12/03/2007

CNC Director General Véronique Cayla last week signed four advances on receipts agreements for debut features.

Projects selected include Marion Laine’s Simple coeur (lit. “Simple Heart”), a loose adaptation of Gustave Flaubert’s 1876 short story “A Simple Heart” from his Three Tales anthology.

Until the recent death of producer Béatrice Caufmann, BC Films was supposed to produce the feature. However, Ile-de-France funding of €320,000 as well as advances on receipts should now permit the film to be launched by another outfit (Rezo Films are rumoured to be interested).

The original cast featured Sandrine Bonnaire, Marina Foïs, Pascal Elbé and Patrick Pineau.

Another film to be granted CNC advances on receipts is Emmanuel Parraud’s Avant poste (lit. “Outpost”), co-written by the director and Erick Malabry. The film recounts the trials and tribulations of a social worker in a rough suburb who has to deal with difficult youths, one in particular, and who falls into the trap of empathy.

Produced by Cédric Walter for Château-Rouge Production – who also worked on the director’s latest short (La Statue de la Vierge, 2004) – Avant poste is scheduled to begin lensing in October/November 2007.

The third film selected was Mehdi Ben Attia’s Le fil (lit. “The Lead”). It will be produced by Edouard Mauriat for Mille et une productions next autumn. The French-Tunisian director co-wrote André Téchiné’s Loin [+see also:
interview: André Téchiné
film profile] (2001) and Zina Modiano’s La vie privée (2005).

Le fil follows Malik, who leaves Paris for Tunisia to be with his mother after the death of his father. Seen as a chore, Malik’s return in fact ends up setting the young man free from the secret of his homosexuality when he falls in love with the handsome Bilal.

Lastly, the advances on receipts committee chose Sarah Petit’s Au voleur (lit. “To the Thief”), produced by Michel Klein for Les Films Hatari. The outfit has made an impressive number of shorts over the years, including those by Laurent Achard, Jean-Paul Civeyrac, Philippe Ramos, Jean-Charles Fitoussi and Philippe Katerine.

Petit – who started her career in documentary filmmaking (Napoli 90, Les Limbes) – successfully made the transition to fiction with L'arpenteur (2002 Jean Vigo Prize) and Le Lac et la rivière.

(Translated from French)