29/08/2006

French films will be out in force in 3rd Venice Days (August 31-September 9), a sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, with four majority and two minority productions among the 13 films presented.

The new parallel section will this year pay homage to Christophe de Ponfilly, who passed away last May, with a screening of the director’s The Soldier’s Star [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news).

Produced by Les Films du Losange in co-production with Albert Films, France 2 Cinéma and Germany’s NEF Filmproduktion, the director’s debut feature is set in Afghanistan, a country studied in depth by the exceptional documentary filmmaker. Les Films du Losange, who are also handling international sales, will release the film in French theatres on November 22.

Winner of the Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar in 2003 with his debut feature A Thousand Months, Faouzi Bensaïdi will try his luck at Venice with his second feature WWW - What a Wonderful World [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see article).

Produced by Gloria Films Production with Morocco (Agora Films) and Germany (Haimate Films), the €1.83m title was funded by advances on receipts from the CNC and international sales are being handled by Les Films du Losange.

Two debut French films are also on show in Venice Days. First up is Les Films du Bélier production, the €770,000 budget 7 Years [+see also:
trailer
film profile], directed by Jean-Pascal Hattu and co-scripted by Gilles Taurand, starring Valérie Donzelli and Bruno Todeschini. Pyramide are handling world sales.

The second title is Rêves de poussière by director Laurent Salgues, a French/Canadian production (80%-20%), produced by Athenaïse productions on a €1.19m budget, including advances on receipts from the CNC.

Two minority co-productions round off the French selection. La noche de los girasoles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alina Sigaro
interview: Belén Bernuy
interview: Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo
film profile] (lit. "The Night of the Sunflowers") by Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo (see Focus), co-produced by French outfit The Film and Arte France Cinéma, with the participation of Backup Films. Films Distribution are handling world sales.

Meanwhile, the second feature by Argentina’s Diego Lerman, was co-produced by Fabianne Vonnier for Pyramide, who are also handling the film’s French and international release.

(Translated from French)