Russia’s war-battered republic of Chechnya is to form the backdrop for a new drama by the up-and-coming French director Michel Hazanavicius, whose latest black-and-white silent movie, The Artist, has been nominated for six Golden Globes.
Hazanavicius’ new project was inspired by The Search, a 1948 Fred Zinnemann drama about a mother searching for her son, a young Auschwitz survivor, in post-war Berlin.
The 44-year-old director was quoted as saying that although in the old classic, featuring a young Montgomery Clift, the story revolved around a boy who survived a Nazi concentration camp, in his film “the focus will be on the special relationship between a woman and a young boy as well.”
Like in The Artist, the main role in Hazanavicius’ Search will be played by the director’s charming wife, Berenice Bejo, whose character works for an NGO in modern-day Chechnya.
According to Hazanavicius – whose credits also include the action adventure OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies -his new drama will be in color and awash with dialogue – “totally different from The Artist.”