32 French films showcased in 11 UK cities

by Fabien Lemercier

11/11/2011 - Having opened on Wednesday with Jean-Pierre Améris’s Romantics Anonymous [trailer], which will be launched in UK theatres on December 1 by Picture House Entertainment, the 19th French Film Festival UK will run until December 6 in 11 UK cities (London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Warwick, Dundee, Inverness, Stirling, Dumfries, Bo’ness and Manchester) with a line-up of 32 films and a delegation led by Daniel Auteuil and Christophe Honoré.

Other avant-premieres include Alix Delaporte’s Angèle and Tony [trailer] (to be released in the UK on March 11, 2012 through Peccadillo Pictures); directorial trio Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel and Bruno Romy’s The Fairy [trailer, film focus] (to be released by Verve Pictures in early 2012); and Daniel Auteuil’s The Well Digger’s Daughter [trailer] (Pathé UK on December 9).

Highlights among the 11 titles in the Panorama section include Alain Cavalier’s former Cannes contender Pater [trailer, film focus] and four other titles unveiled on the Croisette: Christophe Honoré’s moving Beloved [trailer, film focus], Xavier Durringer’s political flick The Conquest [trailer], André Téchiné’s elegant Unforgivable [trailer], Bouli Lanners’s sensitive The Giants [trailer, film focus] and Michel Leclerc’s original The Names of Love [trailer]. Also in the line-up is Philippe Le Guay’s box-office hit Service Entrance [trailer].

The Discovery section will unspool Philippe Claudel’s romantic and warm-hearted All the Suns [trailer], directorial duo Fred Kihn and Olivier Babinet’s offbeat Robert Mitchum Is Dead [trailer] and Angelo Cianci’s Top Floor Left Wing (FIPRESCI Prize in the Berlinale Panorama). The animation section will screen Zep’s highly amusing Titeuf, The Film [trailer] and Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli’s aesthetically pleasing A Cat in Paris [trailer]. Finally, the documentary line-up includes, among others, Jacques Perrin’s Oceans [trailer] and a Focus will be dedicated to Christophe Honoré.

In 2010, 48 French films were distributed in the United Kingdom, generating €15.5m in box-office takings (2.56m admissions) despite a limited number of prints (343). So far this year, the best results have been for François Ozon’s Potiche [trailer] (150,000 admissions), Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s Sarah’s Key [trailer] and Guillaume Canet’s Little White Lies [trailer].

(Translated from French)