Synopsis

Once upon a time, 1967 towards the end of summer…a couple appear at the doord of an orphanage. It turns out that the couple own a bistro at the edge of a forest that does a brisk business at lunchtime. The couple say that they arelooking for a nice girl to replace their daughter who normally lent them a hand at noontime. They say, theiur daughter had to go to Toulouse to take care of a maiden aunt who had suddenly fallen sick. " I am affraid that you have a mistake " says the directress of the orphanage. " This is a special orphanage st aside for girls of colonial ancestry ". The couple reply that color was only skin deep…That black, white, mixed it was all the same to them. They say that besides, as long as they were there anyway, maybe they should look around. They ask the directress did she have a girl who might be suitable ?…

Actors (7)

Production and distribution (5)

Executive Producer :

Euripide Productions

Co-productions :

Havas Images, Voleurs d'Ombre Productions, Harlekijn

French distribution :

Goutte d'Or Distribution

Line production :

Euripide Productions

Film exports/foreign sales :

Playtime

TV Broadcasts: Cumulative total

TV broadcasts: details by country

About

It was sometime around November 1998. Melvin Van Peebles was arriving from the U.S., and I was waiting for him in Paris to take him to the Three Continents Festival in Nantes, where he was receiving an award. I explained the financial situation for “The Stand In,” and he said, “Let’s shoot in DV.” I’d seen other films by Melvin, and I’d been impressed by the way he made the images sing and dance, lending a special style to his movies. So shooting in video and using all the post-production possibilities of digital editing instantly seemed to match Melvin’s compositional style. The little camera was treated like a big one by actors and crew alike. In late 1999 we received the 35mm negative. No grading was even needed on the answer print – it was perfect.

Jean-Pierre Saire, executive producer, excerpt from press kit