French sellers hit goldmine in Berlin

by Fabien Lemercier

07/02/2007 - French international sales outfits are set to make a clean sweep with 10 of 22 films in competition this year at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, which kicks off tomorrow.

Titles up for grabs include: Olivier Dahan’s La Vie en Rose [trailer] (TF1 International), André Téchiné’s The Witnesses [trailer] (UGC International) and Jacques Rivette’s Don’t Touch the Axe [trailer] (Les Films du Losange).

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However, Celluloid Dreams (see news) will dominate the competition, with three of its titles in the running: François Ozon’s Angel [trailer], Danish helmer Bille August’s Goodbye Bafana [trailer] and Argentinean director Ariel Rotter’s The Other [trailer].

Two other European productions feature in the line-up of France’s Pyramide International. The outfit are handling sales on Sam Garbarski’s Belgian production Irina Palm [trailer, film focus], while Scalpel will look for buyers for In Memory Of Myself [trailer], a film by Italy’s Saverio Constanzo.

Rounding off the Gallic sales force are Rezo Films, with Zhang Lu’s Korean film Desert Dream, and Films Distribution (see article), with Lost in Beijing by China’s Yu Li.

While Wild Bunch have preferred to negotiate deals off the market terrain (see article), this year’s European Film Market will host seven French outfits, each with their own stand at the event: EuropaCorp, UGC, Celluloid Dreams, Films Distribution, Gaumont, StudioCanal (see news) and TF1 International.

Outfits at the Unifrance stand include Bac Films, Gémini Films , Les Films du Losange, M6 DA/SND, Memento, MK2, Onoma, Pathé, Pyramide, Rezo Films, Roissy Films and Wide Management.

Several films will make their international premiere at the market, among which Claude Berri’s Ensemble c'est tout and Franck Mancuso’s Contre-enquête [trailer] (Pathé), Bernard Jeanjean’s J'veux pas que tu t'en ailles and Carine Tardieu’s La tête de maman (UGC International), Magaly Richard Serrano’s Dans les cordes (Pyramide), A casa nostra [trailer] by Italy’s Francesca Comencini (MK2) and Ex Drummer [trailer] by Belgian director Koen Mortier (Wide).

French distributors in search of good buys at the Berlin market include Diaphana, Haut Et Court, Ocean Films, ARP, Metropolitan Filmexport, Pierre Grise Distribution, Equation, Films sans Frontières, Epicentre, CTV International and Ad Vitam.

Television broadcasters Canal + and ARTE will also put in an appearance.

(Translated from French)