A 75% European film with a €1,6m budget

by Fabien Lemercier

14/10/2005 - Production:
The €1,66M film Battle In Heaven [trailer, film focus] a was produced at 29% by France, 26 % by Germany, 25% by Mexico and 20% by Belgium. Produced by Philippe Bober for Société Parisienne de Production / The Coproduction Office, the film was co-produced in Germany by Essential Filmproduktion, in Belgium by Tarantula Belgique with TV co-production support from Arte France Cinéma (€100 000 including € 80 000 in TV rights) and ZDF/Arte, as well as support from the Communauté Française de Belgique (€130 000), CNC’s Fonds Sud (€130 000) and Dutch Hubert Bals Fund.

International sales
During the last Cannes Film festival the film sold by The Coproduction Office attracted many European buyers including Bac Films (France), Lucky Red (Italy), Ama (Greece), Lumière (Belgium), Look Now! (Switzerland), Atalanta Filmes (Portugal), Filmmuseum Distributie (Netherlands), Golem Distribución (Spain) and Metro Tartan Distribution (for the US and the UK). Other territories that bought the film include Russia, Canada, Chile and Korea.

Distribution
Battle In Heaven opens on October 26 in France through Bac films (with 57 prints) and the same day through Lumiere in Belgium. The film opened in Spain on October 21, and other European release dates include the UK (October 28) and the Netherlands(February 9, 2006).