9 French outsiders against Harry Potter

by Fabien Lemercier

30/11/2005 - The arrival in force in the French theatres of the American-British co-production Harry Potter and the goblet of fire by Mike Newell, distributed by Warner (950 copies), leaves little space for other productions starting their career in the French cinemas. However, nine French productions will attempt to find a public in the sub programming in the wake of well-known well-known filmmakers such as François Ozon, Jan Kounen and Bosnian Danis Tanovic.

Released by Mars Distribution with a total of 126 prints, Time to Leave [trailer] by François Ozon with Melvil Poupaud, Jeanne Moreau and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi plays the dramatic card while Foon directed and acted by Les Quiches bets on comedy with 130 prints from Pyramide. For its part, the cursed film of the large festivals for the year 2005, the European co-production The Hell [trailer] by Danis Tanovic with a cast of Emmanuelle Béart, Karin Viard, Marie Gillain and Guillaume Canet comes out with 97 prints (Diaphana Distribution).

But the curiosity of cinephiles will also turn this week towards documentary, which presents two its gems which were highly appreciated at the Cannes Festival. Darshan by Jan Kounen who follows the extraordinary personality of Amma, considered a saint in India (read the interview by producer Manuel de la Roche) has 10 prints distributed by Océan Films, while the Israeli-French co-production Pour un seul de mes deux yeux by Avi Mograbi and its original view of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict has 25 prints from Les Films du Losange. Also out this Wednesday, three ultra-confidential releases of French films (1805 by Jan Belletti, Rollow by Emmanuelle Antille and Serge Lifar Musagete by Dominique Delouche), and the more controversial The wayward clouds by Taiwan Tsai Ming-Liang, a production by French outfit Arena Films in co-production with Arte France Cinéma, distributed on 25 prints by Pan Européenne Distribution.

(Translated from French)