Festival de Cannes organizers have announced that OSS 117, Alerte rouge en Afrique noire (From Africa With Love), directed by Nicolas Bedos and starring Nicolas Bedos, Jean Dujardin and Pierre Niney, will be shown at the 74th edition’s “Final Screening” on July 17th in the Grand Théâtre Lumière at the Awards Ceremony.
By renaming the closing film as the “Final Screening”, the Festival de Cannes aims to rekindle the tradition of the last screening, drawing inspiration from huge evening galas gone by like the screening of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, in the old Palais in 1982, and Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise in 1991.
The premier is the latest chapter in the adventures of Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, code name OSS 117, played by Dujardin who will appear onscreen alongside Niney, Fatou N’Diaye, Natacha Lindinger and the late Wladimir Yordanoff.
The first two films of the series – OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d’espions (OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies) (2006) and OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus (OSS 117: Lost in Rio) (2009) were directed by Michel Hazanavicius. This third instalment, again written by Jean-François Halin, is directed by Nicolas Bedos, who was featured amongst the 2019 Official Selection with La Belle Époque, starring Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet and Doria Tillier.
