email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

RELEASES France

Barbet Schroeder’s Terror’s Advocate enthuses critics

by 

An Un Certain Regard entry at the recent Cannes Film Festival (see article) and without doubt one of the best films presented at the event this year, Barbet Schroeder’s documentary Terror’s Advocate [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
opens today following an enthusiastic reception from French critics.

On release through Les Films du Losange on 51 screens, the film centres on Jacques Vergès, famous for having defended Algerian National Liberation Front terrorists during the war of Algeria and war criminals such as Nazi leader Klaus Barbie. His professional path also crossed that of the Palestinian movement, Carlos, Pol Pot, the Red Army Fraction, the Stasi and others in a fresco that is as fascinating as it is instructive. The documentary also features never-before-seen interviews with Magdalena Kopp, Anis Naccache and Hans-Joachim Klein.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

With a total of five films up against two US titles, French productions are taking the lion’s share of new releases this Wednesday. StudioCanal is releasing Jean Becker’s Conversations with My Gardener [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(see news), starring Daniel Auteuil and Jean-Pierre Darroussin, while Pyramide is distributing Boxes [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Jane Birkin (who also stars alongside Michel Piccoli and Géraldine Chaplin). The Les Films de la Croisade production screened at Cannes as part of one of the festival’s 60th anniversary tributes.

Also out today is Alanté Kavaïté’s original film Fissures [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, featuring Emilie Dequenne, Mathieu Demy and Ludmila Mikaël (see news). The title is being released through Zelig Films Distribution on 16 screens.

CTV International is releasing Tsai Ming-Liang’s I Don't Want to Sleep Alone [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. The title was presented in competition at the 2006 Venice Film Festival (see article) and produced by Soudaine Compagnie (France) and Homegreen Films (Taiwan) in co-production with the 2006 New Crowned Hope Festival (Austria).

This spring box office figures have recorded a drop in admissions, which for 2007 are down 15% compared to the first five months of 2006. French production Claude Berri’s Hunting and Gathering [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
fared well this spring with 2.2m admissions but Cannes entries are getting off to a slow start (Catherine Breillat’s An Old Mistress [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Raphaël Nadjari’s Tehilim [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
and Gaël Morel’s Après lui [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
).

Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Best Director at Cannes, see article), which drew 158,000 filmgoers in 12 days, recorded a 14% fall in admissions in its second week (Pathé, 238 prints), while Christophe Honoré’s Love Songs [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(see news), released by Bac Films, has performed comparably with 155,000 admissions.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy