10/10/2003

The UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund (NCF) has invested almost £800,000 in two new French language films as part of its remit to widen the range of films available to UK audiences.

L’école directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic (who was Gaspar Noé’s editor in I Stand Alone) received £397,330 from the NCF. The film is the story of a young girl who arrives in a strange school with mysterious rules and teachings. It is produced by the Frenchman, Patrick Sobelman and co-produced by Alain de la Mata, his UK counterpart.
Shooting has started this week on the second film to receive funding, Lila dit çà (“Lila Says”), directed by Lebanese born Ziad Doueri and produced by John Battsek (One Day In September) and Marina Gefter (Femme Fatale). The NCF invested £400,000 in the project to be sold by Wild Bunch around the world.
A third international co-production received £393,095 from the NCF’s last round of support. In My Father’s Den is written and directed by New Zealander Brad McGann from a novel by Maurice Gee, one of New Zealand’s foremost writers. The co-production between New Zealander Trevor Hayson (T.H.E. Films) and UK producer Dixie Linder (Little Bird) is supported by the New Zealand Film Commission, UK’s Vision View and NZ ON Air. Optimum Releasing has acquired UK rights and international distribution is handled by Element X.
For Paul Trijbits, the Head of the NCF, these three films will “strengthen collaboration and co-production between UK producers and their European counterparts, an essential part of the UK Film Council’s strategy”.
Among the NCF’s previous co-funded films are award winners Noi the Albino, The Magdalene Sisters [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Bloody Sunday [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

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