TÊTE DE TURC 2010 Foundation Barrière award - Prix Cinéma "De l'écrit à l'écran" for Pascal Elbé North American Premiere Drama France, 2010 In French with English subtitles 35mm/2.35/Color/Dolby SRD/87 min Written and directed by: Pascal Elbé Cinematography by: Jean-François Hensgens Editing by: Luc Barnier Music by: Bruno Coulais Produced by: Patrick Godeau Production Company: Alicéleo Coproduction: France 2 Cinéma International Sales: Other Angle Pictures 39 rue de Constantinople 75008 Paris France Phone: +33 9.54.88.02.41 Cast: Roschdy Zem (Atom), Pascal Elbé (Simon), Samir Makhlouf (Bora), Ronit Elkabetz (Sibel), Simon Abkarian (The Widower), Florence Thomassin (Mouna), Valérie Benguigui (Yelda), Monique Chaumette (Nora), Laure Marsac (Claire), Brigitte Catillon (The Mayor), Stéphan Guérin-Tillié (Samuel), Léo Elbé (Nuri), Gamil Ratib (Aram) www.tetedeturc.fr Tête de Turc takes place in a rough, run-down suburban neighborhood where the law of silence rules. Simon (Pascal Elbé), a doctor, is on his way to tend to an emergency call. Mistaking him for the police, a few local youngsters throw a Molotov cocktail at his car, setting it on fire. They all escape except Bora (newcomer Samir Makhlouf), who gets him out and saves his life. While Simon is in the coma, his brother, police officer Atom (Roschdy Zem, Days of Glory) investigates as the incident becomes more and more publicized in the media. When the French government offers a Good Samaritan medal, Bora is faced with a moral dilemma: betray his friends to get a better life? PASCAL ELBÉ started acting and writing for theater in the early 1990s, with two successful plays: Charité bien ordonnée (1992) and Tout baigne ! (1995), which was later adapted to the screen. He won critical acclaim for his role in Father and Sons (COL•COA 2005) which he also co-wrote. He then co-wrote and starred in Bad Faith (COL•COA 2007), directed by co-star Roschdy Zem, and 3 Amis (2007), co-written with director Michel Boujenah. As an actor, he was most recently seen in Blame It on Mum (2009), Baby Love (COL•COA 2009 Audience Special Prize) and A Simple Heart (2008), starring Sandrine Bonnaire. For his directorial debut, Pascal Elbé was inspired by a tragedy that shook the whole country last year in France, when a group of teenagers set a bus on fire and watched its driver burn, almost to her death.