10/05/2006

Seven European productions and co-productions from Norway, Germany, the UK and France hit French screens today. Also opening are four titles from the US and one each from Japan and Iran. One week before the first releases of films selected at Cannes, French distributors are also offering audiences three quality films representative of Europe’s cinematic diversity.

Quinta Communications is releasing Chromophobia by British director Martha Fiennes on 85 screens. The film closed the Cannes festival in 2005 (see review) and stars Penelope Cruz, Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Chaplin and Ian Holm.

Meanwhile, Zootrope Films is releasing L'Imposteur by German director Christoph Hochhäusler on 15 screens. The film was also selected last year at Cannes, in Un Certain Regard (critique).

Uno by Norway’s Aksel Hennie was not screened at Cannes but rather in Berlin’s Panorama section. The director’s debut feature, nominated in the Discovery category of the 2005 European Film Awards, will be released by Haut et Court together with La Petite Reine, who bought the film’s rights, on 17 screens.

However, the biggest releases of the week are French productions. The French/British/Luxembourg/Belgian co-production Comme t'y es belle by Lisa Azuelos (news ) will open on 311 screens (distributed by Pan Européenne Distribution), while Les Aiguilles rouges by Jean-François Davy (article) will be released on 380 screens by Carrère Group.

Also of note, French/Palestinian co-production Attente by Rashid Masharawi will open today on eight screens (dist. Eurozoom ).

(Translated from French)