14/09/2015 - VENICE 2015: With Fabrice Luchini crowned as Best Actor and Christian Vincent having snagged the Best Screenplay Award, the Venice Film Festival truly smiled upon the film being sold by Gaumont

Christian Vincent with his Best Screenplay Award at Venice

Precisely 30 years after Gérard Depardieu, the last French actor to be crowned at Venice (for Police in 1985), Fabrice Luchini has taken home the Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the 72nd Venice Film Festival, thanks to his performance in L'hermine [+see also:
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film profile] by Christian Vincent. He has therefore become the eighth French actor to have his named inscribed on the list of winners at Venice, following in the footsteps of Jacques Perrin (1966), Bourvil (1956), Jean Gabin (1951 and 1954), Henri Vilbert (1953), Pierre Fresnay (1947) and Pierre Blanchar (1935). For the record, Fabrice Luchini has been nominated five times for the César Award for Best Actor – the first time in 1991, in another of Christian Vincent’s films, as it happens (The Discreet), then in 1997 (Beaumarchais the Scoundrel), 2008 (Molière [+see also:
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film profile]).

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At Venice, L'hermine (the cast of which also includes Danish star Sidse Babett Knudsen) also smiled upon its director, Christian Vincent, who was singled out with the Best Screenplay Award. This is the ninth feature by the director, who has such titles as The Discreet (César Awards for Best Debut Film and Best Screenplay in 1991, selected in the Venice Critics’ Week), Set Fare (two nominations for the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 1993), The Separation (nominations for the César Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress in 1995), Four Stars [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Berlinale Panorama in 2006, nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2007) and Haute Cuisine [+see also:
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Produced by Matthieu Tarot for Albertine Productions, L'hermine was co-produced by France 2 Cinéma and Gaumont, and was pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+. Gaumont is in charge of the international sales and will distribute the film in French theatres from 18 November. 

French cinema also features on Venice’s list of award winners through two minority co-productions. Per amor vostro [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Giuseppe M Gaudino
film profile] by Italy’s Giuseppe Gaudino, which earned Valeria Golino the Best Actress Award, was co-produced by Paris-based outfit Les Films des Tournelles and was backed by the CNC’s World Cinema Support, as was Frenzy [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Emin Alper
film profile] by Turkish director Emin Alper, co-produced by Paprika Films, which pocketed the Special Jury Prize on the Lido.

(Translated from French)