18/07/2012 - The film awarded at Locarno 2011 is finally out in French cinemas, as are A.C.A.B. (All Cops Are Bastards), Laurence Anyways, and Bowling

Contrary to a serious lack of film releases in some other European countries this summer, in France they continue to be diverse and aplenty. Eleven new films out in cinemas this Wednesday. The most notable among these is Back to Stay [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milagros Mumenthaler
film profile] by Milagros Mumenthaler, a film that won in Locarno last year and has been praised by French critics. It is co-produced by Switzerland, Argentina, and the Netherlands, and has been released in France by Happiness Distribution on 15 copies.

There have also been good reviews for the caustic A.C.A.B (All Cops Are Bastards) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stefano Sollima
film profile] by Italian filmmaker Stefano Sollima, distributed by Bellissima Films on 34 copies, and the critics have defended Canadian-French co-production Laurence Anyways [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by the very young and very ambitious Xavier Dolan, a film discovered at the Certain Regard in Cannes this year (review - MK2 Diffusion in 74 cinemas) and for which Suzanne Clément won an acting award. Finally, another co-production of note is also out: Found Memories [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Julie Murat, co-produced by Brazil, Argentina, and France (distribution: Bodega Films in 5 cinemas).

This week’s 100% French productions are comedies, and include a fight against the closure of a maternity ward in Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar’s Bowling [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (read more - Pathé Films in 433 cinemas) and the misadventures of Alice Taglioni as a Woody Allen fan in Sophie Lellouche ’s Paris-Manhattan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (review - distribution: SND in 263 cinemas).

Despite American animation blockbuster Ice Age 4 still massively dominating the box office (4 million admissions in 19 days), results are also good for French comedies Happiness Never Comes Alone [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by James Huth (1.1 million admissions in almost three weeks) and Granny’s Funeral [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Bruno Podalydès (489,000 admissions in three weeks). English director Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ken Loach
film profile] has done extremely well with 385,000 admissions in 19 days (results only dropped by 18% during the third week), as has Frank Gastambide’s brilliantly funny Porn in the Hood, a comedy that attracted 352,000 cinema-goers in five days with a very high average per copy.

(Translated from French)