14/07/2005

Two of the five features the French and German film fund selected last Monday, granting a total of €1.1M are majority German productions. Indeed, this selective aid (which comes from a treaty France and Germany signed in 2001) was granted to The Perfume and Échange.

The Perfume is an adaptation by Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run, Heaven) of Patrick Süskind's best-seller (the rights of which were bought by the German producer, Constantin Films, for nearly €10M), but the adventures of the strange little perfumer will not be shot in the medieval streets of Paris described in the novel. The crew, who started working in Munich on the 12th, will then move to Barcelona. The cast of this ambitious project is impressive; it includes Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman (Harry Potter, Die Hard), Rachel Hurd-Wood, and the 24-year-old British shooting-star Ben Whishaw (My Brother Tom, Enduring Love) in the role of Grenouille. Constantin should release the movie in Germany on the 14th of September 2006.

Échange, by Christian Ditter, a co-production involving Christoph Menardi for Neos Film (Germany) and Hector Films (Paris), is about the adventurous Summer of Hendrik, the German guest of a French family. Échange is the 28-year-old director's second feature after Enchanted (2000), which was his graduation work for the Munich Film and TV Academy.

Details of the amounts granted:

The Perfume
Constantin Film Produktion GmbH (60%): 200,000 euros
NEF Produktions S.A., Paris (20%): 60,000 euros

Échange
Neos Film GmbH & Co.KG, Geiselgasteig (79%): 120,000 euros
Hector Films, Paris (21%): 56,000 euros

(Translated from French)