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RELEASES France

Winterbottom and O'Brien hope to win over French audiences

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Two English/Irish productions open on a combined 150 screens today, proving that European cinema is well represented in France, where 2006 has been a very good year in terms of cinema attendance, up 30% on 2005.

CTV International is opening the docu-fiction The Road to Guantanamo [+see also:
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film profile
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by Michael Winterbottom on 50 screens, presented in official competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival (see article), where it picked up a Golden Bear for Best Director.

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Meanwhile, TFM Distribution will release an impressive 100 copies of horror film Isolation by Billy O'Brien, starring 2006 European Film Promotion Shooting Star Ruth Negga. The film tells the story of a cattle breeder who has foolishly allowed experts to carry out experiments on his herd.

A UK/Irish co-production – The Bureau and Blue Orange Films Ltd for the UK and Element Films for Ireland – the film also received funding from the Irish Film Board, FilmFour and UK distributor Redbus Film.

Four French productions complete this week’s line-up against three US titles and one Asian feature. The critically acclaimed Bled Number One [+see also:
film review
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film profile
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by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche will be released on 61 screens by Les Films du Losange, who also co-produced the film and are handling its international sales. This second feature from the director of Algerian origin won the Prix de la Jeunesse at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened in Un Certain Regard (see article).

Also screened at Cannes – out of competition this time – was the documentary Ici Najac, à vous la terre by Jean-Henri Meunier, to be released by Océan Films on 20 screens.

At the box office, Camping [+see also:
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by Fabien Oteniente has garnered an impressive 4.8m admissions in six weeks, and Volver [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile
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by Pedro Almodovar has exceeded the one million admissions mark after only twenty days on screens.

The two biggest releases of the week, however, are French productions. Pathé is releasing La maison du bonheur by Dany Boon on 408 screens, while Le passager de l'été [+see also:
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by Florence Moncorgé-Gabin (see news Production), starring Catherine Frot, Laura Smet, Mathilde Seigner, François Berléand and Samuel Le Bihan will open on 300 screens (Mars Distribution ).

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(Translated from French)

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