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MARKET France

Three Berlin winners for Rezo Films

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International sales outfit Rezo Films returned satisfied from the Berlin market, where they achieved excellent results for Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé (lit. "I Am Not There To Be Loved") by Stéphane Brizé, Russian blockbuster Countdown by Evgeni Lavrentiev and animated film La Reine Soleil (lit. "The Sun Queen") by Philippe Leclerc, which is nearing completion.

With three Cesar nominations to its credit -most notably Anne Consigny for Best Actress and Patrick Chesnais for Best Actor- Stéphane Brizé's Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé was sold to the UK (Artificial Eye), Germany (Kool Film), Spain (Alta), Scandinavia (NonStop), Belgium (Victory Films), Switzerland (Xenix Filmdistribution), Serbia and Montenegro (Tuck), Hungary (Mokep, which will release it on Thursday), Canada (Seville), Japan (Cetera), Turkey (Santige), Israel, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and Taiwan.

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"It's a nice surprise, but this kind of film, very French and very well made, has strong export potential," Laurent Danielou (head of international business at Rezo) told Cineuropa. "The film was selected for San Sebastian, but there were very few buyers present. Also, the distributors only began to see it from January on and it only really took off between the Unifrance Cinema Encounters and Berlin. We're off to Russia next week and Los Angeles in April to complete further sales."

Elsewhere, apart from the enormous success for the team of Countdown, which Laurent Danielou says was sold to "100% of available territories ", Rezo Films also pulled off excellent pre-sales for La Reine Soleil, adapted from the novel by Christian Jacq (the most read French writer worldwide), which is a majority French co-production with Belgium and Hungary (see news). Philippe Leclerc's film will be released in February 2007 and was pre-acquired by Belgium (Cinéart-Cinélibre), Italy (RAI), Greece (Odeon S.A. ), Portugal (Pris Video), Scandinavia (Scanbox Entertainment), Switzerland (JMH Distribution), Russia (Paradise), Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro (Tuck), Turkey, Brazil, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand, while negotiations are at an advanced stage for Germany and Spain.

It is also worth mentioning that the film currently being prepped by Eric Rohmer, Les Amours d¹Astrée et Céladon (lit. "Astrée and Céladon's Lovers"), was pre-acquired by Italy BIM Distribuzione, Spain (Alta) and the UK (Artificial Eye).

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(Translated from French)

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