04/08/2006

The diversity of European cinema is set to take French screens by storm from August 23 through December 27, 2006, with a spate of releases from Spain, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bosnia, Serbia-Montenegro and the Benelux countries set to join the already rich offerings from the UK, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia (see parts 1 and 2 of article).

First up are Spanish productions, with four planned releases. Heading the list is Cannes title Pan’s Labyrinth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Guillermo Del Toro (see article), which opens on November 1 (Pan Européenne Edition).

Also lined up are Marcel Pineyro’s The Method [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see article) opening on September 20 (CTV International); Fernando Lean de Aranoa’s Princesas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (November, ARP Sélection) and Remake [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Roger Gual, also due to arrive on screens in November (Colifilms Diffusion).

Further titles from the Iberian Peninsula include three Portuguese productions. The first, Cannes title Colossal Youth [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Pedro Costa (see article), is slated for a November release (Equation), while Gémini Films are to distribute Teresa Villaverde’s Trance [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see article) sometime in December, along with the Portuguese/French co-production Take this Waltz [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Florence Colombani (still without a release date).

Meanwhile, Océan Films will release Argentinean/French/Italian/Spanish co-production Family Law [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Daniel Burman on September 6.

Wolfgang Murnberger will represent Austria with his 2006 Cognac Detective Film Festival winner, Silentium [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which is set for an October release (Les Films sans Frontières), while four Eastern European titles are lined up: Taxidermia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Györgi Pálfi (see interview; August 23, Memento Films); Retrieval [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Slawomir Fabicki (November 29, ARP Sélection – see article); animated Czech short Pojd'te pane budeme si hrat (French title: Monsieur et Monsieur; September 27, Les Films du Préau) and the French/Romanian co-production The Way I Spent the End of the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Catalin Mitulescu (August 30, Pyramide – see news).

The Balkans have also not been forgotten, with Golden Bear winner Grbavica [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbara Albert
interview: Jasmila Zbanic
film profile] by Bosnia’s Jamila Zbanic scheduled for release on September 20 (ID Distribution); Summer in the Golden Valley by fellow Bosnian Sdrjan Vuletic (Floris Films), and the Serbian/Montenegrin production Midwinter’s Night Dream by Goran Paskaljevic (Eurozoom). Release dates for the latter two are yet to be announced.

Four productions from the Benelux countries will complete the European bill. First up is the eagerly awaited Black Book [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news) by Paul Verhoeven, with its release date yet to be set by Pathé.

Other Benelux titles include the Dutch/Belgian co-production Winky’s Horse [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Mischa Kamp (December 6, Les Films du Préau); Private Madness by Belgium’s Joachim Lafosse, which will be unveiled by Floris Films; and Luxembourg/UK/Belgian co-production Bye Bye Blackbird [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Robinson Savary (October 11, Friday Films).

(Translated from French)