14/06/2007

Based on an Icelandic poem that says “Man is man’s delight”, You, the Living [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pernilla Sandström
interview: Roy Andersson
film profile] by Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson delighted over 20 world distributors according to Philippe Bober, head of Paris-based sales company The Coproduction Office.

Territories that were won over by Andersson’s portrait of the human condition, unveiled at last month’s Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard, include Belgium (Circuito Cinearte), Bulgaria (Big Bang), the Baltic countries (AS Tallinfilm), Finland (Cinemamondo), France (Les Films du Losange, Arte), Germany (Neue Visionen), Greece (Ama Films), Holland (Filmmuseum), Hungary (Budapest Film), Italy (Lady Film), Japan (Style Jam), Poland (Gutek Film), Romania (Glob Com Media), Russia-CIS (Maywin), Spain (Aquelarre), Switzerland (Look Now!), and the UK (Artificial Eye).

“International distributors welcomed the film with real enthusiasm and lots of laughter,” said Bober, who also co-produced the film. “You, the Living is extraordinary and unique in that it mixes humour with seriousness, which is why it is aimed at a wider audience than Roy’s previous film, Songs from the Second Floor. The message is the same in both films, and although it is not very optimistic, it is very human. As for the form, it is exceptional, very much like Songs… and those who loved it then have been impressed again with this film”.

You, the Living is a European co-production between Sweden (Roy Andersson Filmproduktion), Denmark (Posthust Teatret/Spillefilmkompanet 4 1/2), Germany (Thermidor Filmproduktion) and France (Société Parisienne de Production). It was backed by the three Scandinavian film institutes, Canal +, Eurimages, WDR/Arte, the Nordic Film & TV Fund and Arte France Cinéma.

Andersson and his company Studio 24 in Sweden will release it domestically on September 7. Local distributors in co-production countries Norway and Denmark have yet to be chosen.