Victor Young Perez Press Kit

SEVENTH ART RELEASING
PRESENTS
A MAZEL PRODUCTIONS AND NOÉ PRODUCTIONS FILM
VICTOR YOUNG PEREZ
DIRECTED BY JACQUES OUANICHE
*Best Feature Nominee, Sao Paulo International Film Festival
*Official Selection Haifa International Film Festival
*Official Selection Santa Barbara International Film Festival
*Official Selection Festival of Tolerance
2014, 110 min., unrated
Updates:
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SHORT SYNOPSIS
Victor "Young" Perez , tells the astonishing, harrowing and incredible true story of
a Tunisian Jewish boxer, who became the World Flyweight Champion in 1931
and 1932. His romance with the French-Italian actress Mireille Balin increased
his fame. But because of his Jewish heritage, Perez was arrested in Paris on
September 21, 1943 and transported to Auschwitz. Whilst there he was forced to
participate in boxing matches for the amusement of the Nazis.
LONG SYNOPSIS
Victor, his older brother Benjamin, a boxer, and their friends Rashid and Maxo
are young brawlers. A prominent boxing manager from Paris, Léon Beillères, is in
Tunis. He decides to give Victor a chance. On incredibly short notice, Victor
jumps in for his injured brother Benjamin and wins. It is an undisputed victory.
Beillères takes Victor and Benjamin to Paris with him. Victor is soon given the
fashionable nickname “Young” Perez.
In Paris, a new life begins for Young. At the age of 20,”Young” becomes World
Champion in the Flyweight class, winning the title against its American defender
after a thrilling and highly charged match.
A national hero in Tunisia, Young is now also a new star in the world of French
sports, the most popular of his time. All of Paris wants a piece of him. He meets
Mireille Balin, a young actress, and falls madly in love with her. Young's new and
extravagant lifestyle sends him spiraling into a downward of love and money.
While Mireille's acting career blossoms thanks to Victor's fame, Young himself
loses his boxing title and amasses a huge debt.
His manager drops him, Mireille leaves him and Benjamin moves back to
Tunisia.
Young has become a second-rate boxer, who accepts every offer he gets.
One of these offers leads him to a boxing match in Berlin, where he experiences
the Reichskristallnacht.
World War II breaks out. Young decides to stay in France nevertheless. But the
noose is tightening its grip. One night, he sees Mireille at Maxim’s with a
Wehrmacht officer. Victor becomes wild with rage and knocks out the German
officer. He is arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz.
In the concentration camp, Young is recognized by the camp's Nazi
commandant. A match is organized in the middle of the camp: Victor has to fight
Kurtz, a Nazi soldier and professional boxer who is 20 kilos heavier. This ultimate
combat is organized by the Nazis to prove the superiority of the Aryan race.
Director’s Biography
Jacques Ouaniche is a French scriptwriter, producer, director and writer. In
2003, after a number of early projects, his collaboration with director Abdellatif
Kéchiche resulted in "Games of Love and Chance" (2004), a film that ultimately
won 15 international awards, including France's César awards for Best Film, Best
Director, Best Writing and Most Promising Actress. The film featured Sarah
Forestier in her breakthrough role and also effectively launched the career of
Kéchiche, who most recently won the 2013 Palme d'Or in Cannes for "Blue Is the
Warmest Colour".
Among his other productions are "3 petites filles" (2004), a film directed by Jean
Loup Hubert with Gérard Jugnot and Adriana Karembeu, focusing on the story of
a young girl portrayed by Sabrina Ouazani who flees a forced marriage in
Algeria. "All Night Bodega" (2004) is a multiple award-winning film directed by
Félix Olivier about a young girl growing up hard and fast in New York's Spanish
Harlem.
Of late, Ouaniche has been focusing largely on feature films and recently cowritten the screenplay for "Victor Young Perez," a film he's been developing for
over seven years.
CAST LIST
"Young" Perez
Brahim ASLOUM
Benjamin Perez
Steve SUISSA
Mireille Balin
Isabella ORSINI
Maxo
Davy SARDOU
Léon Beillères
Patrick BOUCHITEY
Lager Kommandant
Bruce PAYNE
TECHNICAL LIST
A film by: Jacques OUANICHE
Screenplay : Yoni DARMON et Jacques OUANICHE
Produced by : Nelly KAFSKY et Jacques OUANICHE
Mazel Productions/ Noé Production Int
Line Producer : Mazel Productions/ Nelly KAFSKY
Production Managers : Jean-Dominique CHOUCHAN
Gianfranco PIERANTONI – Gianni SARAGÓ - Pierantoni and Partners - Marek
ROZENBAUM - Thomas ALFANDARI - Transfax Film Productions LTD
Production designer : Laure BALZAN-SORIN
Director of casting : Gérard MOULEVRIER
Music : Didier LOCKWOOD – Edited by Noé Productions int et Mazel
Productions
Director of photography: Pierre-Yves BASTARD
First AD: Patrick ROQUES
Camera operator: Yves MICHAUD
Sound : Jérôme AYASSE
Art directors: Ariel GLAZER - Laure BALZAN-SORIN - Boriana MINCHEVA
Make-up designer: Isabelle KINDINIS ABRIOL
Script supervisor: Elisabeth ALEXANDRIS
Costume designer: Edith VESPERINI
Hair-stylist: Hai SHUSAN - Frédéric ZAID - Didi STOYANOVA
CFO Mazel Productions – Noé Productions : Dominique MINSKI - Hadra
KEMON
Film editor : Emmanuelle MIMRAN
Assistant editor : Léa CHATAURET
Sound designer: Stéphane RABEAU - Thomas LEFEVRE
Post-Production supervisor: Laurent DUPRÉ
Coproducers : France 3 CINEMA – Daniel GOUDIEANU – Aurélie ROUVIERE
Transfax Films Productions – Marek ROZENBAUM – Thomas ALFANDARI
Greenhouse Media Investment in association with Mr Significant Films
Executive Producers James DALY and Nick MUNDAY