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RELEASES France

Adjani takes her class hostage in Lilienfeld’s Skirt Day

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Unveiled in the Panorama section at the Berlinale and well-received by most French critics, Jean-Paul Lilienfeld’s Skirt Day [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
is being launched today on 53 screens by Rezo Films, who have also sold the film to around 12 territories.

Thanks to the prominence of lead actress Isabelle Adjani and its successful exploration of a topical subject (teaching in difficult suburban schools), this production – originally made for television – arrives on the big screen.

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A teacher tries in vain to command respect, a gun falls out of a pupil’s bag and everything gets out of hand. The teacher takes her class hostage and settles her scores, while the police cordon off the school.

The screenplay attracted Adjani, who has been absent from cinema screens since 2003. She commented: "Besides this teacher character who blows a fuse, I really liked the fact that the film isn’t socially or civically moralising; it doesn’t try to preach or come up with solutions, but just confronts viewers with a harsh reality".

Produced by Mascaret Films, Skirt Day – which received co-production support from Arte France, Fontana and RTBF – last Friday drew the highest audiences figures Arte has seen in 2009.

Other French releases hitting theatres this Wednesday include Sophie FillièresPardon My French (see news - Les Films du Losange); Lucien Jean-Baptiste’s comedy Meet the Elisabethz [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Mars Distribution); Stéphane Arnoux’s Nos désirs font désordre (“Our Messy Desires”, distribution: Les Films à Fleur de Peau); and Laurent Chevallier’s documentary African Experience (distribution: Hévadis Films).

Finally, the following co-productions stand out in the line-up: Tariq Teguia’s Inland [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
(in competition at Venice - Contre-Allée Distribution); and Teona Strugar Mitevska’s I Am from Titov Veles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile
]
, which won acclaim at last year’s Berlin Festival and is being released by Silkroad.

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(Translated from French)

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