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In 2023, his historical action film The First Duel was screened at the Karlovy Vary Festival, where it won the Audience Award. The film is set in 1887, at a time when in France, despite the strictest prohibitions, still practised duels – as the main way to protect your honourable name. The screenplay was co-written by Pérez and his wife Karine Sylla.
I’ve always felt that I was missing a film on such a subject. Duels have been part of everyday life for centuries, from the Middle Ages to the Second World War. When Roman Polanski’s “The Officer and the Spy” was being shot, my friend Jean Dujardin said to me, “Vincent, you should make a film about duels”.
