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BERLINALE 2010 Generation / France

Teenager caught between fantasy and reality in Sister Welsh

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A world premiere is lined up for Jean-Claude Janer’s second narrative feature, Sister Welsh, which has been selected for the Generation14plus section at the 60th Berlin Film Festival (February 11-21, 2010).

Starring Anne Brochet (recently seen in The Hedgehog [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Louise Blachère (Water Lilies [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) and Laurent Delbecque (discovered in Park [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), the film will give viewers a chance to savour the originality of the director of Superlove (1999), who also co-wrote Skin of Man, Heart of Beast (Golden Leopard at Locarno in 1999).

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Penned by Janer, in collaboration with Agnès de Sacy and Hélène Angel, Sister Welsh centres on an ordinary 15-year-old Parisian teenager (Blachère). As an escape from reality, she imagines two women (Brochet in both roles), two models with which she tries to identify.

In the 21st century, Catherine is a prosperous businesswoman, who owns around 20 fitness clubs. In 19th-century Plymouth, Sister Welsh is a romantic lover who escapes from an English convent. But in the teenager’s overactive mind, the two women will be involved in a merciless struggle.

Reality and fantasy merge in a hazy world, until a teenage boy (Delbecque) suddenly appears in the young girl’s real life, gradually making the real world seem more attractive than her imagination.

Produced by Caroline Roussel for Arturo Mio and Gilles Sandoz for Maïa Cinéma, Sister Welsh received an advance on receipts from the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC), a pre-sale from TPS Star and backing from Sofica Cofinova and Procirep. Negotiations are well underway for French distribution and international sales.

The Generation 14plus line-up also includes the co-productions The Famous and the Dead [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Esmir Filho and Dooman River by Zhang Lu. Meanwhile, the Generation Kplus section will show Nobuhiro Suwa and Hippolyte Girardot’s Yuki & Nina [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Ounie Lecomte’s A Brand New Life.

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(Translated from French)

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