08/04/2005

The Luxemburger production company Samsa Film which has been (co)producing art house films for over twenty years, is currently post-producing Robinson Savary’s first feature, Bye bye Blackbird [+see also:
trailer
film profile] , which is nearly ready now. The son of the French stage director Jérôme Savary is originally a photographer, although he did make a few video clips and three short films (amongst which Falstaff sur la Lune was shown during the 2003 Semaine de la critique in Cannes).

The production of Bye Bye Blackbird is an eventful adventure which started in 1998. Samsa Film is working on this film as the associate producer of Reverse Angle Factory (Germany). They were joined by Ipso Facto(UK) and Dor Films (Austria). The help of Eurimages and other organisations in the different producers’ countries (Film Fund Luxemburg, Great British Films …) have allowed to gather 6.7 million euros. The film started shooting in Autumn 2003 and ended in the beginning of 2004 in Luxemburg where the main set, an entire circus, was built for the film. Since then, the film has been in post-production. The editing took time but there was also a lot of work done in terms of special effects and cuts ; this mainly took place in England and lasted almost a year. It has been decided that Moviehouse Entertainment will handle international sales. Negotiations are still in process with potential distributors.

Bye Bye Blackbird, starring James Thierrée, Sir Derek Jacobi, Jodhi May, Izabella Miko, and Michael Lonsdale, superimposes an ethereal love story on the life of a circus in the 1900’s. Josef, a tightrope walker, has given up his trade after the death of his friend who fell from the rope, but when he sees a lovely trapeze artist on the poster for a circus, he falls in love and joins the troup. The first pictures from the film announce a very aesthetic work. Bye Bye Blackbird might be present in Cannes and Venice. It should in any case be released in Autumn 2005.

(Translated from French)