23/06/2006

The Association of French Arthouse and Experimental Cinemas (AFCAE), which groups together 1,024 cinemas – over 2,000 screens of the 5,366 in France – has announced the list of films that it will support in the coming months.

Films to be supported include A Cock and Bull Story by UK director Michael Winterbottom, presented in competition at San Sebastian last year (see review) and which will be released in French theatres on July 5 by ID Distribution.

As part of its Actions-Promotions initiative, the AFCAE, presided over by Patrick Brouiller, has also chosen to support Flanders [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by France’s Bruno Dumont (Grand Jury Prize at Cannes 2006 – see interview with director), which will be released by Tadrart Films on August 30, as well as the French/Mali co-production Bamako [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Abderrahmane Sissako, screened out of competition at Cannes, which will be distributed on November 1 by Les Films du Losange .

Meanwhile, the young audiences (Jeune Public), selection, made up of twenty exhibitors from all over France, has selected the animated films U [+see also:
trailer
film profile] directed by Grégoire Solotareff and Serge Elissalde, set for release by Gebeka Films on October 11 2006, and Michel Ocelot’s Azur et Asmar, selected at this year’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight – see review), which will be released by Diaphana on October 25.

Films selected by AFCAE will benefit from support from theatres and audiences to encourage their screening. This support involves the sending of the programme to the association’s 1,024 members and the organisation of pre-screenings in the regions for directors of arthouse and experimental cinemas and their partners. Circulation of several prints has been put in place in order to encourage extensive distribution and audiences will have access to a four-page document on film, published exclusively by the AFCAE.

(Translated from French)