23/01/2008

An extensive showcase of French films will be presented at the 37th edition of the Rotterdam Film Festival, which opens today.

Screening in competition is Michelange Quay’s Eat, For This Is My Body, a film produced by Cinéma Defacto on a budget of €1.42m, including an advance on receipts from the National Centre for Cinematography (CNC). Starring Sylvie Testud and Catherine Samie, this surrealist political tale about the legacy of colonisation is sold internationally by Memento Films.

Other noteworthy titles in competition include co-productions Cordero de Dios (“Lamb of God”) by Lucía Cedrón (Les Films d’Ici); and El cielo, la tierra y la lluvia (“The Sky, the Earth and the Rain”) by José Luis Torres Leiva (Charivari Films).

Films set to screen in other sections at the festival include Delphine Kreuter’s 57.000 km entre nous (“57,000km Between Us”), Mia Hansen-Love’s All Is Forgiven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Thion
interview: Mia Hansen-Löve
film profile] (see Focus), Céline Sciamma’s Water Lilies [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see interview), Philippe Ramos’ Captain Ahab [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Cédric Anger’s The Killer, Alain Gomis’ Andalucia, Emmanuel Mouret’s Shall We Kiss? [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Philippe Faucon’s Two Ladies [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Serge Bozon’s France [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Before I Forget [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Jacques Nolot.

Oscar nominee Persepolis (see Focus) will also screen, as will Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile], Eric Rohmer’s The Romance of Astrea and Celadon [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and the collective animated film Fear(s) of the Dark [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Documentary screenings include Terror’s Advocate [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Barbet Schroeder and Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers by Rithy Panh.

(Translated from French)