29/08/2012 - Eight French (co-)productions are competing for the Golden Lion. A myriad of other French titles produced and sold by France are also in Venice

Out of 18 Golden Lion contenders at the 69th Venice Film Festival starting today, four are French majority co-productions. These include three films that Cineuropa predicted would compete at the festival (read more) -- Olivier Assayas’s Something in the Air [+see also:
film review
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interview: Olivier Assayas
film profile] (sales: MK2), Xavier Giannoli’s Superstar [+see also:
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interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile] (a Franco-Belgian co-production - sales: Wild Bunch), and Valeria Sarmiento’s The Lines of Wellington [+see also:
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interview: Valeria Sarmiento
film profile] (a Franco-Portuguese co-production - sales: Alfama Films - out on November 21) -- as well as Brian de Palma’s Passion [+see also:
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making of
film profile], a remake of Alain Corneau’s Crime d’amour produced by SBS Films with France 2 Cinéma and Germany (sales: SBS and Wild Bunch).

The competition in Venice also includes four French minority co-productions. Italian director Marco Bellocchio’s Dormant Beauty [+see also:
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interview: Marco Bellocchio
film profile] (sales: Celluloid Dreams) and fellow Italian Daniele Cipri’s It Was the Son were both co-produced by Babe Films. Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens’s The Fifth Season [+see also:
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interview: Jessica Woodworth
film profile] was co-produced by Unlimited with Belgium and the Netherlands, while Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise: Faith [+see also:
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interview: Ulrich Seidl
film profile] was co-produced by Société Parisienne de Production with Austria and Germany (sales: Coproduction Office). Also in the competition, Celluloid Dreams is also selling Japanese director Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage Beyond, Elle Driver is selling Russe Kirill Serebrennikov’s Betrayal, and Kinology is selling American director Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers.

Out of competition, France is also very well represented with Pascal Bonitzer’s Cherchez Hortense [+see also:
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film profile] (lit. “Looking for Hortense” - read more - production and sales: SBS), Jean-Pierre Améris’s The Man who Laughs [+see also:
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making of
interview: Christa Théret
film profile] (news - sales: EuropaCorp), Franco-Portuguese parity co-production Gebo and the Shadow [+see also:
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film profile] by Manoel de Oliveira (sales: Pyramide), and Franco-Italian documentary The Tightrope [+see also:
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film profile] by Simon Brook (sales: Films Distribution). Then there is Daniele Incalcaterra and Fausta Quattrini’s El Impenetrable (production: Les Films d'Ici with Argentina – sales Doc & Film International), Susan Bier’s Love Is All You Need [+see also:
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film profile] (a Slot Machine co-production with Denmark, Italy, Sweden, and Germany) and two titles by Amos Gitaï: Lullaby to my Father [+see also:
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film profile] and Carmel (co-production and sales: French company Agav Films).

France confirms that it has been very busy in terms of international co-productions in the Orizzonti section, with Frédéric Fonteyne’s Tango libre [+see also:
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interview: Frédéric Fonteyne
film profile] (a Nord-Ouest Films co-production with Belgium and Luxembourg – sales: Films Distribution), Djamila Sahraoui’s Yema [+see also:
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film profile] (co-produced by Neon Productions with Algeria), Yesim Ustaoglu’s Araf [+see also:
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film profile] (co-produced by CDC with Turkey and Germany), Italian filmmaker Ivano de Matteo’s Gli equilibristi [+see also:
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film profile] (co-produced by Babe Films), Jazmin Lopez’s Leones [+see also:
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film profile] (co-produced by Petit Film with Argentina and the Netherlands - sales: Premium Films), Roberto Minervi’s US-Belgian-Italian co-production Low Tide [+see also:
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film profile] (sales: Doc & Film International), and Chinese director Wang Bing’s Three Sisters (produced by Album Productions with Hong Kong). Urban Distribution International is selling Israeli film The Cutoff Man by Hidan Hudel, while Celluloid Dreams is selling Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu’s The Millennial Rapture.

There is also great French presence at the Venice Days, with two Agat Films productions sold by Films Distribution: Sólveig Anspach’s Queen of Montreuil [+see also:
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interview: Solveig Anspach
film profile] and French-Israeli-Turkish co-production Inheritance [+see also:
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interview: Hiam Abbas
film profile] by Hiam Abbass. At the Venice Days, there will also be Hervé Lasgouttes’s Crawl [+see also:
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interview: Hervé Lasgouttes
film profile] (read more - sales: Premium Films), Rusudan Chkonia’s Keep Smiling [+see also:
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interview: Rusudan Chkonia
film profile] (produced by Ex Nihilo with Georgia and Luxembourg), Enzo D'Alò’s animation Pinocchio [+see also:
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interview: Enzo D'Alò
film profile] (co-produced by Italy, France, Belgium and Luxembourg – sales: Rezo Films), Marc-Henri Wajnberg’s Kinshasa Kids [+see also:
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interview: Marc-Henri Wajnberg
film profile] (co-produced by Belgium and France - sales: MK2), and Enrico Masi’s The Golden Temple (co-produced by Britain, Italy, and France). Urban Distribution International is selling Israeli title Epilogue by Amir Manor, while Films Distribution is selling Italian feature Steel by Stefano Mordini.

Finally, at the Critics’ Week, MPM Film is selling Romanian director Paul Negoescu’s A Month in Thailand [+see also:
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interview: Paul Negoescu
film profile] and Turkish-German co-production Mold [+see also:
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film profile] by Ali Aydin, while Tu Voir co-produced and is selling the ensemble film Water [+see also:
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film profile], co-produced by Israel and to be shown at a special screening out of competition.

(Translated from French)