28/08/2007

Gallic titles will take the Lido by storm from tomorrow, with no less than 16 French (co-)productions present in official selection at the 64th Venice Film Festival.

Besides Eric Rohmer’s Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news) and Abdellatif Kechiche’s La graine et le mulet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile] (see article), France will be represented in competition by Egyptian director Youssef Chahine’s film Heya fawda.

A 50% production and executive produced by France’s 3B Productions, the €1.46m title received €300,000 from France 2 Cinéma (half in pre-sales, half in co-production), pre-sales from Canal + and €80,000 from the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) in foreign language film support.

Other titles in the running for the Golden Lion are three minority French co-productions: L’ora di punta [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Italian helmer Vincenzo Marra, starring Fanny Ardant (co-produced by The French Connection, see news), En la ciudad de Sylvia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Spain’s Jose Luis Guerin (see article) and UK director Peter Greenaway’s Nightwatching [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (a minority co-production by Bac Films and the Netherlands/UK/Poland.

Paolo Franchi’s Italian/Swiss feature Nessuna Qualità agli eroi [+see also:
film review
film profile] was wrongly announced as a minority French co-production.

Out of competition, Marco Muller’s Venice programme will present Disengagement [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Amos Gitaï, starring Juliette Binoche, a French majority co-production headed by Agav Films with Germany and Italy (see news), which will be distributed in France by Diaphana.

The line-up also includes Claude Chabrol’s A Girl Cut in Two [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see article), starring Ludivine Sagnier, Benoît Magimel, François Berléand and Mathilda May, a €7.45m Alicéleo production (€1.5m from France 2 Cinéma).

It will be accompanied by three minority co-productions: Manuel de Oliveira’s Cristovão Colombo – O Enigma [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (co-produced by Les Films de l'Après-midi with Portugal, see news), Asif Kapadia’s Far North (a co-production by Le Petit Bureau [+see also:
film review
film profile] with the UK and Norway) and animated film Nocturna [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Adrian Garcia and Victor Maldonado (a minority co-production with Spain via Animakids), which opens in France through Gebeka.

The Horizons Section hosts French productions Damien Odoul’s L'histoire de Richard O. [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), Tonino De Bernardi’s Médée Miracle [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Stella Films jointly produced with Les Films du Camélia and Arte France Cinéma) and With the Girl of Black Soil directed by Korea’s Jeon Soo-Il (co-produced by Chinguitty Films).

Last but not least, documentaries taking part are Arnaud Desplechin’s L'aimée (Why Not Productions and Magica Films) and Philippe Kholy’s Callas Assoluta (a minority co-production from ARTE with Greece).

(Translated from French)