16/09/2003

One of the most important professional organisations in French cinema, the Trade Union of Producers and Exporters of French Films (the CSPEFF) has elected a new leader. He is Jean-François Lepetit who replaces Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre. This marks the return of a producer who has always rigorously defended his independence.

Jean-François Lepetit founded the production company Flach Film in 1983, and he soon made waves in the French film industry when he produced the 1985 hit Three Men and a Cradle by Coline Serreau. Since then he has produced around 50 films, including Under Satan's Sun by Maurice Pialat, The Grand Highway by Jean-Loup Hubert, Unpredictable Nature of the River by Bernard Giraudeau, Family Life by Jacques Doillon, Jane Eyre by Franco Zeffirelli and Pasolini, an Italian Crime by Marco Tullio Giordana. Lepetit also launched the career of the director Catherine Breillat, producer her last four films (Romance, Fat Girl, Sex is comedy and Anatomie de l'enfer).

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Along with the election of Jean-François Lepetit as the head of the CSPEFF, the other members of the new management committee were also confirmed, following the resignation of the secretary general, Pascal Rogard, who has moved on to become the director general of the Authors’ and Composers’ Guild, the SACD. The new vice presidents of the CSPEFF are Manuel Munz (Vertigo Production), Jean Cazès (Initial Productions) and Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre (Mact Productions). Finally the state representative, Xavier Larère has been appointed the president of the association for arbitration and conciliation for the cinema and audio-visual sector (the ACPCA), the body which is authorised by the professional cinema organisations to try to resolve conflicts between companies in the sector.

(Translated from French)