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RELEASES France

From Jerusalem to Bamako, from Napoleon to The Queen

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There is a gust of new releases today in French cinemas, which will host 13 features, including eight European productions. Releases include two British films, with Stephen FrearsThe Queen [+see also:
film review
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interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile
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(see Focus) being distributed on 214 screens (Pathé Distribution) and Christopher Smith’s horror film Severance [+see also:
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opening on 172 screens through La Fabrique de Films.

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Also out today is Italian/French co-production N.: Napoleon & Me [+see also:
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by Paolo Virzi (see article), starring Daniel Auteuil and Monica Bellucci, released on 152 screens through Magrytte Films.

In total, three European films are opening on 538 screens, which shows the potential of European films to take over French cinemas.

However, it is French/Greek/UK/Italian/Israeli co-production O Jerusalem [+see also:
trailer
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by Elie Chouraqui that is opening on the most screens (294), released through Haut et Court. An adaptation of the international bestseller by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins published in 1972 (over 30m copies sold), the book describes the consequences of the 1947 division of Palestine.

The feature – produced by Les Films de l’Instant (with France 2 Cinéma, Cinegram, Film 18, Titania Produzioni and GG Studios) – carries a €19.4m budget and stars Saïd Taghmaoui, JJ Field, Patrick Bruel, Maria Papas, Ian Holm and Mel Raido.

Other French films out this week are The Besieged Fortress [+see also:
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by Philippe Calderon and The Court by Abderrahmane Sissako. Calderon’s docudrama on the war between termites and ants in Africa opens in 108 cinemas through TFM Distribution) and was bought for US distribution by The Weinstein Company.

Sissako’s The Court [+see also:
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– screened out of competition at Cannes earlier this year – also looks at the African continent with a simulation of a World Bank and IMF court case set in the courtyard of a Mali house (distribution Les Films du Losange , 70 screens).

Mars Distribution are releasing L'École pour tous [+see also:
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(lit. "School for All") on 180 screens by Eric Rochant, starring Arié Elmaleh, while These Encounters with Theirs [+see also:
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(see article) by Jean-Marie Straub and the late Danielle Huillet is out on three screens (Pierre Grise Distribution).

Three US productions, one Brazilian film, a French/Swiss programme of shorts (Patate, Folimage distribution) and Iranian/French co-production Café Transit by Kambozia Partovi (Colifilms Distribution) complete what is a very diversified week in French cinemas.

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(Translated from French)

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