In its first deal out of the 2021 Cannes Film Market, Netflix has snatched up worldwide rights, outside of France, for The Stronghold (Bac Nord), the hotly-anticipated French action thriller from director Cédric Jimenez (The Man With the Iron Heart).
Set in the crime-ridden suburbs outside Marseille, the film follows a police brigade using extreme and morally questionable means to improve arrest and drug seizure stats. Gilles Lellouche (Sink or Swim), François Civil (Love at Second Sight), Karim Leklou (A Prophet) and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Colour) star in the feature, which is based on real-life events.
The Stronghold has its world premiere out of competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival on July 12. Netflix will bow the movie on its service this fall. Studiocanal will release The Stronghold theatrically in France on Aug. 18.
Hugo Selignac (Sink or Swim, The Wolf’s Call) produced The Stronghold for Chi-Fou-Mi Productions. The Netflix deal was brokered by Aska Yamaguchi and Anne Chérel on behalf of Studiocanal.
Jimenez’s 2017 feature The Man With The Iron Heart was a period thriller about two Czech resistance fighters who set out to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, the hideous mastermind behind the Nazi’s “Final Solution.” His previous films include the hacker thriller Paris Under Watch (2012) and The Connection (2014), about a French police magistrate trying to take down one of the country’s most powerful drug rings.
