THE MONEY MAKER

(L’affaire Bojarski)

Los Angeles Premiere | France | 2026 | Biopic, Drama | 128 min | In French with English subtitles

Directed by: Jean-Paul Salomé
Written by: Jean-Paul Salomé, Bastien Daret, Delphine Gleize
Based on an original idea by: Marie-Pierre Huster
Produced by: Bertrand Faivre (Le Bureau Films), Florence Gastaud (Les Compagnons du Cinéma), France 2 Cinema, Artémis Cinema, Cactus Prod
Cinematography: Julien Hirsch
Original Score: Mathieu Lamboley
Film Editing: Valérie Deseine
Cast: Reda Kateb (Jan Bojarski), Sara Giraudeau (Suzanne Bojarski), Bastien Bouillon (André Mattéi), Pierre Lottin (Anton Dowgierd), Camille Japy (Anaïs), Victor Poirier (Serge), Lolita Chammah (Françoise Mattéi), Olivier Loustau (Lucien Scola)
International Sales: The Bureau Sales

Synopsis

Polish refugee Jan Bojarski moved to France at the end of WWII. A trained engineer, he struggles to eke out a living forging passports… until he stumbles upon his true vocation, to become the greatest counterfeiter of all time, all the while taunting the determined police commissioner who’s hot on his heels. Armed with an impeccable cast and a meticulously crafted script, The Money Maker recounts the gripping, amazing-but-true story of a brilliant inventor whose relentless striving for perfection reveals him to be a veritable artist. In the counterfeiting world, one says “a Bojarski,” as we might say “a Cézanne.”

Director’s bio

Writer-director Jean-Paul Salomé began his career as assistant to director Claude Lelouch on his 1981 film Bolero. He went on to direct two documentaries, L’Heure d’aimer (1983) and La Petite Commission (1984). After making his first TV movie, Crimes et jardins (1991), he directed the feature film Girls with Guns (1993), which won a Special Jury Prize at the Cognac Festival du Film Policier. His subsequent features include Tourist Trap (1998); Belphegor: Phantom of the Louvre (2000); Arsène Lupin (COLCOA 2005); Female Agents (COLCOA 2007); The Chameleon (2010); Playing Dead (2013); Mama Weed, (2020), which earned him a César nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay; and La Syndicaliste (TAFFF 2023). Salomé has also served multiple terms as president of the ARP (the French Authors’, Directors’, and Producers’ Guild) and as president of UniFrance Films. Reda Kateb was honored with the Best Actor award at this year’s Barcelona-Sant Jordi Film Festival for his arresting portrayal of Jan Bojarski in The Money Maker.