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BERLINALE 2017 France

12 French (co-)productions headed for the Panorama

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- The section of the Berlinale will present 8 French fictions and 4 French documentaries, including films by Merzak Allouache, Marie Dumora, Hicham Lasri and Raoul Peck

12 French (co-)productions headed for the Panorama
Call Me by Your Name by Luca Guadagnino

While a great many French producers and filmmakers are obviously setting their sights on the Cannes Film Festival in spring (which risks a huge log jam that will inevitably cause some disappointments when it comes to selection time), France will nevertheless be very well represented on the line-up of the Panorama section of the 67th Berlin Film Festival (9-19 February 2017). Indeed, 12 feature films produced or co-produced by French companies are set to be showcased, including eight fiction titles and four documentaries.

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The Panorama will be opened by The Wound [+see also:
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by John Trengove. Co-produced by Pyramide Productions with South Africa, Germany and the Netherlands, the film, which is being sold by Pyramide International and will be out in French theatres on 19 April, has just been world-premiered at Sundance, in the World Cinema Dramatic section.

Another French co-production will be rocking up in Berlin fresh from Park City, where it was unveiled in the Premieres section: Call Me by Your Name [+see also:
film review
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Q&A: Luca Guadagnino
film profile
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by Italy’s Luca Guadagnino, which was co-produced by La Cinéfacture and is being sold by Memento Films International.

Also on the line-up is Headbang Lullaby [+see also:
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by Hicham Lasri. Depicting a highly unusual day in the life of an incompetent police officer dispatched to keep watch on a bridge separating two rival neighbourhoods, the feature was co-produced by Les Films de l'Heure bleue together with Morocco, Qatar and Lebanon, and enjoyed backing from such sources as the Brittany region and the CNC, via its World Cinema Support and music support.

Another title that received World Cinema Support from the CNC is Centaur [+see also:
film review
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film profile
]
by Aktan Arym Kubat, which was co-produced for France by ASAP Films together with Kyrgyzstan, Germany and the Netherlands. Its French distribution will be handled by Epicentre.

The CNC also granted its World Cinema Support to the majority French production Ciao Ciao [+see also:
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by Song Chuan, produced by Paris-based outfit Zorba Production and co-produced by China. The film, featuring a score composed by Jean-Christophe Onno, was selected at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation Atelier.

Three other movies accepted into the Panorama are Insyriated [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philippe Van Leeuw
film profile
]
by Philippe Van Leeuw (co-produced by Liaison Cinématographique with Belgium and Lebanon), Requiem for Mrs J [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bojan Vuletić
film profile
]
by Bojan Vuletic (co-produced by Surprise Alley with Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Russia) and Pendular [+see also:
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by Julia Murat (co-produced by Still Moving with Brazil and Argentina).

Meanwhile, Panorama Dokumente includes four French productions, including Belinda by Marie Dumora (who won an award at Cinéma du Réel with La Place in 2010), which will open the section. Produced by Gloria Films Production, co-produced by Les Films d'Ici, Quark Productions and Digital District, and supported by the CNC’s advance on receipts, the film revolves around a young woman waiting for her partner to be released from prison, as she wishes to marry him in the town hall, which will not be an easy feat.

Also set to be unveiled as a world premiere is Ghost Hunting [+see also:
film review
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by Raed Andoni, produced by Les Films de Zayna, co-produced by Rouge International and backed by Arte France, with Palestine, Switzerland and Qatar.

Revealed yesterday at FIPA, Investigating Paradise [+see also:
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by Merzak Allouache also has a spot in the showcase. This time, the filmmaker, well known for his works of fiction (Adventures of a Hero, in the Berlinale Forum in 1979; Un amour à Paris, which won the Perspectives du Cinéma Français Award at Cannes in 1987; Bab El Oued City, in Un Certain Regard in 1994; Harragas [+see also:
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, in the 2009 Venice Days; The Repentant [+see also:
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interview: Merzak Allouache
film profile
]
, in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2012; and The Rooftops [+see also:
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interview: Merzak Allouache
film profile
]
, in competition at Venice in 2013) has made a documentary centring on a young journalist in Algeria investigating the idea of paradise presented by Salafist preachers in countless videos circulating on the internet, intended purely as propaganda... The film was produced by Algeria together with Paris-based outfit Les Asphofilms.

Last but not least, the Panorama Dokumente section will screen I Am Not Your Negro [+see also:
film review
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film profile
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by Raoul Peck, unveiled at Toronto and currently basking in the glow of its recent nomination for the Oscar for Best Documentary. Produced by Velvet Films together with the USA, Belgium and Switzerland, the film is being sold overseas by Wide House.

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(Translated from French)

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