IFFR Instant Favourite 2020: Les misérables

A film to instantly fall in love with, picked from the Audience Award Top 10. Ideal if you just can’t choose from the broad film programme, but also the perfect choice for those looking for the crème de la crème of this year’s festival. 

The title of this festival hit? It has just been announced! The film was picked from the films leading the field in the BankGiro Loterij Audience Award Top 10, which will be compiled during the festival based on audience ratings: Les misérables by Ladj Ly.

About Les misérables:
Part of Victor Hugo’s 19th-century classic Les misérables was set in Montfermeil, a Parisian suburb where Malinese Ladj Ly grew up and where he filmed the riots that would spread to banlieues across France in 2005. In his feature film debut, tensions rise in Les Bosquets, a neighbourhood of run-down tower blocks. Cop Stéphane, who had himself transferred from the countryside to Montfermeil, experiences his first day on the beat in this restless district. It becomes a baptism of fire with two colleagues who have their own methods. 

Ly was clearly inspired by Mathieu Kassovitz's La haine (1995), the film that made him decide to become a filmmaker. Little has improved in the banlieues Ly reveals with this intense, explosive drama that shared the Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.