29/10/2008

Thirteen new films are hitting French screens today, ahead of Friday’s release of US/UK co-production Quantum of Solace [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile], which is helmed by Switzerland’s Marc Forster and stars highly successful UK actor Daniel Craig and France’s Mathieu Amalric.

The critics’ favourite this week is Ursula Meier’s Swiss/Belgian/French co-production Home [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
interview: Thierry Spicher
interview: Ursula Meier
film profile], launched by Diaphana on 55 screens. Unveiled at a special screening in Cannes Critics’ Week, this debut narrative feature stars Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet, Kacey Mottet Klein, Madeleine Budd and Adélaïde Leroux.

Home received an advance on receipts from the National Film Centre (CNC), as well as backing from the French Community of Belgium, the Swiss Federal Office for Culture, Eurimages, France 3 Cinéma, the RTBF and TSR.

The line-up also includes Ben Stassen’s Belgian 3D animated film Fly Me to the Moon (launched by MK2 on 51 screens); and Marco Simon Puccioni’s Italian title Shelter [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Epicentre Films -14 screens). Presented in the Panorama section at the 2007 Berlinale and winner of the Grand Prize at last year’s Annecy Film Festival, the latter film is co-produced by France and stars Portugal’s Maria de Medeiros and Slovakia’s Antonia Liskova.

Also hitting screens is 100% French production Mes stars et moi [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“My Stars and I”) by Laetitia Colombani. This comedy – starring Kad Merad, Catherine Deneuve and Emmanuelle Béart – is being released by StudioCanal on over 200 screens. The film was produced by Nord-Ouest Production for €8.5m, which included co-production backing from M6 Films.

At the other end of the budget scale is Kim Massee’s €710,000 film, Cowboy Angels, which received a post-production advance on receipts from the CNC. The title is being launched by Artworx Films on a three-print run.

This week also sees the release of two French documentaries: Raymond Depardon’s Country Profiles: Modern Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Ad Vitam - 49 screens), which won acclaim at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section; and Stéphane Mercurio’s A côté (“Nearby”, Contre-Allée Distribution).

Germany is represented in the line-up by Thomas Grube’s documentary Trip to Asia: The Quest for Harmony (Films sans frontières - two screens); and Salif Traore’s co-production Faro: Goddess of the Waters (Armor Films). Unveiled at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, the latter title was also co-produced by France, Canada, Mali and Burkina Faso and received backing from the World Cinema Fund (an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlinale).

Finally, among the co-producers of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal France - 398 screens) are Germany’s Internationale Filmproduktion Eagle and Hungary’s Mid Atlantic Films.

(Translated from French)