12/01/2007

The ninth edition of Unifrance event Rendez-Vous With French Cinema kicks off in Paris today. Regarded as the most important film market of the year, the four-day event will give 350 distributors and 120 foreign journalists from 23 countries an opportunity to discover the most recent French productions and to meet with French actors and directors.

Several eagerly-awaited market screenings feature among the line-up. Gaumont will present Régis Wargnier’s Have Mercy On Us All [+see also:
trailer
film profile], while Studio Canal are offering a wealth of titles, which includes Eric Lartigau’s Rent A Wife [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Pierre Jolivet’s Je crois que je l'aime [+see also:
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film profile], Danse avec lui [+see also:
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film profile] by Valérie Guignabodet, Don’t Worry, I’m Fine [+see also:
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film profile] by Philippe Lioret and Bad Faith [+see also:
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film profile] by Roschdy Zem.

Wild Bunch will present Laurent Tirard’s Molière [+see also:
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film profile] and Pierre Salvadori’s Priceless [+see also:
trailer
film profile], while Pathé has high hopes for Franck Mancuso’s Contre-enquête [+see also:
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film profile] and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s Odette toulemonde [+see also:
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film profile].

TF1 International expect to do good business with Crime Insiders [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Frédéric Schoendoerffer and L'île aux trésors by Alain Berberian, as do Roissy Films with J'attends quelqu'un [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jérôme Bonnell.

Meanwhile, Gémini Films will offer Emmanuelle Cuau’s Très bien merci ! and M6 DA will launch Florent Siri’s L'ennemi intime [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Anne Fassio’s Je déteste les enfants des autres [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Other films lined-up include Tell No One [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Guillaume Canet (EuropaCorp) and Touch Not the Axe! by Jacques Rivette (Films du Losange).

Aside from completed films, the market will also provide an occasion for buyers and sellers to negotiate on features in production or pre-production. Wild Bunch, for example, will present a 45- minute screening of Luc Jacquet’s Renard et de l’enfant and start sales on Claude Chabrol’s La femme coupée en deux.

TF1 International are pre-selling Jean-Paul Salomé’s Les Femmes de l'ombre and Emmanuel Mouret’s Un baiser s’il vous plait, while Studio Canal will present Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Sa majesté Minor.

Other French sales outfits expecting to do good business in Paris this weekend are Films Distribution, Celluloid Dreams, MK2, UGC, Onoma, Memento and Wide.

(Translated from French)