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FESTIVALS France

Château-Rouge Production bound for Venice and San Sebastian

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Château-Rouge Production has made a successful start in feature production, as the young outfit’s efforts have been rewarded with the official competition selection at the Venice Film Festival (August 29-September 8) of its co-production En la ciudad de Sylvia [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Spanish director José Luis Guerin.

The outfit, helmed by Sébastien de Fonseca, Cédric Walter and Gaëlle Jones, doubles its chances of winning with the selection of L'homme qui marche by Aurélia Georges in the Zabaltegi (New Directors) sidebar at the 55th San Sebastian Film Festival (September 20-29).

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The €1.36m French (25%)/Spanish co-production (Eddie Saeta) marks the feature-length debut by talented documentary maker Guerin and was shot in French during the summer of 2006 in Strasbourg.

Starring Pilar Lopez De Ayala and Xavier Lafitte (Patrice Chéreau’s Gabrielle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), the film received CNC advances on receipts and was backed by the Alsace region and the city of Strasbourg.

"Getting financing for the co-production went very quickly. Gaëlle Jones had Catalan connections as she had distributed Marc Recha’s feature debut and knew José Luis Guerin personally, who contacted Château-Rouge when he launched his feature project. We had the script in March 2006 and filming took place in July/August. Shellac will handle French release at a date yet to be fixed,” said Walter.

International rights are expected to be picked up by a French agent before the Venice festival kicks off.

Georges’ debut feature L' homme qui marche, which is heading to San Sebastian, stars Cesar Sarachu, John Arnold, Judith Henry, Mireille Perrier and Florence Loiret-Caille.

Written by the director and Élodie Monliber, the film recounts the life of a Russian writer exiled in Paris, from the 1970s to the late 1990s. The title’s DoP is Hélène Louvart. The €1.16m production was funded by CNC advances on receipts (€450,000), the Centre region and Sofica Arte Cofinova (€135,000).

International sales are being managed by Rendez-Vous Pictures, while Shellac will handle its French theatrical release on January 9.

Château-Rouge Production isn’t happy to stop there though. It is also presenting Éric Forestier’s La troisième partie du monde (see article), starring Gaspard Ulliel, Clémence Poésy, Eric Ruf and Italian actress Maya Sansa. The feature debut wrapped up shooting mid-August and features in the line-up of Films Distribution.

The outfit will also be busy in October, when lensing begins on Emmanuel Parraud’s Avant poste (see news).

"We are producing auteur films, with young directors,” says Walter. "We’re taking lots of risks because right now it’s not on the market that we’re going to find financing. Canal +, for example, buys only four or five films a year like ours and we still don’t belong to their favourites. But now we’re hoping that the commercialisation of films will make a comeback so that we can continue to produce the films we like."

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(Translated from French)

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