16/03/2009

Five screenplays for debut and second features have been selected by the National Film Centre’s advances on receipts committee. These include S by Gilles Porte (Best Debut Film Cesar 2005 for When The Sea Rises).

Helmed by Jean Bréhat and Rachid Bouchareb for 3B Productions, S – co-written by the director, along with novelist Bernard Chambaz and Thomas Bidegain – is adapted from Dominique Chapuis’ novel Indochine Camp 107 (“Indochina Camp 107”). The story is set in 1952-1954, as the Indochina War is coming to an end.

A friendship forms between Karmen, a Soviet filmmaker who has come to film the glory of the Vietnamese people, and Gascogne, a French officer taken prisoner in a jungle camp. The cinematic obsession of the former enables the latter to escape.

The CNC is also backing Antony Cordier’s Happy Few (still without a producer). The director previously won acclaim for his debut feature Cold Showers [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was unveiled in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2005 and won the Louis Delluc Award for Best Debut Film.

Two screenplays for debut features have been selected. Fabrice Camoin’s Orage et nuit d’été (“Storm and Summer Night”, produced by Les Films du Poisson) is adapted from Marguerite Duras’ Ten-Thirty on a Summer Night: the story of a fading couple who travel across Spain and find themselves in a small Andalusian town, which is tense after a recent crime of passion.

Meanwhile, Cyril Mennegun’s Louise Wimmer (Zadig Productions) centres on a 48-year-old woman who severs all ties with her past to start a new and difficult life.

Finally, an advance on receipts will also go to Philippe Béziat’s documentary project Noces (“Wedding”, produced by Les Films d’Ici). The director’s latest film, Pelléas et Mélisande, le chant des aveugles, was released theatrically on March 11.

(Translated from French)