum
/ Production Les Films de la Récré
/ Coproduction RTBF, Proximus, Shelter Prod
/ Cast Baptiste Leclere, Jérémy Lamblot
/ Sales Outplay Films
Manoël Dupont. Filmography: Oil Oil Oil (2023, short), Before / After (Avant / Après, 2025).
Outplay Films
212 rue Saint-Maur, 75010, Paris
France
Phone: +33 140 389 452
E-mail: [email protected]
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