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BERLINALE 2015 France

Seven French productions and co-productions in the running for the Bear

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- In total, France will be represented by 26 features produced with 21 countries in the various sections of the Berlinale

Seven French productions and co-productions in the running for the Bear
The Pearl Button by Patricio Guzmán

While it is true that Benoit Jacquot is the only French filmmaker to be selected for the competition of the 65th Berlinale, which will get under way on Thursday, French film production can count seven films in the running for the Golden Bear 2015, fresh proof of just how deeply committed the country’s companies are to the sheer diversity of global production.

In addition to Diary of a Chambermaid [+see also:
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]
(read the article – co-produced with Belgium), one other majority production will be battling it out: the documentary The Pearl Button [+see also:
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by Patricio Guzmán, executive-produced by Paris-based outfit Atacama Productions with Chile and Spain, and co-produced by France 3 Cinéma.

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Furthermore, there are five minority French co-productions among the 19 hopefuls for the Bear: Nobody Wants the Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Isabel Coixet
film profile
]
by Isabel Coixet (co-produced by Noodles Productions with Spain and Bulgaria), which stars Juliette Binoche in the lead role, As We Were Dreaming [+see also:
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Q&A: Andreas Dresen
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]
by German director Andreas Dresen (co-produced by Cinema Defacto), Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories [+see also:
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by Di Phan Dang (read the article – co-produced with Vietnam, Germany and the Netherlands), Chasuke's Journey [+see also:
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]
by Japanese filmmaker Sabu (co-produced by Back Up Media) and Ixcanul Volcano [+see also:
film review
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interview: Jayro Bustamante
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]
by Jayro Bustamante (co-produced by Tu Vas Voir with Guatemala).

In the official selection out of competition, France is represented by the minority production Every Thing Will Be Fine [+see also:
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making of
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]
by Wim Wenders (co-produced by Bac Films with Germany, Canada, Sweden and Norway – starring Charlotte Gainsbourg in the lead).

There are also two majority French productions in the Panorama: Murder in Pacot [+see also:
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by Raoul Peck (produced by Velvet Film with Haiti and Norway – unveiled at Toronto, and starring Alex Descas, Thibault Vinçon and Ayo in a tale of intertwined lives the day after the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince) and Bizarre [+see also:
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by Etienne Faure (produced by Eivissa Production – with the USA – starring young actor Pierre Prieur in the lead role of a story that delves into an underground club in New York). There are also three minority co-productions in the Panorama: The Summer of Sangaile [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alanté Kavaïté
film profile
]
by Lithuanian director Alanté Kavaïté (which just won the Best Director Award at Sundance – co-produced by Les films d'Antoine with Lithuania and the Netherlands), Absence [+see also:
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]
by Chico Teixeira (co-produced by Cine-Sud Promotion with Brazil and Chile) and A Minor Leap Down by Hamed Rajabi (co-produced by Alias Films and Caractères Films with Iran).

In Panorama Dokumente, we should highlight A German Youth [+see also:
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by Jean-Gabriel Périot (produced by Local Films with Switzerland and Germany) and My Name Is Annemarie Schwarzenbach [+see also:
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by Véronique Aubouy (Paraiso Production Diffusion).

Standing out in the Forum section are six majority productions: The Story of Judas [+see also:
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by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche (read the article), Portrait of the Artist [+see also:
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by Antoine Barraud (produced by House on Fire with the Centre Pompidou and Anna Sanders Films – starring Bertrand Bonello, Jeanne Balibar and Géraldine Pailhas), The Night and the Kid [+see also:
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by David Yon (produced by Survivance with Haut les mains Productions), and the documentaries Journey into Post-History by Vincent Dieutre (La Huit Production), This Gigantic Furrowing of the Ground by Claire Angelini (Albanera Production) and Exotica, Erotica, Etc. [+see also:
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]
by Evangelia Kranioti (an Aurora Films production).

Five minority productions have also been selected in the Forum: The Valley [+see also:
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by Ghassan Salhab (co-produced by Les films d'Ici with Lebanon and Germany), Atom Heart Mother by Ali Ammadzadeh (co-produced by DreamLab Films with Iran), and the documentaries The Siren of Faso Fani [+see also:
trailer
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]
by Michel K Zongo (produced by Cinédoc Films with Burkina Faso and Germany), Hotline by Silvina Landsmann (co-produced by Idéale Audience with Israel) and Twenty-Eight Nights and a Poem [+see also:
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]
by Akram Zaatari (co-produced with Lebanon). 

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(Translated from French)

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