Strand Releasing is pleased to announce the US release of BEING 17, acclaimed French director André Téchiné (Wild Reeds, Thieves)’s moving exploration of adolescent sexual awakening, with a script co-written by director Céline Sciamma (Girlhood), starring the great Sandrine Kiberlain (Mademoiselle Chambon,) Kacey Mottet Klein (Sister, Gainsbourg), Corentin Fila, and Alexis Loret. BEING 17 is scheduled to open on Friday, October 7 in New York at Lincoln Plaza Cinema and IFC Center followed by a national release.

Unfolding over four seasons in the arresting, mountainous setting of the French Pyrénées, BEING 17 is the story of Damien (Mr. Mottet Klein) and Thomas (Mr. Fila,) two French teenagers from very different upbringings who go to the same high school but are constantly fighting. When family circumstances bring Damien’s mother, Marianne (Ms. Kiberlain) to invite Thomas to live with them, the young men are forced to coexist and work through their emerging and complicated desires.

One of the most respected French directors of the last three decades, André Téchiné continues, with BEING 17, to explore the psyche of young adults as he did in such acclaimed films as Wild Reeds, Thieves, and Strayed. A great director of French actresses, Mr. Téchiné has had a long collaboration with Catherine Deneuve (My Favorite Season, Scene of the Crime, Thieves, Changing Times and Hotel des Amériques). He began his film career as a critic for Cahiers du Cinéma and has been honored with numerous retrospectives around the world.
BEING 17’s co-screenwriter is Céline Sciamma whose feature directorial debut, “Water Lilies,” catapulted her as one of France’s best new women directors. Noted for her gift for exploring the psyche and sexuality of female teenagers, she continued to do so with her second and third features, Tomboy and last year’s Girlhood. BEING 17 marks Ms. Sciamma’s first collaboration with Mr. Téchiné.

“A revelation…Téchiné’s strongest film in years” – Peter Debruge, Variety  

“Something quite extraordinary…enormously soulful drama... an ultra-naturalistic slice of rocky adolescent life that combines violence and sensuality, wrenching loss and tender discovery…. this is an uncommonly moving teen film.” — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

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