THE BRAID

La Tresse

U.S. Premiere | France, Canada, Italy | 2023 | Drama | 102 min | In English, French and Hindi with English subtitles
Directed by: Laetitia Colombani
Written by: Laetitia Colombani, Sarah Kaminsky
Based on a Novel by: Laetitia Colombani
Produced by: Olivier Delbosc (Curiosa Films), Marc Missonnier (Maona Films), Nicola Giulano, Carlotta Calori, Francesca Cima (Indigo Films), Richard Lalonde (Forum Films), SND Groupe M6, France 2 Cinéma
Cinematography: Ronald Plante
Film Editing: Albertine Lastera
Original Score: Ludovic Eidauni
Cast: Kim Raver (Sarah), Fotinì Peluso (Giulia), Mia Maelzer (Smita), Sajda Pathan (Lalita), Katharine King (Inès), Avi Nash (Kamal), Sarah Abbott (Hannah), Manuela Ventura (Giulia’s mother), Mimmo Mancini (Giulia’s father), Matthew Alan Taylor (Anton Bilgouvar)
International Sales: SND Groupe M6

Adapted from her own powerful international best-selling novel, Laetitia Colombani‘s The Braid is a soul-stirring tale of the intertwined fates of three courageous women, spanning cultures, backgrounds and borders. In India, an “untouchable” dreams of affording her young daughter an education and will go to any lengths to do so. In Italy, a young woman who works at her beloved father’s wig workshop discovers that the family business is going bankrupt. In Canada, a hotshot attorney is on the verge of a huge promotion to become managing partner of a prestigious law firm, when she’s diagnosed with breast cancer. Three women, three continents, three destinies… They’ve never met but are bound by a thread that is intimate and quite unique.

A native of Bordeaux, Laetitia Colombani is a graduate of the École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière film school. She has previously written and directed four shorts and two feature films, He Loves me, He Loves Me Not (2002) and Mes stars et moi (2008). Also working in the theater, she co-wrote the 2015 musical Résiste. As an actor, she has appeared on stage and in numerous TV movies and feature films. The Braid, her first novel, was published in 2017 and quickly became a huge international success. Selling well over a million copies, it has been translated into over 28 languages and garnered more than twenty literary prizes, including the Globe de Cristal Award for Best First Novel. She published her second novel, Les Victorieuses, in 2019. Her film adaptation of The Braid will be released in France on November 29, 2023.