29/01/2010

On February 1, Iota Production will start shooting its first narrative feature. This is an important step for the company that has so far made its name with a consistently eclectic slate of documentaries (including Jérôme Lemaire’s Where Is Love in the Palm Grove?, Alain de Halleux’s Nuclear NTR: Nothing To Report) and shorts (Guillaume Senez’s In Our Veins, Alexis Van Stratum’s Classes Vertes).

In 2008, Iota’s producer Isabelle Truc teamed up with three other producers (one Belgian, one Swiss and one French) to create French company Perspective Films, whose aim is to contribute to developing European co-productions backed by partners, with a particular focus on narrative features.

Iota is thus launching into features with She Is Not Crying, She Is Singing (based on Amélie Sam’s novel), the debut feature by Philippe de Pierpont, who has won acclaim for his documentary work in recent years.

Laura, a confused thirty-something, decides to confront her dying, comatose father, not so much to avenge a family tragedy that is still raw than to take stock of her life, and find peace.

Laura will be played by Erika Sainte, a young Belgian theatre actress who appeared in Nadia Benzekri’s short film Eau-de-vie (“Brandy”), opposite Laurent Capelluto. The latter, who attracted attention in Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale [+see also:
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The €2.2m film, co-produced by Perspective Films, Serendipity Films (Flanders) and Tarantula Luxembourg, has received backing from the Belgian French Community Film Centre, the Vlaams Audiovisual Fund, Film Fund Luxembourg and the Picardy Region, as well as from RTBF, Arte, Belgacom TV and the county of Aisne.

Shooting will take place in Luxembourg and Picardy. She Is Not Crying is expected to be completed in October 2010, and will be released by Cinéart in Benelux.

(Translated from French)