11/02/2003 - The President of Unifrance died today in Berlin. A leading figure in the French film industry, Toscan du Plantier launched the careers of people like Pialat, Losey and Herzog

Daniel Toscan du Plantier, the president of Unifrance and one of the French and European film industry’s leading players died today in Berlin.
Toscan du Plantier, 61, began his brilliant career when he was promoted to the director-generalship of Gaumont in 1975 after ten years spent in the advertising sector. His contribution as a producer, coproducer and distibutor effectively launched the careers of some of contemporary cinema’s greatest talents, including Joseph Losey (Don Giovanni), Maurice Pialat (A nos amours, Police), Federico Fellini (The City of Women) and Werner Herzog (Nosferatu).
In 1985 Toscan du Plantier was appointed to the presidency of Erato Records and its film arm, Erato Films (as of 1997, known as Euripide Productions) and never stopped working to ensure that films of quality were produced. Some of his most celebrated titles are Sous le soleil de Satan and Van Gogh by Maurice Pialat, The branches of the tree by Satyajit Ray and Waati by Souleymane Cissé.

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In 1988 Daniel Toscan du Plantier was running both Unifrance, the agency for the promotion of French cinema at home and abroad, and the Academy of Film Arts and Sciences (the Césars) as well as the Toulouse Film Library.
He was in Berlin for the 53e 53rd international festival and on Monday 10 February, he was at the screening of Claude Chabrol’s La fleur du mal and afterwards, at the reception organised at the French Embassy in Berlin in the director’s honour. Toscan du Plantier suffered a heart attack during the night and died early this morning, 11 February, in the Urbanen Kreuzberg hospital in Berlin.

(Translated from French)