StudioCanal pins hopes on The Boat That Rocked

by Fabien Lemercier

06/05/2009 - European works dominate the line-up of new releases hitting French theatres today, with three UK features, a Swiss film, an Austrian/Luxembourg co-production, three French titles (including Zabou Breitman’s Someone I Loved [trailer] - see news) and two co-productions between Europe and other continents.

The UK takes pride of place with three films. StudioCanal is launching Richard Curtis’ critically-acclaimed comedy The Boat That Rocked [trailer], starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rhys Ifans.

Pyramide releases Stephan Elliott’s Easy Virtue [trailer] (starring Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth), while UFO Distribution is launching Chris Waitt’s documentary A Complete History of My Sexual Failures [trailer].

Switzerland puts in an appearance with Swiss director Lionel Baier’s much-lauded Another Man [trailer, film focus] (distributed by Epicentre Films).

Also hitting screens is Pol Cruchten’s Austrian/Luxembourg co-production Little Secrets [trailer] (Quinta Communication).

French productions include Hannelore Cayre’s Legal Aid [trailer], featuring Roschdy Zem as a lawyer on a knife-edge (Bac Films); and David Morley’s horror film Mutants, in which Hélène de Fougerolles and Francis Renaud live in a world contaminated by a virus and invaded by bloodthirsty creatures (CTV International).

Further releases are Lucia Puenzo’s Argentinean/French/Spanish co-production The Fish Child [trailer] (MK2 Diffusion); and Igor Minaiev’s Russian/French title Les Clairières de Lune (“Moon Clearings”, Zelig Films Distribution). The rest of the world is represented by US, Japanese and Iranian films.

(Translated from French)