14/11/2005

Satisfaction at Gaumont on its return from the AFM where the diversity and volume of its line up was noticeable after more discreet recent years. Heading the list of success is La piste (The Trail) by Eric Valli, an adventure film in English and set in southern Africa. Screening its world premiere, the feature from the director of Himalaya, l’enfance d’un chef (Himalaya, childhood of a chief) was very well received in Los Angeles with numerous deals tied up and ongoing negotiations in many other territories. While traditionally holding back the details of sales to distributors, Gaumont is very optimistic about the markets to come at Cannes and Berlin, with trump cards The science of sleep by Michel Gondry with Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg, La doublure (The Valet) by Francis Veber with Gad Elmaleh, Daniel Auteuil, Christine Scott-Thomas and Virginie Ledoyen, as well as Palais royal! directed and interpreted by Valérie Lemercier alsongside Catherine Deneuve and Lambert Wilson (French release 23rd November).

"We are very prudent with promo-reels which have burned certain films recently with 5 minutes directing attention to the good scenes" explains Philippe de Chaisemartin, commercial director of the sales team headed by Franck Chorot. "But the comedies need to be viewed complete, it’s a questions of rhythm. Also, we don’t push pre-sales too hard. As for the AFM, there are a few faults. Firstly, the mix of buyers and sellers of films destined for the cinema and those targeting video and TV. More and more the "direct to video" pollutes the market since they benefit from big screen projection which are limited. And the connection between the AFM and the AFI remains completely imaginary for geographical reasons and a reciprocal ignorance by the organisations. Finally, for lots of buyers, there were very few interesting films available this year at the AFM: they were all at Toronto. The paying publics at Toronto and Berlin are very precious to buyers. Even if there are too many markets, it’s still important to go where the buyers go".

(Translated from French)