Bright Future for French films at Rotterdam

by Fabien Lemercier

27/01/2011 - Although there are no French films vying in competition for the Tiger Awards at the 40th Rotterdam International Film Festival which opened yesterday, Gallic productions are well represented in the event’s other sections.

The Bright Future sidebar includes Fabrice Gobert’s playful Lights Out [trailer]; Katell Quillévéré’s promising Love Like Poison [trailer]; Thierry Jousse’s funny and offbeat Je Suis Un No Man's Land [trailer]; Jean-Charles Hue’s astonishing The Lord’s BMW [trailer]; David Dusa’s Flowers of Evil [trailer]; and Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary El Sicario Room 164 [trailer]. Also in the line-up are minority co-productions Illegal [trailer, film focus] by Belgium’s Olivier Masset-Depasse (European Parliament LUX Prize 2010 competition); Adrienn Pal [trailer, film focus] by Hungary’s Agnes Kocsis; Morgen [trailer] by Romania’s Marian Crisan; and Pinoy Sunday by Malaysia’s Wi Ding Ho; as well as Julio Hernández Cordón’s Marimbas from Hell, an equal co-production between France and Mexico.

French productions also make an appearance in the Spectrum section with Mathieu Amalric’s L'Illusion Comique (“The Comic Illusion”, a contemporary adaptation of a Corneille play staged by the Comédie Française); Catherine Breillat’s The Sleeping Beauty; and Otar Iosseliani’s Chantrapas. The programme is also presenting a slew of minority French European co-productions, including King of Devil’s Island [trailer] by Norway’s Marius Holst; Film Socialism [trailer] by Switzerland’s Jean-Luc Godard; Black Ocean [trailer] by Belgium’s Marion Hänsel; Aurora [trailer] by Romania’s Cristi Puiu; The Strange Case of Angelica [trailer] by Portugal’s Manoel de Oliveira; The City Below [trailer, film focus] by Germany’s Christoph Hochhäusler; Our Life [trailer] by Italy’s Daniele Luchetti; and Brit director Sophie Fiennes’s documentary Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow [trailer].

Finally, there is a retrospective of the work of F.J. Ossang (including his latest piece Dharma Guns [trailer]). At the Cinemart co-production market (January 30-February 2), the following films will fly the French flag: Shalimar Preuss’s A Midnight Supper (produced by Ecce Films); Santiago Otheguy’s The Instructor (Argentina/France/Spain); and Adina Pintilie’s Touch Me Not (Romania/France).

(Translated from French)