29/06/2007

The 42nd Karlovy Vary Film Festival, which opens today and runs until July 7, is an excellent opportunity for French cinema to showcase its quality, density and internationalisation, with no fewer than 31 domestic productions and co-productions featuring at the Czech event.

Among the titles vying for the Crystal Globe in official competition are Jean Becker’s Conversation With My Gardener [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), starring Daniel Auteuil and Jean Pierre Darroussin, which is currently doing very well at the box office with almost 800,000 admissions in three weeks. Other films up for the Globe include Saturno contro by Italian-Turkish director Ferzan Ozpetek, a 20% co-production by France, and Anne Feinsilber’s documentary Requiem for Billy the Kid [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

The festival’s packed line-up is also offering Cannes winner Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see article) in the Open Eyes section, as well as a slew of majority French productions in the Horizons section: Roschdy Zem’s Bad Faith [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), Pascale Ferran’s multi-award winning Lady Chatterley [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see news), Raphaël Nadjari’s Cannes title Tehilim [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see article), Jean Pierre Darroussin’s Premonition [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see news), François Ozon’s Angel [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see interview), Hou Hsiao Hsien’s The Flight of the Red Balloon [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (news), Private Fears in Public Places [+see also:
trailer
film profile] byAlain Resnais (see interview), and Emanuele Crialese’s Italian co-production The Golden Door [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandre Mallet-Guy
interview: Charlotte Gainsbourg
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Fabrizio Mosca
film profile] (see Focus).

The Variety Critic's Choice features Alanté Kavaïté’s Fissures [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see interview), while the Another View category is hosting Laurent Salgues’ Rêve de poussière and Laurent Achard’s Demented [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominique Barneaud
interview: Laurent Achard
film profile] (see Focus).

French involvement in international quality productions is strongly on show in the selection of 16 minority co-productions in the different festival sections, films by Daniele Luchetti (My Brother is an Only Child [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniele Luchetti
interview: Riccardo Tozzi
film profile], see article), Sam Garbarski (Irina Palm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sam Garbarski
interview: Sébastien Delloye
film profile], see Focus), Jeanne Waltz (A Parting Shot, see interview), Jean-Stéphane Bron (My Brother is Getting Married [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean-Stéphane Bron
interview: Thierry Spicher
film profile], see Focus), Joachim Lafosse, Javier Rebollo (Lola [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Koen Mortier, Manoel de Oliveira, Naomi Kawase, David Lynch, Hal Hartley, Harmony Korine, Ariel Rotter, Eran Kolirin, Tom Kalin and Diego Lerman.

(Translated from French)