05/10/2012 - The Luxembourg Film Fund has awarded a total of €8,468,890 in its latest round of development and production funding

The Luxembourg Film Fund announced its latest round of funding on October 3, with five projectsreceiving writing and development aid and eight films receiving production support.

Four films received €30,000 in development aid. The production outfit La Fabrique de Films received funding for two comedy cartoon projects: Kokeshi from director Sean McCormack and Zoo Station by Federico Millela. Juliette Films receives backing for the short film The Brownie and the Witch from David Burns and veteran director Andy Bausch also received €30,000 for his latest feature project, Kiss Them Boys Goodbye, which long-time partner Paul Thiltges Distribution will produce.

A €25,000 grant went to another Juliette Films title: You Keep the Cat, a feature project that will be directed by Simon Brook.

By far the biggest chunk of the more-than €8m went to projects in the form of production aid. The biggest single award went to Avant l’hiver, the third feature of French novelist-turned-director Philippe Claudel, which started shooting in the Grand Duchy recently.

The project, starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Daniel Auteuil and Leila Bekhti, is produced by Samsa Films and received €2,237,851.

Another major recipient was the project Burny, le petit dragon, from directorial duo Christian ChoquetEtienne Beguinot, which received €2,034,447 and will be produced by T-Films.

Two international co-productions also received backing: Divin enfant, the latest film of French director Olivier Doran received €1,260,000. Iris Productions will co-produce the project starring Sami Bouajila. The comedy concerns the announcement of a wife to her husband that she's pregnant, which sends him into a rage, as he's sterile.

Austrian director Jessica Hausner (Lourdes [+see also:
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film profile]) has received €997,614 in production aid for her latest project, Amour fou, which Minotaurus film will co-produce, while another Minotaurus title, Fieber from Elki Mikesch, received €300,000.

Belgian director Vincent Lannoo received €1m for his new fiction title Les âmes de papier, which is backed by Samsa Film, while the documentary Black Harvest by Sean Clark and Jean-Louis Schuller was awarded €378,822. The latter will be produced by Antevita Films.