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FESTIVALS France

French cinema to take Toronto by storm

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More than 40 French productions and co-productions are lined up for the 31st Toronto Film Festival (September 7-16), a key arena for international sales.

My Best Friend [+see also:
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by Patrice Leconte, starring Daniel Auteuil, and the documentary The White Planet, scripted by Thierry Piantanida, Thierry Ragobert and Jean Lemire, will both have their world premieres at the event.

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Two French titles competing for the Golden Lion at the Lido – Private Fears in Public Places [+see also:
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by Alain Resnais and The Untouchable [+see also:
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by Benoît Jacquot – will add a Venetian flavour to the Canadian event, as will Quelques Jours en Septembre [+see also:
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(lit. "A Few Days in September") by Santiago Amigorena, 7 Years [+see also:
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by Jean-Pascal Hattu, and the co-production The Magic Flute [+see also:
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by UK director Kenneth Branagh.

The Canadian programme also features a screening of the French majority production in official competition at Venice this year, Dry Season [+see also:
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by Chad director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, which was made as part of the Austrian Mozart Visionary Cinema: New Crowned Hope programme to be unveiled in full at Toronto, along with four other French co-productions that include Hamaca Paraguaya by Paz Encina.

Toronto will also host a strong contingent of French films featured at Cannes this year: Days of Glory [+see also:
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interview: Jean Bréhat
interview: Rachid Bouchareb
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by Rachid Bouchareb, Flanders [+see also:
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by Bruno Dumont, Denis Dercourt’s The Page Turner [+see also:
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interview: Denis Dercourt
interview: Michel Saint-Jean
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, Tony Gatlif’s Transylvania [+see also:
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, To Get To Heaven, You Have To Die [+see also:
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by Tadjik director Djamshed Usmonov, The Court [+see also:
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by Abderrahmane Sissako, Nouvelle Chance [+see also:
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by Anne Fontaine, the collective film Paris, Je t'aime and Zidane: Un Portrait du XXIe Siècle (lit. “Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait”) by directing duo Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno.

The Masters category will feature a screening of Robert Guédiguian’s Armenia [+see also:
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, while the Specials Presentations section will give audiences a chance to discover Zabou Breitman’s The Man of My Life [+see also:
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, My Colonel [+see also:
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by Laurent Herbiet, Manuel Pradal’s A Crime and the French/UK co-production Love and Other Disasters by Alek Keshishian and, last but not least, the French/Italian co-production The Golden Door [+see also:
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interview: Alexandre Mallet-Guy
interview: Charlotte Gainsbourg
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Fabrizio Mosca
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by Emanuele Crialese.

Meanwhile, Sheitan [+see also:
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by Kim Chapiron will liven up the Midnight Madness section and Grégoire Solotareff and Serge Elissalde’s animation title U [+see also:
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will feature in the Sprockets Family Zone.

French titles in the Vangards selection include Christian Volckman’s Renaissance [+see also:
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interview: Aton Soumache
interview: Christian Volckman
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and Chacun sa nuit [+see also:
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by Jean-Marc Barr and Pascal Arnold.

Participants in the Real to Reel documentary section are Jérôme Laperrousaz with Made in Jamaica and Nader Takmil Homayoun with Iran: Une Révolution cinématographique.

All that remains are several minority French co-productions in official competition: Pedro Costa’s Colossal Youth [+see also:
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, Nanni Moretti’s The Caiman [+see also:
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interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Nanni Moretti
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, Climates [+see also:
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interview: Zeynep Ozbatur
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by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Taxidermia by György Pálfi, Teresa Villaverde’s Trance [+see also:
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and The Way I Spent the End of the World [+see also:
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by Catalin Mitulescu.

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(Translated from French)

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