War on the slate at advances on receipts

19/07/2006

Director General of the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) Véronique Cayla last week signed seven advances on receipts agreements proposed by the first commission, headed by producer Marie Masmonteil (Elzevir Films).

Among the feature scripts selected were two titles dealing with war, a theme currently making a popular comeback in films.

Karé Productions is preparing Une simple illusion (lit. “A Simple Illusion”) by Hughes Martin, a story set in Algeria where a unit of French parachutists attempt to find a plane that disappeared in a vast military zone in the middle of the desert.

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When they discover the plane’s wreckage, there are no survivors, only a briefcase with the name Secret-Défense written on it. With two men missing among the dead, the parachutists begin their investigation and get chased down by FLN (National Liberation Front) soldiers. Currently seeking financial backing, the film is expected to start shooting in spring 2007.

Another war story, this time told from a journalist’s perspective, is the central theme in Les zones turquoises (lit. “The Turquoise Zones”) by Jean-Christophe Klotz. Produced by Les Films du Poisson, the debut feature by the documentary maker, who presented Return to Kigali [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week, recounts the misadventures of a young freelance journalist who travels to Rwanda to make a documentary, and in doing so loses all his beliefs. Shooting is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2007.

Other promises of advances on receipts granted by the CNC went to Une épopée (lit. “Epic”) by François Magal (Initial Productions and Saraghina Films), Poussières d’écoles by Malek Bensmaïl (Unlimited), Nuage (lit. “Cloud”) by Sébastien Betbeder (Les Films du Worso), Une nouvelle ère glaciaire (lit. “A New Ice Age”) by Darielle Tillon (Sunday Productions Ltd ) and D’Aruscha à Aruscha by Christophe Gargot (Atopic).