17/08/2007

Principal photography on Home, the feature debut by the young Swiss-French director, Ursula Meier, began on July 30 in the Bulgarian town of Skalitsa.

Written by Antoine Jaccoud and Raphaëlle Valbrune, the script – which was developed last year at the Cannes Ateliers by the director – was not only nominated for the Sundance/NHK New Director Award, but it also won the Prix de la Fondation Beaumarchais, the Espoirs du scénario at the Manuscript de Vercorin, the Prix du concours de scénario from the Société Suisse des Auteurs and scriptwriting support from the Communauté française de Belgique.

Isabelle Huppert and Olivier Gourmet play the lead roles in this film about a family who is torn apart by the construction of a motorway. Photography is by Agnès Godard and sound by Luc Yersin.

Conceived by Swiss 2007 Producer in the Move Elena Tatti (see interview) and Thierry Spicher of Box Productions (Switzerland), Home is produced by Denis Freyd of Archipel 35 (France) and co-produced by Denis Delcampe of Need Productions (Belgium), France 3 Cinéma and Canal +. Backing was provided by the Eurimages fund and CNC advances on receipts.

The €5.5m film will be released in France by Diaphana Distribution, in Switzerland by Filmcoopi and in Belgium by Lumière.

World sales are being handled by Memento Films.

Born in Besançon (France) in 1971 and a graduate of Belgium’s Institut des Arts de Diffusion (IAD), Meier directed two documentaries – Autour de Pinget and Pas les flics, pas les Noirs, pas les Blancs – before making Strong Shoulders , an acclaimed television film produced by the French-German channel ARTE in 2002 later released in Swiss cinemas.

(Translated from French)