03/12/2009

Mars Distribution (relaunched by Stéphane Célérier two years ago) is currently in eighth place in the 2009 ranking of French distributors with 9.7m admissions for 19 films, including Eric Valette’s State Affairs [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (released on November 25) and François Favrat’s Bitter Victory (released yesterday). The company also has an impressive line-up for the end of this year and right into 2010.

Hitting screens on December 9 is Patrice Chéreau’s Persecution [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (discovered in official competition at Venice - see review), followed on December 23 by Bahman Ghobadi’s Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats, which opened the Un Certain Regard section at the latest Cannes Film Festival.

Mars Distribution will kick off 2010 with Spanish blockbuster Agora [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alejandro Amenabar (shown out of competition at Cannes - see review), followed on February 24 by Tom Ford’s A Single Man, starring Julianne Moore and Colin Firth (crowned Best Actor at Venice 2009).

On March 10, the company will unveil Grégoire Vigneron’s thriller Immaculate (see news), starring Benoît Magimel, François-Xavier Demaison, Julie Gayet and Léa Seydoux.

The company also has an abundant array of films in store for 2010, whose release dates have yet to be confirmed. Among them are several French titles in post-production, including Olivier Dahan’s road movie My Own Love Song (see news), starring Forest Whitaker and Renée Zellweger; Emma Luchini’s dramatic comedy Sweet Valentine; Kim Chapiron’s harsh film Dog Pound; Marc Fitoussi’s Copacabana (see news), featuring Isabelle Huppert, Lolita Chammah and Aure Atika; Lola Doillon’s Contre Toi (“Against You”, see news), starring Kristin Scott-Thomas and Pio Marmai; Yann Samuell’s The Age of Reason (see news), whose cast includes Sophie Marceau; and Michel Gondry’s documentary The Thorn in the Heart (also unveiled on the Croisette in May).

Non-domestic European films are also making a noticeable comeback on Mars Distribution’s line-up, with the release next year of UK director Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me (see news); fellow Brit Sam Taylor-Wood’s Nowhere Boy (see review), focusing on John Lennon’s youth; and Kiss Me Again (see news) by Italian golden boy Gabriele Muccino (sequel to the hit The Last Kiss).

Also in store for 2010 are several features currently in production: Scottish helmer Peter Mullan’s Neds; Audrey Estrougo’s politically-engaged musical comedy Aux Armes Etc (see news); Nicolas Cuche’s La Chance de Ma Vie (“The Chance of My Life”), starring François-Xavier Demaison and Virginie Efira; and the project Islands in the Stream by and starring Tommy Lee Jones and based on Ernest Hemingway’s novel.

(Translated from French)