30/08/2011

As the 68th Venice International Film Festival opens tomorrow, French cinema has three hopefuls in the race for the Golden Lion which it hasn’t won since 1993 for a production (Blue by Poland’s Krzystof Kieslowski) and since 1987 for a local director (Louis Malle with Au Revoir Les Enfants).

The competition includes, as expected (see news), Roman Polanski’s Carnage [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Philippe Garrel’s That Summer [+see also:
trailer
interview: Philippe Garrel
film profile] and Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s Chicken With Plums [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Also in the line-up is Swedish helmer Tomas Alfredson’s Brit feature Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see news), which was generously financed by StudioCanal; and Emanuele Crialese’s French/Italian title Terraferma [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Emanuele Crialese
film profile] (see news).

Highlights out of competition are Philippe Faucon’s A Lost Son [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news – sales: Pyramide); Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou’s documentary The Field of Enchantment [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (production: Thelma films – sales: Wild Bunch); Belgian director Chantal Akerman’s Almayer’s Folly [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news – sales:Doc & Film International); and Spanish helmer Kike Maillo’s minority co-production Eva [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (sales: Wild Bunch).

Finally, standing out in the Horizons section are Philippe Caumon’s The Bird [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news – sales: Les Films du Losange); Marina de Van’s Little Tom Thumb (production: Flach Films – sales: Pyramide); and Yolande Zauberman’s documentary Would You Have Sex with an Arab? (production: Screen Runner – sales: Other Angle Pictures).

French cinema is also strongly represented in Venice Days with Philippe Lioret’s All Our Desires [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news – sales: Other Angle Pictures); Santiago Amigorena’s Another Silence [+see also:
trailer
interview: Santiago Amigorena
film profile] (see news – sales: Celluloid Dreams); Vincent Garenq’s Guilty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vincent Garenq
film profile] (see news – sales: Films Distribution); Chinese director Lou Ye’s Love and Bruises [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lou Ye
film profile] (starring Tahar Rahim – production: Les Films du Lendemain and Why Not Productions – sales: Wild Bunch); and Frederick Wiseman’s French/US documentary Crazy Horse (sales: Celluloid Dreams). Last but not least are the minority co-productions with Belgium (Last Winter [+see also:
trailer
interview: John Shank
film profile] by John Shank – see news); Canada (Café de Flore [+see also:
trailer
interview: Jean-Marc Vallée
film profile] by Jean-Marc Vallée); Israel (Testimony by Shlomi Elkabetz); Brazil (Histórias Que Só Existem Quando Lembradas by Julia Murat – co-production and sales: MPM Film); and Italy (Li and the Poet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Segre
interview: Andrea Segre
film profile] by Andrea Segre – co-produced by Aeternam Films and Arte France Cinéma).

Finally, Venice Critics’ Week has selected Cyril Mennegun’s Louise Wimmer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see news) and Michale Boganim’s Land of Oblivion [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), as well as a co-production with Argentina (El Campo – co-produced by Ciné-Sud Promotion).

(Translated from French)