FKA Twigs Begins Shoot as Josephine Baker in Studiocanal Biopic (EXCLUSIVE)

Grammy-winning artist FKA Twigs has begun principal photography as the legendary entertainer and activist Josephine Baker.

Production on “Josephine Baker” has kicked off in France and will run through Nov. 13, with additional shooting in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The film is directed and co-written by Maïmouna Doucouré, the César- and Sundance-winning filmmaker behind “Cuties” and “Hawa,” working from a script developed with co-writer Olivier Lorelle. Studiocanal and Bien ou Bien Productions are producing, with CPB Films and Leyland Films serving as associated producers. The project carries the official blessing of Baker’s sons Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker, along with the Rainbow tribe.

Joining FKA Twigs in the ensemble are Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (“King Richard,” “Origin”), Giuseppe Maggio (“Mrs. Playmen,” “Being Maria”), Grégory Montel (“Call My Agent!,” “Barking Dogs”), Benjamin Millepied (“Black Swan,” “Dune: Part Two”), Féodor Atkine (“Dog 51,” “Out of Love”), Alex Lutz (“Strangers by Night,” “Connemara”) and Harmony Riley.

The film traces Baker’s arc from a childhood marked by racial segregation in the United States to her breakthrough as one of the most celebrated stage and screen performers of 1920s Paris, through her service with the French Resistance during the Second World War, and into her 1951 return to America – where she confronted a country still shaped by the injustices she had fled decades earlier.

FKA Twigs brings a cross-disciplinary background to the role. A singer-songwriter, dancer-choreographer and visual artist, she broke into film with Alma Har’el’s “Honey Boy” and has since appeared in Rupert Sanders’ “The Crow” and David Lowery’s A24 feature “Mother Mary,” opposite Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel.

Doucouré’s short film “Mother(S)” won some 70 international prizes, among them the Sundance Film Festival International Award and the 2017 César for best short film. Her debut feature “Cuties” took the directing award in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance before reaching Netflix audiences globally.

Studiocanal will handle theatrical distribution across its own territory footprint – the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Benelux, Poland, Australia and New Zealand – and is managing worldwide sales.