10/03/2010

A wave of 16 new releases is flooding into French theatres today, led by Roselyne Bosch’s media-hyped The Round Up [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), starring Jean Reno, Mélanie Laurent and Gad Elmaleh. Launched by Gaumont on over 700 screens, the film – produced by Légende in co-production with Germany and Hungary – is a sensitive and didactic work of memory on the deportation of the Jews in France during the Second World War.

Critics have been won over by Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s highly original UK production Valhalla Rising [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Winding Refn
film profile], featuring Mads Mikkelsen. Presented out of competition at Venice last September, the title is being released by Wild Side Films and Le Pacte on 27 screens.

There has also been a good press reception for Bulgarian director Kamen Kalev’s Eastern Plays [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kamen Kalev
film profile], which was a finalist for the European Parliament Lux Prize 2009. It is being released by Epicentre Films on a 20-print run.

European cinema is also represented in the line-up by Norwegian director Rune Denstad Langlo’s North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rune Denstad Langlo
film profile] (distributed by Bodega Films on 15 screens); Sherry Hormann’s German production Desert Flower [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see review from Venice Days - distributed by Bac Films on a very ambitious print-run of 203); and Michele Placido’s The Big Dream [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], unveiled in competition at the Venice Film Festival (see review- distributed by Studio 37 and Rezo Films on 37 screens).

The line-up also includes four French features: Grégoire Vigneron’s thriller Immaculate [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), starring Benoît Magimel (Mars Distribution - 170 screens); Denys Granier-Deferre’s Wedding Cake [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), whose cast includes Jérémie Renier, Clémence Poésy, Danielle Darrieux and Jean-Pierre Marielle (Diaphana Distribution - 355 screens); Yasmina Reza’s Chicas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), starring Spanish actress Carmen Maura, André Dussollier and Emmanuelle Seigner (UGC Distribution on around 50 screens); and Cyril de Gasperis’ Blank [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (distributed by Les Films Sauvages on seven screens).

Also hitting theatres are three French documentaries: Raphaël Delpard’s Les Convois de la Honte (“The Convoys of Shame”, distributed by Artédis); Luc Decaster’s Etat d'Élue (“Elected State”, Contre-Allée Distribution); and Valérie Mrejen’s Valvert (Documentaire sur Grand Ecran). Meanwhile, Atom Egoyan’s Chloé is being launched by StudioCanal, who generously financed it.

(Translated from French)