The fifth 2020 selection committee organised by Arte France Cinéma (under the aegis of Olivier Père) has opted to involve itself in the co-production and pre-purchasing of four projects. Standing tall among these is Soul Mates [+leggi anche:
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Arte France Cinéma will also lend its backing to The Great Magic [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Directors’ Fortnight 2012 and 13 César nominations in 2013), to name a few. A loose adaptation of Eduardo de Filippo eponymous play, the filmmaker will also star in the cast of her upcoming film, mainly alongside Denis Podalydès, Judith Chemla, Sergi Lopez and François Morel. Produced by Les Films du Poisson in league with Germany’s Niko Film, this will be a musical feature which whisks us back to the 1920s and to a very nice seaside hotel where slightly phoney magician Albert makes a young woman disappear. With no sign of her return, her husband Charles loses patience and confronts the charlatan. At which point, Albert hands him a small box, telling him his wife is inside. Charles, petrified, refuses to be separated from it…

Also stealing focus among the selection is Remains of the Wind [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] competed in Venice in 2019). Produced by France via Alfama Films in league with Portugal (Leopardo Filmes), this feature will revolve around Laureano, a young boy left with irreversible after-effects following a brutal beating by three young teens, meted out during a rite of passage inscribed within the pagan tradition of their small village in Trás-os-Montes. 25 years later, this man who is nearing 40 and has the mental age of a child is marginalised by society and treated by many as the local kook. But for the first time in a great number of years, his three former tormentors come together for Saint Jean’s Eve. One of their sons is subsequently discovered dead, the victim of an attack by a pack of abandoned dogs, and this brutal event upsets relations in the village community…

Finally, Arte France Cinéma will lend its support to Apathie (working title), the 5th film by Greek director Alexandros Avranas, whose repertoire notably includes Miss Violence [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alexandros Avranas
scheda film] (in competition in San Sebastian in 2017). Produced by France (Les Films du Worso and Elle Driver), Denmark (Snowglobe) and Russia (Metrafilm), the film will follow in the footsteps of Sergei and Natalia, two political asylum seekers who have fled Russia for Sweden with their two daughters Katja and Alina, in hope of a better life. Their hopes are shattered when their request for asylum is refused. Traumatised by this rejection, their daughter Katja suddenly sinks into a comatose, lethargic state otherwise known as Resignation Syndrome, a medical mystery mainly afflicting children of refugees.

For the record, Arte France Cinéma is most notably supporting upcoming films by Leos Carax, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Asghar Farhadi, Ursula Meier, Mia Hansen-Løve, Claire Denis, Alain Guiraudie, Miguel Gomes, Joachim Trier, Nadav Lapid, Quentin Dupieux, Jonas Carpignano, Kirill Serebrennikov, Abderrahmane Sissako, Mathieu Amalric, Lisandro Alonso, Tarik Saleh, Mikhaël Hers, Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Louis Garrel, Jan P. Matuszyński, Albert Serra, Julia Ducournau, Thierry de Peretti, Arthur Harari, Leyla Bouzid, Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, Aurélia Georges, Alice Diop, Hafsia Herzi, Dinara Droukarova, Vincent Le Port, Régis Sauder, Thomas Balmès, Chen Bo Yilin, Dror Moreh and the duo Mina Mileva - Vesela Kazakova, not to mention animated films coming courtesy of Florence Miailhe and Pierre Földes.