Three days of cinema for €3 in Paris

by Fabien Lemercier

18/08/2006 - The "3 jours 3 euros" event, organised for the fifth consecutive year by the Paris city council in partnership with the National Federation of French Cinemas (FNCF), will kick off this Sunday. From August 20-22 all screenings in the 376 Parisian theatres will cost only €3.

The initiative, aimed at increasing cinema attendance during the traditionally slack end of August period, attracted 275,000 filmgoers in 2005 and this year, French films are expected to do very well.

After a three-week lull and only a few French productions released at a time, including the excellent The Page Turner [trailer, film focus] released on August 9 by Diaphana Distribution (see Focus), French cinema has got back into its stride with the release of three features last Wednesday.

And what better film to awake from summer slumber than Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep [trailer], starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat and Miou Miou.

Winner of the 2005 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the director has had recent success with The Science of Sleep (a Partizan Films production, co-produced by Gaumont and France 3 Cinéma), which was screened in official selection out of competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Sold internationally and distributed in France by Gaumont Columbia TriStar, the French title was released in the UK on July 28 and will open in Belgium on August 23, Germany on October 26 and the Netherlands on November 23. Alta Films has acquired rights for the film in Spain and Mikado in Italy.

Other new releases in France include the 2006 Directors’ Fortnight title On Fire [trailer] by Claire Simon, starring Gilbert Melki and distributed by Shellac, and Handy Man by Michel Leclerc, starring Kad Merad, Elsa Zylberstein, Claude Brasseur and Patrick Chesnais and distributed by Pyramide.

(Translated from French)