EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a first clip for Kantemir Balagov’s anticipated English-language debut Butterfly Jam, starring Barry Keoghan and Riley Keough, which is premiering in Cannes on Wednesday evening.
The film, which is opening the Directors’ Fortnight section at the festival, is set against the backdrop of New Jersey’s Circassian community. The story revolves around a teenager (Talha Akdogan) whose father (Keoghan) and aunt (Keough) run a struggling diner specializing in Circassian cuisine. When he’s not helping out in the restaurant, the boy is training to become a professional wrestler. After one of his father’s misguided schemes goes wrong, he is forced to take on board his father’s failings as he finds himself confronted with a violence that will force him to grow up faster than he would like.
Speaking with Deadline in advance of the film’s world premiere, both Keoghan and Keough admitted they had been fans of Balagov’s Cannes prize-winner Beanpole and were keen to work with the director on his first English-language project.
“I saw Kantemir’s film Beanpole and I thought it was just really stunning, and I wanted to work with him,” Keough said. “And then I read the script and it was just such a specific kind of nuanced world and character that I’ve never really seen anything like on screen.”
To prepare for the role, Keough said she studied videos about traditional dances and Circassian culture to get a feel for her character, and she admitted that working with Keoghan “reminds me of myself as an actor.”
“I really enjoyed the process,” she said. “We have some similarities in our process and so I found it to be really fun… I think we’re both quite free with the way we perform.”
Keoghan, meanwhile, said that while he and Keough were filming their scenes together he “never knew where they would go because she’s so unpredictable, in a good way.”
“Just playing off of that energy and it being organic was a great experience to get to act alongside,” he said.
Butterfly Jam is produced by Alexander Rodnyansky’s AR Content, which is also financing, along with Emilia Pérez producer Pascal Caucheteux’s Why Not Productions and Goodfellas, which is handling international sales. UTA Independent Film Group is selling domestic.
The film is the first feature film to come out of Keoghan’s production company Wolfcub, which the actor says is a “major milestone for me and my career.”
“To not only be able to act but be a part of the creative conversations and provide input for the entire filming process is something I’m looking forward to doing more with my production company and our future projects,” he said.
Plot details about the movie have been largely kept under wraps until its Cannes bow today and when pressed about what hopes they have for audiences to take away from the debut, Keough said: “It’s a heavy movie but I do think there’s this really deep bond within the family despite the circumstances.”
Take a look at the first clip above.
