18/07/2006

Fragments sur la grâce (lit. “Passages on Grace”) by Vincent Dieutre (see news) will open the competition section Filmmakers of the Present at the 59th Locarno International Film Festival (August 2-12).

Also lined-up in the section are two French features by young directors: The Year After [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Isabelle Czajka and Take This Waltz [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Florence Colombani.

Starring Ariane Ascaride, Anaïs Demoustier and Patrick Catalifo and directed by Isabelle Czajka, The Year After (see news) was produced by PickPocket Productions. Its €1.76m budget included a €450,000 advance on receipts from the CNC, pre-sales from TPS, backing from the Fondation Gan pour le cinéma, as well as funding from France’s Centre (€146,000) and Picardy regions.

International sales are being handled by Films Distribution and the feature is to be released in France in 2007 by Ad Vitam.

Meanwhile, Colombani’s French/Portuguese co-production Take This Waltz, produced by Paulo Branco, stars Sarah Pratt and Clément Sibony. Made on a €1.6m budget, the film was produced by France’s Gémini Films (80%), in co-production with Portuguese outfit Clap Filmes (20%), and was backed by Arte France Cinéma (€400,000).

Gémini, who are also handling international sales, will release Take This Waltz in French theatres in January 2007.

Other highlights in the Filmmakers of the Present section is the French/Lebanese co-production Le dernier homme (lit. “The Last Man”) by Ghassan Salhab, produced and sold by Agat Films & Cie.

Out of competition screenings include two titles by Arnaud Pasquier, the feature film Celui qui aime a raison (lit. “He Who Loves Is Right”) and the medium-length Il faut aimer son prochain (lit. “Love Thy Neighbour”), along with Jour après jour (lit. “Day After Day”), made in memory of the late Jean-Daniel Pollet and directed by Jean-Paul Fargier.

The film was produced by Ex Nihilo on a €350,000 budget that included an advance of receipts from the CNC. International sales are being handled by Pierre Grise Distribution .

Lastly, the section also features the documentaries La consultation by Hélène de Crécy (an Arturo Mio production) and No Body is Perfect by Raphaël Sibilla (Avalanche Productions, sales by Wild Bunch).

French international buyers Wild Bunch and Celluloid Dreams will be paying particular attention to the Piazza Grande screenings of their respective Nomad by Sergej Bodrov and Austrian horror film Dead in Three Days by Andreas Prochaska.

Meanwhile, the Locarno Festival has decided to award this year’s Raimondo Rezzonico Prize for Best Independent Producer to the producers at Agat Films & Cie/Ex Nihilo (Robert Guédiguian, Patrick Sobelman, Nicolas Blanc and Blanche Guichou), while actress Emmanuelle Devos will be part of the International Competition jury and producer Christian Baute (Celluloid Dreams) will sit on the First Film jury.

(Translated from French)