07/04/2006

The Beat That My Heart Skipped [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Elementary Particles [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Crime Novel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michele Placido
film profile], Gabrielle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Le couperet [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (lit. "The Blade"), The Last Mitterand, Asterix and the Vikings [+see also:
trailer
film profile]: screen adaptations of novels and cartoons are riding high.

The Forum International Cinéma & Littérature, whose fifth edition starts today in Monaco, has become a landmark event. In co-operation with the Venice Film Festival and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the three-day event is the only market in the world for the negotiations of audiovisual rights of literary works and will include, for the first time ever, a remake market.

Participants include French production companies Gaumont, TF1 Films Production, EuropaCorp, Les Films du Kiosque, France 3 Cinéma, UGC Images, A4 Films, Pathé Renn Productions, StudioCanal, Babe Productions, Chez Wam; BBC Films (UK); Sonatine Films (Switzerland); KanZaman and CDA (Spain); ERT and Cinegram (Greece); Downtown Pictures (Italy); as well as representatives from US companies Warner Independent, The Weinstein Company and Focus Features.

Presided over this year by writer Paulo Coehlo, the event will also include debates such as "Remake: A market of the future?" with participants that include Eric Altmayer (Mandarin) and Ronald Halpern (Studio Canal).

Round table discussions between authors, directors and scriptwriters (Jaco von Dormael, Philippe Harel, Marc Esposito) are also scheduled, along with the Atelier d'adaptation littéraire (Literary adaptation workshop), at which Claude Lelouch will discuss his collaboration with novelist Bernard Werber for the film Nos amis les Terriens (lit. “Our Friends the Earthlings”).

Completing the programme are screenings of French film OSS 117 by Michel Hazanavicius and Greek feature Nostalgic by Eleni Alexandraki – a co-production between four Greek institutions (Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Greek Film Centre, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation-ERT, and the National Book Center of Greece) – along with ten Greek films in the remake market.

(Translated from French)