22/12/2005

King Kong might be hard to beat, but he doesn't seem to scare the industry. These Christmas Holidays, Portuguese distributors decided to release several European titles instead of saving them for early 2006. The choice seems surprising, particularly when one realises that the list of European films includes a documentary and an domestic art-house title.

Atalanta's Christmas releases include the co-production Merry Christmas by Christian Carion (read the film focus) and Hubert Sauper's awarded documentary Darwin's nightmare. The two films will be shown in Paulo Branco's exhibition network Medeia.

Besides the American comedy Santa's Slay, which opens today, Lusomundo will also release two British productions and a long awaited Portuguese title. Neil Marshall's The Descent [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Guy Ritchie's Revolver open on Thursday 29th, the same day as Odete. Presented in the Cannes sidebar section "Director's Fortnight", Odete [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is the second feature film by João Pedro Rodrigues, five years after O Fantasma. The last European title to be released this year is Ciro Ippolito's Vaniglia e Cioccolato. The film, starring Italian actors Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Joaquìn Cortès and Alessandro Preziosi opens on December 29, distributed by Filmitalus.

These six titles from the old continent will compete in the box office against five American titles: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (distribution: Columbia Tristar Warner), Thomas Bezucha's The Family Stone (Castelo Lopes), Les Mayfield's The Man (Victoria Filmes), Brian Herzlinger's My Date With Drew (New Age Entertainment) and Rob McKittrick's comedy Waiting (LNK).

In the first three months of 2006 will be released The Child [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile], the second part of Lars Von Trier's US adventure, Manderlay [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The largest penalty of the world, a Spanish box office hit of this year which is nominated for the Goyas in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. As for national productions, Atalanta will distribute Lavado em lágrimas by Rosa Coutinho Cabral and Coisa Ruim, directed by Tiago Guedes and Federico Serra.