Archipel 35 shines with Sister

by Fabien Lemercier

20/02/2012 - Great film festivals are happily lining up for Denis Freyd, head of Paris-based production company Archipel 35, who co-produced Sister [trailer, film focus] by Ursula Meier (read the review) equally with Switerland, a film on Saturday night awarded a special mention from the jury at the 62nd Berlinale.

At the last Cannes Film Festival, Archipel 35 had already been rewarded with the Grand Prix for minority production co-production The Kid with a Bike [trailer, film focus] by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. At Cannes, Freyd had also unveiled The Minister [trailer, film focus] by Pierre Schoeller, selected for the Certain Regard section, where it won the Fipresci Award and was named Best French Film of 2011 by the French Critics’ Syndicate, and now nominated 11 times for a French Cesar, notably for best film, best actor, best director, and best original screenplay, awards to be given out next Friday. At Cannes, Archipel 35 also had high hopes for 17 Girls [trailer] by Muriel and Delphine Coulin, selected for Cannes’ Critics’ Week, and since nominated for a 2012 Cesar for best first feature.

Freyd had already co-produced Ursula Meier’s first feature film, Home [trailer, film focus], which premiered at the 2008 Critics’ Week in Cannes, and Sister was supported by an advance from the French Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC). Meier’s Berlinale prize will also effect Memento Films International, who is selling the film abroad, and Diaphana, who will distribute the film in French cinemas on April 18.

Formerly the producer of Saint-Cyr by Patricia Mazuy (in competition at Cannes in 2000) and Bamako [trailer] by Abderrahmane Sissako, Freyd has also co-produced films with Belgium, including the Dardennes brothers’ last four films, as well as two films by Sam Garbarski (Rashevski’s Tango et Quartier Lointain [trailer, film focus]).

This spring, Archipel 35 will start filming Bird People by Pascal Ferran (Lady Chatterley [trailer]).

(Translated from French)