email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

RELEASES France

9 European films on the screen

by 

- French programs keep showing how fond of European cinema the French people are. This week, again, 9 European productions share the screen with 2 American. Mar Adentro in first position, and Danny the Dog follows just after

French programs keep showing how fond of European cinema the French people are. This week, again, the Old Continent's productions have a predominant presence on French screens. Indeed, today's new releases include nine European productions for only two non-European films (a Chinese production and an American one). It is worth mentioning that amongst these nine films, five of them are co-productions involving France, Spain, Great-Britain, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Belgium, which allows us to have great satisfaction and high expectations about cinematic circulation in the Union.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The most awaited film this week is definitely Mar adentro [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Sea Inside) by the Spanish director and frequent prize-winner Alejandro Amenabar (Jury's Choice and Volpi Cup for Javier Bardem in Venice, 14 Goyas, and the title of Best foreign film at the Golden Globes). For Mar adentro has just been nominated in the category Best Film in foreign language for the upcoming Oscars. Its French co-producer, UGC decided to release 155 copies on the national screens —as did Lucky Red in Italy, (a successful strategy, since the film raised a benefit of over 680 000 euros within 20 weeks). Two French and British co-productions are also likely to attract many spectators: the first one is a full length animation film, Pollux Le manège enchanté (Pollux and the Magic Carroussel) by Jean Duval, Franck Passingham, and Dave Borthwick, with the voices of Henri Salvador and Vanessa Paradis, and produced by Pathé Renn Productions, Film Action, Bolex Brothers, and SPZ Entertainment. The second one is the riveting Danny the Dog by Louis Leterrier, starring Jet Li, Bob Hoskins, and Morgan Freeman. It is Luc Besson's EuropaCorp's latest production, in collaboration with TF1 and the British company Current Entertainment. It is worth pointing out that these two films are distributed in France by their producers' subsidiaries, Pathé Distribution and EuropaCorp Distribution, which have released no less than 499 copies for the former and 480 copies for the latter.

As for wholly national productions, this week's new films are mostly comedies likely to attract the wide-public, L’ex-femme de ma vie (The ex-Love of My Life) by Josiane Balasko, with Karine Viard and Thierry Lhermitte (an ICE3 production, distributed by Warner on 400 copies), and Espace détente (Restroom) by Bolloc’h and Solo (a Calc Production, distributed by ARP Sélection). Why Not Productions is also launching a film this week, the French and Moroccan feature film Tenja by Hassan Legzouli, with Roschdy Zem and Laure Atika (the distributor is Pierre Grise). The French public will also be able to enjoy a German film selected last year for the Cannes Film Festival, The Edukators by Hans Weingartner with Daniel Brühl (co-produced by the German Y3 Filmproduktion and the Austrian Coop 99) thanks to Bac Films's initiative to launch 70 copies.
As far as documentaries are concerned, the French and Belgian production La raison du plus fort (The Survival of the Fittest) by Patric Jean is distributed by Eurozoom. The French director Marie-Claude Treilhou's Les métamorphoses du chœur is distributed by Les Films d'Ici).

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy