04/05/2007

Eight French majority productions have been selected for the 39th Directors’ Fortnight (May 17-27) at the 60th Cannes Film Festival.

However, only one title among this large contingent was pre-sold to and co-produced by a broadcaster: the €1.3m Caramel [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the debut film by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, is a 55% French production from Les Films des Tournelles and Arte France Cinéma, which now has a total of 11 titles at the festival (see news). Sales on the film are being handled by Roissy Films.

In addition to the previously announced selection of Gaël Morel’s Après Lui [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), starring Catherine Deneuve (a Gloria Films production, international sales by Films Distribution), this year’s sidebar selected two Films Pelléas productions.

Serge Bozon’s France [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see article) travels back in time to WWI with Sylvie Testud and Pascal Greggory. The €1.82m title received CNC advances on receipts of €450,000, pre-sales from Ciné Cinéma and €320,000 from the Ile-de-France region.

Tout est pardonné [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Thion
interview: Mia Hansen-Löve
film profile] (see news), the feature debut by the 25 year-old French/Danish director Mia Hansen-Löve explores the themes of drugs and family and stars Austrian actress Marie-Christine Friedrich alongside France’s Paul Blain. The €1.64m production was also supported by the CNC, the Ile-de-France, as well as the Limousin Region and was pre-sold to TPS. Both productions will be sold worldwide by Pyramide.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Klotz is back at the Fortnight with Heartbeat Detector [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (news). The director presented his previous film The Wound [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in the sidebar in 2004.

An adaptation of François Emmanuel’s novel La question humaine, Heartbeat Detector deals with the totalitarian universe of large corporations and stars Mathieu Amalric, Jean-Pierre Kalfon and Michael Lonsdale.

The €2m Sophie Dulac Productions title had pre-sales from CinéCinéma and received Ile-de-France funding of €328,000, as well as CNC advances on receipts of €450,000. Heartbeat Detector is being sold internationally by Films Distribution.

Selected with Avant que j’oublie [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Jacques Nolot is another Cannes regular. His first two features screened at the festival: L'arriere-pays at the 1998 Fortnight and Glowing Eyes [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in the 2002 Un Certain Regard.

Written by and starring the director, Avant que j’oublie was a €1.13m Elia Filmsproduction. Funding came solely from CNC advances on receipts, with no channel having pre-bought the film. The title is still without an international sales agent.

Advances on receipts clearly continue to be an important source of funding for auteur films. Another film to receive CNC backing was A Lost Man [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Lebanese filmmaker Danielle Arbid, who returns to the Fortnight three years after her feature debut In the Battlefields [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

A road movie starring British actor Alexander Siddig and Melvil Poupaud, A Lost Man was pre-sold to Canal+ and was produced and is being sold by MK2.

The feature debut by actress Sandrine Bonnaire, a documentary on her autistic sister produced by Mosaïque Films, will also feature at the Fortnight.

In terms of minority co-productions, Gloria Films co-financed Mutum by Brazil’s Sandra Kogut (sales by TF1 International) and Celluloid Dreams, Tom Kalin’s Savage Grace [+see also:
film review
film profile] (sales by Dreamachine).

(Translated from French)