European cinema in all its versatility
European involvement in international film production is on show in France today, with a rich variety of productions hitting screens, from more ambitious blockbusters and films by the most renowned US independent directors to directorial debuts by young, talented filmmakers.
Heading the bill is Hannibal Rising, which has been wrongly labelled a US production and is, in fact, a British/Italian/French/Czech co-production.
Directed by UK helmer Peter Webber (The Girl With a Pearl Earring [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and starring France’s Gaspard Ulliel (A Very Long Engagement) and Gong Li, the Italian-produced feature by Dino De Laurentiis was co-produced by Tarak Ben Ammar for Quinta Communications (see news), who are also distributing the film on 400 screens nationwide.
This Wednesday also sees the StudioCanal release (68 prints) of US helmer David Lynch’s latest masterpiece, INLAND EMPRIRE [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which screened at the 2006 Venice Film Festival (see article). Canal + were the main financiers on the film, which also received funding from the Polish Camerimage Film Festival.
As for French productions, Isabelle Czajka’s The Year After [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (with Anaïs Demoustier and Ariane Ascaride) goes on release through Ad Vitam on 20 screens.
Leopard winner for Debut Film at the 2006 Locarno Film Festival, the €1.7m feature about a teenager’s life was initiated by PickPocket Productions and received CNC advances in receipts of €450,000.
With a €9m budget and featuring popular actress Catherine Frot and rising star Albert Dupontel, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s Odette Toulemonde [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see interview) opens on 283 screens through Pathé Distribution. The film recounts the attempts of a 40 year-old supermarket cashier to escape her humdrum life by meeting her favourite writer.
Other new releases this week include Veronica Chen’s joint Argentinean/French production Agua (co-produced by Archipel 35 and released by Tadrart Films on 10 prints), Aymeric Mesa-Juan’s Les liens (Cinétévé, eight screens) and documentaries Itchkéri Kenti les fils de l'Itchkérie by Florent Marcie (MK2, one screen) and By The Ways, A Journey With William Eggleston by directing duo Vincent Gérard and Cédric Laty (NOD, 10 screens).
A quartet of “real” US productions complete the round-up.
(Translated from French)
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