Three generations of French filmmakers

by Fabien Lemercier

17/05/2006 - A large generation gap between directors Nicole Garcia and Xavier Giannoli, who will represent France alongside Bruno Dumont (48, see article) is present in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off today.

While actress/director Garcia has just turned 60, Giannoli is only 34. Selected for the second time in official competition after The Adversary, Garcia will present Charlie Says [trailer] (see article), her fifth feature, with a star-studded cast that includes Benoît Magimel, Vincent Lindon, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Benoît Poelvoorde and Finnish actress Minna Haapkyla.

Produced by Les Productions du Trésor for €7.8m, the film also received an advance of receipts from the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), as well as €1.5m from France 3 Cinéma. Jacques Fieschi, who wrote the film with the director and Frédéric Bélier-Garcia, will also present his directorial debut, French California [trailer], in Un Certain Regard.

Meanwhile, Giannoli is returning to Cannes, where he won the Golden Palm for Best Short in 1998 for L’interview. Much acclaimed for is debut feature Eager Bodies in 2003, the filmmaker had less success last year with Only the Night [trailer].

He is now making his début in official competition with The Singer [trailer] (see article) and is expecting good things from Gérard Depardieu (Best Actor Award winner at Cannes in 1990 for Cyrano de Bergerac) and Cécile de France.

The €7.31m film included an advance of receipts from the CNC, €800,000 from France 3 Cinéma (including €400,000 for co-production) and a pre-sales agreement from Canal Plus. Produced by Edouard Weil (Rectangle Productions) and Luc Besson (EuropaCorp, who will handle distribution in France and world sales), the DoP on The Singer, Yorick Le Saux, also worked on Les amitiés maléfiques [trailer] by Emmanuel Bourdieu, which will open Critics’ Week.

(Translated from French)