13/03/2013 - The actor plays the main role and wrote the screenplay for Christian Duguay's film on the epic tale of the horse that won the Olympic show-jumping championship in Seoul

Director (Little White Lies [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and very soon, Blood Ties) and actor (in L’Affaire Farewell [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and A Better Life [+see also:
film review
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interview: Cédric Kahn
film profile]), Guillaume Canet (photo) had never written a screenplay for another filmmaker. Now he has, with Jappeloup [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lou de Laâge
film profile] directed by Christian Duguay (article), a movie in which he also plays the main role and which is released today in French cinemas by Pathé.

Freely adapted by Canet from the novel Crin Noir by Karine Devilder, the feature-length film tells the extraordinary tale of the little black horse, Jappeloup, and his rider, Pierre Durand, who won the Olympic show-jumping title in 1988. The cast also includes Daniel Auteuil, Marina Hands and Lou de Laâge.

"The film is just as I dreamt it would be : a sort of Rocky in the equestrian world, a sports adventure based on a strong human story" says Guillaume Canet. "It has everything I love in popular movies: daunting challenges, wonderful characters, a little humour, lots of emotion. And visually, it is very esthetic".

"Producer Pascal Judelewicz had dreamt about making this film since 1995. I found his enthusiasm surprising, appealing… and finally convincing (…). Afterwards, I wanted to inject more personal things into the screenplay. My father was a horse-breeder, he got into serious debt to set up his company. When I was 18, I had a really tough time telling him that I was ending everything to become an actor. I had had a serious riding accident, and I no longer had the same passion for winning. In my personal life, I had simply ruled out horse-riding," says the actor-screenwriter - whom the filming of Jappeloup has literally lifted back into the saddle, as he has bought a horse and returned to the world of competition.

This Wednesday's releases also include the excellent Camille Claudel 1915 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bruno Dumont
film profile] by Bruno Dumont (widely appreciated in competition in Berlin, with Juliette Binoche topping the bill – distribution ARP Sélection), Queen of Montreuil [+see also:
film review
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interview: Solveig Anspach
film profile] by Solveig Anspach (discovered in the Venice Days 2012 - Diaphana Distribution) and Nights with Theodore [+see also:
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film profile] by Sébastien Betbeder (selected for Toronto - article - Arizona Films Distribution).

Non-French European cinema is very well-represented by Le mur invisible by Austrian director Juan Roman Pölsler (discovered in the Berlinale Panorama 2012 with German actress Martina Gedeck in the main role - news - distribution Bodega Films) and The Artist and the Model [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Spanish director Fernando Trueba (crowned Best Director in San Sebastian - Bac Films). Finally, our survey of new offerings is completed by the documentaries Notre monde by Thomas Lacoste (Shellac) and A Normal Life. Chronicle of a Sumo Wrestler by Jill Coulon (Aloest).

(Translated from French)