15/02/2007

The independent distribution company Optimum Releasing, part of StudioCanal+ since May 2006, has just acquired UK distribution rights to four new titles, including French film Frontiers (see article), sold by EuropaCorp.

Directed by Xavier Gens, Frontiers is the story of a group of young criminals who head to the woods in a former mining area after the extreme right make it to the second round of the presidential elections, to a remote cottage whose owners turn out to be particularly vile. The horror film starring Samuel LeBihan and Karina Testa is set to open in France next June.

In the Valley of Elah, sold by Summit Entertainment, is Paul Haggis’ follow-up to the Oscar winning Crash. Currently shooting, the film tells the story of a career officer investigating the disappearance of his son, a soldier who went missing on his way home from Baghdad. The cast includes Charlize Theron, Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon.

US thriller While She Was Out, starring Kim Basinger, follows a suburban housewife who is forced to fend for herself when she becomes stranded in a desolate forest with four murderous thugs. The film was acquired from William Morris. The fourth acquisition is another chiller: Welcome to the Jungle, picked up from US-based Bauer Martinez.

One of Optimum’s most success films in 2006 was Pan’s Labyrinth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which grossed almost £2m. Upcoming releases include Danièle Thompson’s French film Orchestra Seats [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (February 23), Nanni Moretti’s The Caiman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Nanni Moretti
film profile] (April 7), Shane Meadows’ This is England [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (April 27), which screened in Berlin’s Generation 14Plus section, and Patrice Leconte’s My Best Friend [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (May 11).