11/04/2008

Currently in post-production, the television drama Nés en 68 (“Born in 68”), by directorial duo Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, could also be released in theatres in a shortened version.

Starring Laetitia Casta, Yann Tregouet (Lady Jane [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Belgian actor Yannick Renier (Private Property [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Sabrina Seyvecou, Théo Frilet, Kate Moran and Christine Citti, the two 100-minute-long episodes are programmed for the autumn on Arte, and are then expected to be rebroadcast on France 2 in 2009.

However, according to our information, the episodes have also been re-edited into a 170-minute version offered to the selectors of the various Cannes Film Festival sections, in particular the Directors’ Fortnight, which was created following the events of 1968 and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

Co-written by the directors, Catherine Corsini, François Olivier Rousseau and Guillaume Le Touze, Nés en 68 retraces the eventful yet ordinary life of a French family from 1968 to April 2007, set against the backdrop of the political and social events that have marked these two generations and their hopes and illusions. The story begins with a group of friends who are reconsidering their lifestyle and planning to move to the country after the events of May 1968.

The drama also recalls Marco Tullio Giordana’s Italian hit The Best of Youth [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was also produced for the television and was later released theatrically after screening at Cannes.

Ducastel and Martineau have four cinematic features to their name so far. They were selected in competition at Berlin in 1998 with Jeanne and the Perfect Guy and in the Panorama section in 2000 and 2005, respectively, with Funny Felix and the Europa Cinemas Label-winner Mariscos Beach. Their film The True Story of My Life in Rouen was also selected in competition at the 2002 Locarno Film Festival.

Produced by Lola Gans and Philippe Martin for Les films Pelléas with backing from Arte France and the Midi-Pyrénées region among others, Nés en 68 was filmed between September 11 and December 10, 2007, in Figeac, Toulouse and Paris.

International sales will be handled by Pyramide.

(Translated from French)