Vendôme: Spotlight on regional support for European cinema

10/12/2007

The 16th edition of the Vendôme Film Festival, dedicated to emerging European cinema and the regional role in film production, closed last night having once again showcased some fine films and proven to be a worthwhile gathering for industry professionals.

Organised by Centre Images, the event paid homage to filmmaker Bertrand Bonello (currently editing De la guerre, see news) and also hosted a French/German Co-production Workshop, led by representatives from Heimat Film, ACE, Canal+ and the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung.

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The Festival’s Panorama section screened Austrian/German co-production The Counterfeiter [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Stefan Ruzowitsky, which won acclaim in competition at the Berlinale and received support from the Filmfonds Wien and Filmförderung Hamburg.

The line-up further included Jar City [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur (prize-winner at Karlovy Vary 2007 and backed by Kvikmyndamidstod Islands) and Mataharis by Spanish director Iciar Bollain (in official competition at San Sebastian and supported by the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha).

The programme also featured avant-premières Counterparts [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by German director Jan Bonny (backed by the Filmstiftung Nord-Rhein Westphalen), unveiled at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2007; and Wolves in the Snow by fellow German director Ann-Kristin Reyels (Fipresci Prize in the Berlinale 2007 Forum section and supported by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg).

Moreover, there were special screenings of Romanian title California Dreamin’ [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Cristian Nemescu (Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes) and the collective Portuguese film L’état du monde (“The State of the World”), also unveiled at Cannes.

Another title of note is the French/Swedish co-production Captain Ahab [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Philippe Ramos (Best Director and Fipresci awards at Locarno 2007), whose production was made possible with support from the Central region, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma and Film i Väst.

The two French regions also backed three other features included in the line-up: Centre Images supported Aurélia Georges’s L’Homme qui marche [+see also:
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film profile] (“The Man Who Walks”, screened at San Sebastian in the Zabaltegi-New Directors section) and Serge Bozon’s France [+see also:
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film profile] (which received additional support from the Ile-de-France Regional Council); while Rhône-Alpes Cinéma co-produced Alain Raoust’s L’été indien (“Indian Summer”).