PARIS — Berenice Bejo, who’s best-known for her roles in “The Past” and “The Artist,” is set to star in Israeli filmmaker Tom Shoval’s sophomore outing, “Shake Your Cares Away.”
Penned by Tom and Dan Shoval, under the mentorship of Oscar-winning writer/director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Birdman”) though the Rolex mentorship program, “Shake Your Cares Away” turns on Alma, a young Israeli woman from a wealthy family who leads a double life as Dafna, an idealistic woman who volunteers in a soup kitchen in southern Tel Aviv.
Pic marks Shoval’s follow-up to Shoval’s “Youth,” which won three prizes at Jerusalem Film Festival, and earned nominations at the British Film Institute Awards, as well as nominations at London, Tokyo, Jerusalem, CPH PIX film festivals.
The project was first pitched at Les Arcs’s Coproduction Village in 2014.
“Shake Your Cares Away” will start shooting in early 2017 in Israel and in France.
One of France’s most sought-after actresses, Bejo, who is half Argentine, previously earned Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her part in Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist.” She also won a prize in Cannes with Asghar Farhadi’s “The Past.”
“Shake Your Cares Away” marks Bejo’s second foreign-language film. The actress, who is repped by Paris-based agent Adequat and UTA, recently starred in Marco Bellocchio’s Italian drama “Sweet Dreams” which played at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight.
