11/07/2006

With the Netherlands’ Nanouk Leopold, Belgium’s Joachim Lafosse and France’s Arnaud des Pallières and Nicolas Klotz, French sales company Films Distribution has added to its line-up four films by promising European directors, which are currently in post-production.

After her highly acclaimed Guernsey [+see also:
trailer
film profile], screened in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2005, Leopold has made Wolfsbergen, starring Jan Decleir, Fedja van Huêt and Tamar van den Dop. The film is about the adventures a man who cannot come to terms with the death of his wife and who sends a suicide note to his children and grandchildren, a cry for help that goes unheard since everyone seems to be far too busy with their own lives to have time to react.

Produced by Dutch outfit Circe Films and co-produced by the Belgium’s Cosmo Kino (20%), Wolfsbergen received €210,000 in backing from Eurimages and support from the Netherlands Film Fund, the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF), CoBo, the Dutch Cultural Broadcasting Fund and Dutch public television broadcaster VPRO.

Films Distribution also expects to do good international sales with Private Property [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Belgian director Joachim Lafosse, starring Isabelle Huppert and brothers Jérémie et Yannick Régnier (see interview with director and news).

Produced by Belgian outfit Tarantula, the film is a co-production with France’s Mact Productions (Martine De Clermont-Tonnerre) and was funded by La Communauté Française de Belgique and Wallimage.

Meanwhile, two literary adaptations from French directors are on the line-up at the French sales outfit. The first, the second feature by Arnaud des Pallières Le Parc, inspired by a novel by US writer John Cheever (see news). Starring Sergi Lopez and Jean-Marc Barr, the film is being produced by Les Films d'Ici and was co-funded by MEDIA Development, as well as receiving advances on receipts from the CNC.

The second literary adaptation is Nicolas Klotz’s La question humaine (lit. “The Human Question”), based on the famous novel by François Emmanuel. The new film from the director – whose previous feature The Wound [+see also:
trailer
film profile] was presented in the 2004 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight – will star Mathieu Amalric (2005 César for Best Actor), Michael Lonsdale and Jean-Pierre Kalfon and explores the totalitarian universe of large corporations (see article).

Produced by Sophie Dulac Productions, the film received backing of €328,000 from the Ile de France region and €450,000 in advances on receipts from the CNC.

(Translated from French)