Experiencing Interruptions?

GROUNDS OF HOPE

In a small rural town, Alex, a former professional boxer, lives as a worker for a concrete materials company. One night, chased by armed men, his twin sister breaks into his home with a migrant and his daughter. Alex, forced by the situation, helps to hide them, unaware that they are keenly sought. The spiral starts. With no choice and under financial pressure, he starts competing in illegal boxing fights.

  • Lionel BERNARDIN
    Director
    Financial Confessions (shortfilm)
  • Lionel BERNARDIN
    Writer
    Financial Confessions (shortfilm)
  • Stéphanie SCHOONJANS
    Producer
  • Stélion Films
    Producer
  • Julien BARBIER
    Key Cast
    "Alex DUSSART"
  • Julien KITITI
    Key Cast
    "Taïnawo NGoma"
  • Sébastien CORONA
    Key Cast
    "Ivan AZARI"
  • Stéphanie SCHOONJANS
    Key Cast
    "Eva DUSSART"
  • Sorahya Pinville-Aspilaire
    Key Cast
    "Aïda NGOMA"
  • Jean-Pierre Mesnard
    Key Cast
    "Jean-Marie"
  • Clément Lagouarde (from the Natchitoches Tribe of Louisiana)
    Key Cast
    "Awan"
  • Guillaume Delanoue
    Key Cast
    "Talleck"
  • Michaël Pannier
    Key Cast
    "Kurt"
  • Hervé Fonteny
    Key Cast
    "Joey"
  • Mira Disic
    Key Cast
    "Sarah"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    A TERRE PROMISE
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 32 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 30, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Country of Filming:
    France
  • Language:
    French
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital Arri
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Close:Up Reykjavík Film Festival
    Reykjavík
    Iceland
    Best Feature (fiction)
  • Festival del Cinema Città di Spello
    Spello
    Italy
    March 17, 2023
    International feature film selection
  • Liverpool Film Festival
    Liverpool
    United Kingdom
    November 5, 2022
    Best Feature / International Narrative Feature
  • St. Louis International Film Festival
    Saint-Louis
    United States
    November 7, 2022
    International Spotlight / Robert French and French-Language Focus
  • Soho International Film Festival
    New York City
    United States
    October 12, 2022
    EAST COAST Premiere
    Best Acting Performance and Best World Feature nominees / World feature film
  • Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival
    Grand Sudbury
    Canada
    September 21, 2022
    Official selection - World cinema
  • Regina International Film Festival and Awards
    Régina
    Canada
    August 9, 2022
    Canadian Première
    Official selection - International Feature
  • Social World Film Festival
    Vico Equense
    Italy
    July 3, 2022
    Italian Première
    La notte del cinema
  • Beverly Hills Film Festival
    Beverly Hills
    United States
    June 8, 2022
    United States première
    Best actor / Official selection
  • Martinique International Film Festival

    France
    February 10, 2023
    Meilleur Film Francophone 2023
  • Montelupo Fiorentino Film Festival
    Montelupo
    Italy
    July 18, 2022
    Best Director Feature Film / Official selection
  • Festival L'Europe autour de l'Europe
    Paris
    France
    March 26, 2022
    Paris Première
    Sélection officielle
  • Festival Polar Cognac
    Cognac
    France
    October 16, 2021
    France (country of production)
    Official Selection, Grand prix long métrage cinéma
  • Blow-Up Arthouse Filmfest · Chicago
    Chicago
    United States
    Feature Film semi-finalist
  • World of Film International Festival Glasgow
    Glasgow
    United Kingdom
    Feature Film Competition semi-finalist
  • Central Alberta Film Festival
    Red Deer
    Canada
    October 3, 2023
    Official selection
Distribution Information
  • VC Consulting
    Sales Agent
    Country: United States
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Lionel BERNARDIN

Lionel Bernardin was born in Angoulême, France, in 1981. Graduated in image and communication, he began as composer for shortfilms and worked with several Hip Hop artists from the New York scene during the early 2000’s. He started to direct some music videos and, attracted to fiction, he wrote and directed his first short movie in 2009. After that one, he had worked on 4 others shorts, including the original music, composed and played by himself.

His shortfilm, “Financial Confessions”, was awarded by the famous french director Cédric Klapisch, at the Sundance Channel Shorts in 2015 (Paris, France). This shortfilm will be selected at the International Film Festival of Sacramento, the European Short Film Festival of Bordeaux, the Francophone Film Festival of Angoulême, the International Short Film Festival Combat, then in screenings and debates on “the financial crisis seen by the cinema” at La Sorbonne University.

In 2018, Lionel Bernardin wrote his first feature film, “A Terre Promise / Grounds Of Hope » which will be shot during august and december of 2019. The editing process was done during the covid pandemy, forcing teams to adapt to the situation, rethinking the workflow to allow the creative process not to be stopped by the national containment in France.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The story is about a man who lives in a rural and working-class community, under economic pressure. Through the destiny of this man, the movie tells us about economic and social topics such as poverty in rural areas, but also the issue of those people who came in France, leaving everything behind to flee their country, and who are called “migrants”. I wanted to speak from the point of view of the welcoming in France, from the person who open his home and about the risk from this “crime of solidarity”. Something very intimate, very close to the real working class people.

This film is part of a naturalistic cinema movement, that centers its narrative on one destiny, on a personal and intimate history, a universal dramatic force. I wanted to express a vision of cinema with Nature as a real character, changing mood during the movie, by filming an agricultural region whose landscapes are crossed by a river. It was important for me to find the balance between the individual, his social context and his natural environment of life.

Part of the story came from the several trials in France, for “crimes of solidarity”, people who chose to help “migrants”, and who have been prosecuted for reaching out.
Before writing the script, I spoke with a journalist who had been investigating for months on a prostitution network of isolated minors, all from the recent wave of immigration. All this testimony touched me deeply. Just before writing « Grounds Of Hope », I co-wrote a biopic about the youth of a french naturalized boxing champion, from a middle Eastern country. I thought to associate these universes within a new ensemble, anchored in a rural and working class environment.

To start the story, I needed a set. The scouting took us to the north of the Charente (France). This region, which has experienced significant rural desertification, was the perfect place to put my history. When we arrived, I saw a strong visual potential and real possibilities to develop the universe I looked for this film. I went there, spent time with local people, I was able to understand the socio-economic mechanisms of the region. From there, I began to feed my characters and draw their contours. I created a dramaturgic link between all this material, and that link was Love. That one from a man who tries to face grief for the last four years, day by day. This is the very deep heart of the film, in this intimate, impossible to heal, this absolute pain and this bravery you must have for living with this. And then comes a new encounter, facing difficulties to open your mind again to another people, then finally, when the barriers have fallen, a link so natural, so universal.

It’s also important to talk about how I wanted to show the Nature, the link between Humanity, Animals and our natural environment. I am very close to mother Nature in my everyday life, conscious of this subtil and fragile balance. Nowadays, Humans being is the heart of the problem. I wanted to include that dimension in the movie, it’s my way to put this film in the footsteps of the incredible work of Jeff Nichols, Terrence Malick or David Lowery. The river that we see at the very beginning is everywhere in the story, it’s the blood of this luxurious Nature and this absolute calm. I took all that things, all that differents textures of sounds, and build a strong contrast, a strong opposition with Alex and his everyday life, the noise of the concrete plant, the cries of gamblers during boxing matches, his old noisy pickup. It’s something that I’ve included when I’ve worked on the soundtrack. During the musical working process, this raw material have contributed and enriched the soundtrack, clearly. I also managed to have on set my acoustic guitar, the main theme is born during a late production meeting, at the headquarter of the crew.