11/12/2006

After a recent spate of successful titles – Flanders [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Bruno Dumont, Rachid Bouchareb's Days of Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Bréhat
interview: Rachid Bouchareb
film profile] (see Focus), Denis Dercourt's The Page Turner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Dercourt
interview: Michel Saint-Jean
film profile] (see Focus) and Private Property [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Joachim Lafosse (see article) – Paris-based world sales outfit Films Distribution is now setting its sights on Italy for the upcoming Berlin Film Market.

One of the recent additions to the outfit's line-up is Ferzan Ozpetek'sSaturno Contro (see news). Starring Stefano Accorsi, Margherita Buy and Pierfrancesco Favino (Crime Novel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michele Placido
film profile]), the feature – produced by R&C Produzioni and co-produced by French outfit UGC YM – is a hopeful candidate for the upcoming Berlin Film Festival (February 8-18, 2007).

Another title on the Films Distribution slate also hoping to take part at the German festival is Tehilim by Raphaël Nadjari. After 1999's The Shade (selected in Cannes' Un Certain Regard), 2001's I Am Josh Polonski's Brother (screened in the Berlinale Forum), 2002's Apartment #5C (shown at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight) and 2004's Avanim (screened at the Berlinale Panorama), the 35 year-old Marseille-born director is expecting to reach new heights with his fifth feature.

Tehilim is the story of 17 year-old Menachem who lives in Jerusalem. Eager to be free, the teenager has to face up to the mysterious disappearance of his father. Produced by BVNG Productions in co-production with Israeli outfit Transfax Film Productions, the film was backed by Canal +, CNC and the Sofica Arte Cofinova, among others.

Films Distribution also expects to do good business at markets with French production Le Ballon Rouge – another title with its sights set on Cannes – directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien and starring Juliette Binoche.

However, the unexpected hit could be Pascal Ferran's Lady Chatterley (see article), which may also make it to Berlin thanks to excellent reviews by French critics. This would no doubt please Films Distribution, an outfit that obviously still has some surprises up its sleeve for the 2007 season.

(Translated from French)