SCREENDAILY – The first image from the set of My Zoe, the forthcoming drama written and directed by Julie Delpy (the Before trilogy) and starring Gemma Arterton (Their Finest) and Daniel Brühl (Rush)

Principal photography on the film started on May 24, shooting in and around Berlin and Moscow.

Delpy plays Isabelle, a scientist and divorcée who has difficult contact with her ex-husband James (Richard Armitage) due to their co-parenting of daughter Zoe (Sophia Ally). After a tragedy befalls the family, Isabelle takes matters into her own hands, turning to a couple (played by Arterton and Brühl) in Moscow for help.

The cast also includes Saleh Bakri (The Source) and Lindsay Duncan (Gifted).

Malte Grunert (Perfect Sense) is producing for Berlin-based Amusement Park together with Gabrielle Tana (Philomena) and Metalwork Pictures’ Andrew Levitas. The filming is funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and Filmförderung Hamburg as well as the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF).

UK-based Protagonist Pictures is handling worldwide sales, with the film scheduled for release in 2019.

The film is Delpy’s seventh feature as a writer-director, with her previous titles including 2 Days In New York (2012) and 2 Days In Paris (2007). (source)

DEADLINE – Julie Delpy is set to star alongside Gemma Arterton and Daniel Brühl in My Zoe, an emotional and provocative drama directed by Delpy from her own script.

It’s scheduled to shoot in the UK next Spring and the story is about the lengths to which a mother’s love goes for her child. Delpy plays Isabelle, a geneticist recovering from a toxic marriage and raising her daughter Zoe in conjunction with her ex-husband. Zoe means everything to her mother but when tragedy strikes the fractured family, Isabelle takes matters into her own hands.

Brühl and Arterton play a couple Isabelle turns to for help in Moscow while Lior Ashkenazy (Big Bad Wolves, Footnote) plays Isabelle’s new boyfriend. The role of ex-husband James is currently being cast.

London-based sales banner Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales on the film and will launch the title to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin in February.

Gabrielle Tana (Philomena, The Duchess) produces for Baby Cow Films, whose most recent projects include Steve Cantor documentary Dancer and Andrew Fleming’s Ideal Home with Steve Coogan and Paul Rudd, set for an early 2017 release. Electrik Films France’s Hubert Caillard and Dominique Boutonnat will co-produce.

“I started thinking and taking notes about this film over 20 years ago,” said Delpy. “It first came to my mind discussing with [director Krzysztof] Kieslowski about parenting, love and fate. The film is about the unconditional love you feel as a parent. It was a very profound process to write it. I gave it all the truth I had and I hope it resonates with others.”

Protagonist CEO Mike Goodridge said: “My Zoe is one of those movies that people stand around and argue about. Julie has created a compulsive drama about what it means to be a parent and what lengths a parent will go to for their children.” (source)