A French army of films in Vienna

by Fabien Lemercier

03/03/2005 - Today in the Austrian capital, the 7th edition of the French- Speaking Film Festival organised at the cinema Votiv by the French Institute in Vienna, is starting. From now on until the 17th of March, 30 features yet unreleased in Austria will be shown. Amongst the selected films, there are 15 French (co)productions, starting with Confidences trop intimes the screening of which is scheduled for the opening night, and will be attended by the director, Patrice Leconte.

Austria has always been very open to French cinema ; in 2004, Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran [trailer] got a 561-thousand euro benefit in Austria, Scarlet Rivers 2 won 372 000 euros, Two Brothers got 362 000 euros, and 5x2 [trailer] earned 312 000 euros. Yet, the Festival helps introducing the films before they start being distributed. This year, the most awaited films are Brodeuses by Eleonore Faucher, Je suis un assassin by Thomas Vincent, Quand la mer monte by Yolande Moreau (coproduced by Belgium), and Jeux d’enfants [trailer] by Yann Samuell. Also to be found on the program : the French/British/Italian coproduction Lila a dit ça by Ziad Doueiri, Folle embellie by Dominique Cabrera, Venus et Fleur by Emmanuel Mouret, and Viva Laldjerie by Nadir Moknèche. Belgian productions, however, won’t stay in the shade. Belgium is represented by 25° en hiver [trailer] by Stéphane Vuillet and La femme de Gilles [trailer] by Frédéric Fonteyne. Switzerland is bringing, amongst other films, Au Sud des nuages by Jean-François Amiguet.

(Translated from French)