24 French (co-)productions showing in San Sebastian

by Fabien Lemercier

21/09/2012 - French cinema is out in force at the 60th San Sebastian Film Festival starting today, as it has selected 24 French (co-)productions to screen in its various sections. Seven features involving France are notably in the competition, including four majority co-productions unveiled in Toronto: Laurent Cantet’s Foxfire [trailer, film focus] (photo - read the review - sales: Memento - to be released in France by Haut et Court on January 9, 2013), François Ozon’s In the House [trailer] (read more - sales: Wild Bunch – Mars Distribution on October 10), Costa Gavras’s Capital [trailer] (read more - sales: Elle Driver– to be released on November 14) and Ziad Doueiri’s The Attack [trailer] (read more - sales and distribution in France: Wild Bunch).

Three majority co-productions with Spain also stand out in the race for the Concha de Oro (to be handed out by a jury including Mia Hansen-Love), including two by Parisian outfit Noodles Production: Javier Rebollo’s The Dead Man and Being Happy (sold by Urban Distribution International and acquired for France by Bodega Films) and Pablo Berger’s Snow White (distribution in France by Sophie Dulac). The third is Fernando Trueba’s The Artist and the Model [trailer], co-produced by Bonne Pioche and starring Jean Rochefort to a script co-written by Jean-Claude Carrière.

Four other films sold by French agencies are also competing. Austrian director Barbara Albert’s The Dead and the Living [trailer, film focus] is sold by Films Distribution and Argentinian director Carlos Sorin’s Gone Fishing is sold by Celluloid Dreams, while Italian director Sergio Castellitto’s Twice Born and Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi’s Rhino Season are both sold by Wild Bunch.

The New Directors section will include Jean-Christophe Dessaint’s Day of the Crows(sales: Le Pacte), an animation film co-produced by France, Luxembourg, Canada, and Belgium, as well as French minority co-production Rocker by Romanian director Marian Crisan (co-production: Slot Machine – sales Les Films du Losange).

The following titles shine in the Zabaltegui Pearls programme: Michael Haneke’s Palme d’or winner Love [trailer, film focus], Olivier Assayas’s Venice awardee Something in the Air [trailer, film focus], and a co-production by English director Ken Loach, The Angels’ Share [trailer, film focus]. The Zabaltegui Specials programme is to feature ensemble film Seven Days in Havana [trailer] and minority co-production Opération E by Spanish director Miguel Courtois.

Christian Vincent’s Haute Cuisine [trailer], Daniel Cohen’s The Chef [trailer], and Paul Lacoste’s documentary Step Up to the Plate will screen in the Culinary Cinema section, as will three co-productions in the Horizontes Latinos programme: Colombian director William Vega’s La Sirga [trailer], Mexican director Carlos Reygadas’ Post Tenebras Lux [trailer], and fellow Mexican Michel Franco’s After Lucia. Three others are to screen in the Made In Spain section (Pablo Trapero’s Elefante Blanco [trailer], Alex de la Iglesia’s As Luck Would Have It [trailer, film focus], and Jaime Rosales’ Dream and Silence [trailer, film focus]).

Finally, Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Deneuve are to travel to San Sebastian this Sunday to present the television version of Valeria Sarmiento’s The Lines of Wellington [trailer, film focus] (which recently competed in Venice).

(Translated from French)