20/11/2006

According to the weekly Le film Français, Stéphane Célérier, the long-established director general of the Studio Canal arm Mars Distribution will be replaced by Philippe Désandré, a renegade of Warner France.

Célérier started his career with the founding of distribution company Mars Films by Jean Labadie (Bac Films) in 1998. He kept his position in 2002 when the company was bought by Studio Canal (see news) and went on to become a key player in the French film industry.

Célérier (41) – voted 2004 Distributor of the Year at the Etoiles de la presse awards – will therefore be removed from the helm of the film distribution arm of the Canal + group at the end of a year that has also seen Fidélité Films choose Wild Bunch Distribution as the distributor for the French release of its films over Mars Distribution in the past. Its first film to be released by Wild Bunch (on December 20) will be Patrice Leconte’s My Best Friend [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

This change also comes only a year after the first major restructuring of the cinema department at Canal + (see news).

Classed fifth most popular distributor in 2006 with a 9.7% market share (or 15.3m admissions for 28 titles released), Mars Distribution films have included Days of Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Bréhat
interview: Rachid Bouchareb
film profile] by Rachid Bouchareb (2.8m admissions); French candidate for 2007 Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film nominations Orchestra Seats [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Danièle Thompson (1.9m); Rent A Wife [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Eric Lartigau (1.7m admissions in two weeks); Don’t Worry, I’m Fine by Philippe Lioret (880,000); as well as UK co-productions Nanny McPhee [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The Constant Gardener [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Other titles released this year include Private Fears in Public Places [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alain Resnais, comedy Madame Irma [+see also:
trailer
film profile], animated film Franklin and Granny’s Secret by Dominique Monféry and Le grand appartement [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Pascal Thomas.

Films slated for release in 2007 include Truands [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Frédéric Schoendoerffer on January 17, INLAND EMPIRE by David Lynch, Dialogue avec mon jardinier (lit. “Conversations With My Gardener”) by Jean Becker, Sa Majesté Minor by Jean-Jacques Annaud and Paris by Cédric Klapisch.

(Translated from French)