08/10/2008

Amidst the avalanche of 15 new releases hitting French screens today are five domestic productions, a Bosnian feature, a UK film, a Spanish Woody Allen title, an Austrian/Luxembourg documentary, two Argentinean titles, three US productions and a French/Indian documentary. But critical enthusiasm has focused in particular on French director Karim Dridi’s Khamsa [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Selected at the Locarno and Toronto film festivals, Khamsa centres on Marco, an 11-year-old boy who is placed for his own protection in a foster family. He runs away and returns to the gypsy camp near Marseilles where he was born.

Dreaming of making his fortune through cock fighting, he gets up to mischief with his childhood friend Coyote and Rachitique, a young Arab from a nearby housing estate. Very quickly, the reckless trio go from petty theft to burglary.

Khamsa was produced by Néon Cinéma for €2.12m. The budget included co-production support from Arte France Cinéma, pre-sales from Canal + and a €430,000 advance on receipts from the National Film Centre (CNC). The film is being released by Rezo on 48 screens.

There has also been an enthusiastic press response for Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (distributed by Warner), which screened out of competition at the latest Cannes Film Festival (see news). This majority Spanish production features local stars Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz.

European production is also set to shine with Bosnian/German/French co-production Snow [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], by Aida Begic. The film – which won the Grand Prize in Cannes Critics’ Week (see news) – is being launched by Pyramide on a 26-print run.

Also hitting screens are James Watkins’ UK horror thriller Eden Lake [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and Thomas Turgoose (La Fabrique de Films - 124 screens); and Udo Maurer’s Austrian/Luxembourg documentary About Water: People and Yellow Cans (ASC Distribution - five screens).

Other French releases include Philippe Garrel’s aesthetically-pleasing Frontier of Dawn [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was unveiled in competition at Cannes (see news - launched by Les Films du Losange on 26 screens); and the humorous documentary Being W. by Karl Zéro and Michel Royer (EuropaCorp Distribution - 18 screens).

Finally, this week’s new releases also include Ariel Rotter’s Argentinean/German co-production The Other [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Tamasa Distribution - 16 screens); French productions Fracassés (“Fragments”) by Franck Llopis (Les Films à Fleur de Peau) and Là-bas, il fait froid (“It’s Cold There”) by Mansur Tural (Arc en ciel Films); and French/Indian documentary The Dance of the Enchantress (Les Films du Paradoxe - six screens).

(Translated from French)