23/04/2007

In addition to the five majority French certified productions (see article) in official competition at the 60th Cannes Film Festival (May 16-27), three minority co-productions and five non-certified features, which were nevertheless co-financed by French outfits, will be in the running for the Palme d’Or.

While these eight “wild cards” could fuel the arguments of those complaining about the omnipresence of French films at Cannes, their presence also reveals the support of French producers to filmmakers the world over and to ambitious directors, who would certainly have had difficulty in financing their projects without French backing.

The three minority certified co-productions include Emir Kusturica’s Promise Me This [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Carlos Reygadas’ Silent Light [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Bela Tarr’s The Man from London [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Kusturica’s title is a 40% production by French outfit Fidélité and 60% by the director’s own company (Rasta Films ). The €8.11m film included pre-sales from Canal+ and TPS, as well as €600,000 from France 2 Cinéma (€300,000 in co-production and €300,000 in pre-sales). International sales on the feature are being handled by StudioCanal.

The second minority certified co-production is Reygadas’ Silent Light, a 70% production between Mexico (70%) and France (30%) via its international sales agent Bac Films. Its €1m budget also includes €200,000 in support from ARTE France Cinéma (half in pre-sales, half in co-production).

Lastly, France provided 41% of funding for Bela Tarr’s The Man from London (see article), in association with Hungary (46%) and Germany (13%).

Three of the five non-certified features co-financed by France received foreign language film funding from the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC). A sum of €130,000 was granted to Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park [+see also:
trailer
film profile], whose €3m budget was backed in full by MK2 (also the international sales agent).

The CNC also granted €100,000 to Alexander Sokurov’s Alexandra. The €2.2m feature was co-produced by Proline Films (Russia), Daninburg Trading (British Virgin Islands) and French outfit Rezo Films, who is also handling worldwide sales.

Naomi Kawase’s Mogari No Mori is a €1.15m co-production between the director’s own company Sent Inc and Celluloid Dreams , who is selling the title internationally. It received €130,000 from the CNC.

Another joint French production is Ulrich Seidl’s Import/Export [+see also:
trailer
film profile], co-produced by its French/German sales agent The Coproduction Office and €200,000 from ARTE France Cinéma (half in pre-sales, half in co-production) for a €2.47m budget.

Lastly, the opening film My Blueberry Nights [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Wong Kar-Wai – sold by French international sales agent StudioCanal – is among one of the four co-production companies.

(Translated from French)