Flurry of premières at Paris Cinéma

by Fabien Lemercier

15/06/2009 - Austrian director Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winner The White Ribbon [trailer, film focus] and Cannes Jury Prize-winner Fish Tank [trailer, film focus] by the UK’s Andrea Arnold (see interview) shine among the 30 avant-premières showing out of competition at the 7th Paris Cinéma (July 2-14).

Unveiled last Friday, the line-up for the event presided by Charlotte Rampling includes other titles fresh from the Croisette. These are Palestinian director Elia Suleiman’s French/Belgian co-production The Time that Remains [trailer], Father of My Children [trailer, film focus] by France’s Mia Hansen-Løve, Alain Cavalier’s Irene [trailer], Axelle Ropert’s The Wolberg Family [trailer], Alain Guiraudie’s The King of Escape [trailer], Lisandro Alonso’s European co-production Liverpool and Hippolyte Girardot and Nobuhiro Suwa’s Yuki and Nina [trailer].

The rich 2009 programme will also enable Parisian cinemagoers to discover Austrian director Wolfgang Murnberger’s The Bone Man, Roberto Castón’s Spanish feature Ander [trailer], Belgian filmmaker Micha Wald’s Simon Koniansky, Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl [trailer] by Portugal’s Manoel de Oliviera, Semih Kaplanoglu’s Turkish/German/French co-production Milk [trailer] and UK director Stephen Daldry’s The Reader [trailer].

French productions also put in an appearance with Christian Carion’s Farewell [trailer], Bruno Podalydès’ Bancs Publics (Versailles Rive Droite) [trailer] (“Public Benches, Versailles Right Bank”), Claude Miller’s documentary Marching Band, Jean-Jacques Zilbermann’s He Is My Girl, Gabriel Julien-La Ferrière’s Neuilly sa mère (“Neuilly Her Mother”) and Ivan Calbérac’s Alternate Weeks (and Half the Vacation).

Twelve features will screen in competition, including French director Emmanuel Salinger’s La Grande Vie (“The High Life”), Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy’s UK/Irish co-production Helen, Calimucho by Holland’s Eugenie Jansen, Alexis Dos Santos’ UK production Unmade Beds [trailer], Puccini and the Girl by Italian duo Paola Baroni and Paolo Benvenuti, and Eran Merav’s Israeli/French co-production Zion and His Brother [trailer].

Paris Cinéma will this year pay homage to Claudia Cardinale, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Tsaï Ming-liang, producer Lluis Miñarro (Eddie Saeta Production) and Turkish cinema.

A new addition is the Nuit du Cinéma (“Cinema Night”), to be held on Saturday, July 4. There will also be the usual Paris CinéMômes section for younger viewers and the Paris Project co-production platform (June 6-9).

(Translated from French)