25/04/2007

British-made feature Control [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Dutch director Anton Corbijn will open the 39th Cannes Directors’ Fortnight (May 17-27).

Starring Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Craig Parkinson, Joe Anderson and Alexandra Maria Lara, the black-and-white film on the life and death of Ian Curtis, lead vocalist of legendary 1970s English rock band Joy Division features numerous video clips of U2, Nirvana, New Order, Depeche Mode, Coldplay and the Red Hot Chili Peppers directed by Corbijn, a well-known photographer and fine connoisseur of the music scene – an indispensable background given the film’s storyline.

After a troubled life in which he was devoured by his demons, torn between his life and his family, between his budding fame and his love for another woman, Curtis committed suicide on May 18, 1980 at the age of 23 on the eve of what promised to be a successful US tour.

Produced by Becker Films International, Warner Music UK, IFF/CINV and EM Media, among others, Control was also co-produced by the widow of the singer Deborah Curtis (whose 1995 book Touching From a Distance inspired Matt Greenhalgh’s script) and by Tony Wilson, founder of the Factory Records label (lead in Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

Control is being sold internationally by Becker International and will be distributed in the UK by Momentum Pictures, in the Netherlands by Paradiso, and in France on September 26 by La Fabrique de Films.

Control is the latest addition to the provisional programme of the 2007 Directors’ Fortnight, which already includes Après Lui [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by French helmer Gaël Morel (see news).

The full programme will be unveiled on May 3.

(Translated from French)