06/03/2003

Today, 6 March, David Kessler, the MD of France’s National Film Centre (CNC) named the new components of the “Avance sur Recettes” or “Box Office Advance” Commission for a one-year mandate.
Established in 1960, the “Avance sur Recettes” is a special fund that benefits both first films and indies (especially the more courageous and non-mainstream titles that would otherwise struggle to find a distributive niche). In 2003 the Commission will assign a total of Euros24.11m of selective support, this is fully Euros2m more than 2002, and follows last year's record of 650 requests submitted.
Presided over by Jean-Claude Lamy, himself appointed by the French minister for culture, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the “Avances sur Recettes” Commission is composed of two Colleges.
The 1st college will examine first film submissions and is made up of vice-president, Catherine Dussart, a producer with CDP, and film directors Solveig Anspach (Haut les cœurs) and Jean-Pierre Limosin (Novo), actress Ariane Ascaride (Marie-Jo And Her Two Husbands), producers Nathalie Mesuret (Sunday Morning Productions) and Serge Duveau of Persona Films, publisher Manuel Carcassonne, and Jean-Raymond Garcia, the founder of the Centre Val de Loire Region’s Production Workshop.
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The 2nd College is lead by vice-president, Gilles Sandoz, a producer with Maïa Films, and its work consists of helping directors who have made at least one feature film. The components of the 2nd College are actress Fabienne Babe, directors Jeanne Labrune (C'est le bouquet) and Pascal Bonitzer (Petites coupures), producers Anne-Dominique Toussaint (Les Films des Tournelles) and Marc Missonnier (Fidélité Productions), screenwriters Michel Alexandre and Guy Braucourt, who is also a member of the foreign film selection committee at the Cannes Film Festival.

(Translated from French)