French sellers have 10 titles in competition

by Fabien Lemercier

26/08/2008 - French international sellers collectively boast an impressive 10 titles among the 21 features vying for the Golden Lion at the 65th Venice Film Festival (August 27-September 6). This major presence confirms the far-reaching scope of French companies who negotiate deals for films produced all over the world.

Celluloid Dreams are handling sales for three of the Venice contenders: Italian director Marco Bechis’ Birdwatchers [trailer], Japanese director Takeshi Kitano’s Akires to Kame and Yu Likwai’s Brazilian/Hong Kong/Japanese co-production Plastic City.

Always in attendance at the major festivals, Wild Bunch are not outdone with US director Darren Arafnofsky’s The Wrestler and Ponyo on the Cliff by Japanese animated film master Hayao Miyazaki.

Elle Driver – which was founded this spring by Eva Diederix (former head of sales at UGC) and Adeline Fontan Tessaur (formerly at TF1 International) – also put in an impressive debut appearance, handling international sales for Paper Soldier by Russia’s Alexey German Jr. and European sales for Japanese animated film The Sky Crawlers by Mamoru Oshii and Ryu Kase.

Finally, French companies will strike deals for domestic productions screening in competition at Venice. Films Distribution will represent L’Autre [trailer] (“The Other One”) by Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic (see news); UGC International will manage sales for Barbet Schroeder’s Inju [trailer]; and Alfama Films Production will handle sales for their production That Night [trailer] by German director Werner Schroeter.

(Translated from French)