Halle Berry is set to star in Fleur, the latest drama from writer and director Ellie Foumbi '17. The film is being produced through NYC-based independent film company Killer Films alongside Berry and Holly Jeter’s HalleHolly Productions, and Plot Twist Pictures, a production company started by Undergraduate Film alum Gabriel Mayers (CC '17). Berry will play the film’s title character, Fleur, a New York City housewife who, after 30 years of marriage, flees to Paris. She creates a new life for herself in the new city as a dominatrix.
In an Instagram post shared on August 22, Foumbi shared her joy and gratitude around the film's production. “Hard work pays off!" she wrote. "The amount of gratitude I’m feeling at the moment can’t be contained in a post. In a world full of darkness, cynicism, and rejection, I have been protected and nurtured by beams of light. I’m grateful for this magical team, for their belief in me and for a new sister in [Halle Berry] who has inspired me to push the envelope even further. Thank you for your wisdom, your grace, and your kindness. I’m so excited to go on this journey with you!! We are blessed to have found partners who love this film as much as we do and are supporting our vision for it.”
Foumbi is a critically acclaimed writer and director. Her first feature film Our Father, The Devil premiered in 2022 at the Venice Film Festival, where the film received the Tribeca Narrative Audience Award. The film also received recognition at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Sidewalk Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, Hawaii International Film Festival, and many others. In 2017, Foumbi won the IFP Audience Award at the Columbia University Film Festival for her short Zenith. She was also a finalist in the 44th Student Academy Awards.
Foumbi fell in love with film at an early age. “I fell in love with film when I moved to the States when I was five,” the Cameroon-born filmmaker shared in an interview with the School of the Arts. “I started off as an actor, and I was always an avid reader and writer from a young age. Eventually, I found myself enjoying the process of working on scripts and so I knew I wanted to go to a school that focused a little more on screenwriting. Columbia was a great fit, also because I’m from New York and wanted to stay close to my family. I didn’t initially think I was going to be directing, but that’s what happens here. I’m a visual person, but I didn’t see myself as the person in charge and I needed that kind of environment to push me out of my comfort zone.”
Production for Fleur is set to begin in 2026 in Paris. While an official release date has not been set, audiences can expect the film to be released in 2026 or 2027.
