12/04/2007

An event that throws the spotlight on the ever narrowing ties between film and literature, the 6th International Cinéma & Literature Forum, kicks off in Monaco today.

The recent success of Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Claude Berri’s Ensemble, c’est tout [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Philippe Lioret’s Don’t Worry, I’m Fine [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Luc Besson’s Arthur and the Invisibles [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Pascale Ferran’s Lady Chatterley [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] are shining examples of how literary works can be adapted for the big screen.

And European cinema is no exception, with other popular adaptations including Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Tom Tykwer’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Such success has resulted in the Monaco event giving more attention to this link.

This year’s international forum hosts numerous round tables, debates, literary adaptation workshops, book readings and film previews, a three-day programme bolstered by the creation of the Literary Adaptation Market and the Remake Market, where editors and literary agents negotiate audiovisual rights to novels, theatre plays and cartoons with producers.

The Forum opens this evening with Salvador [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Spain’s Manuel Huerga (see interview) and will close with Goya’s Ghosts [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Czech-born director Milos Forman (who will also hold a film class), joint honorary president of the event with US novelist Patricia MacDonald.

Participants at the first round table on “Literary Adaptations and International Co-productions", held on Friday, will include producers Denise O'Dell (Kanzaman) and Frédéric Fougea (Boreales), as well as representatives from Focus Features and Paramount. An analysis of the adaptation of Salvador – attended by Joume Roures (producer), Lluis Arcarazo (scriptwriter) and Francesc Escribano (writer) – will follow.

On Friday afternoon a pitch writing workshop will be held by Guillaume Musso (Afterwards) and Michel Fessler (The Emperor’s Journey [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) before giving way to a debate on literary adaptations, which will be attended by novelist Jean-Christophe Grangé, scriptwriter Guillaume Laurant and British filmmaker Peter Webber, among others.

On Saturday April 14, Eurimages president Jacques Toubon will head a round table on literary adaptations and European co-productions with representatives from the CNC, Swiss Film, Catalonia’s CDA and the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Two film debates will also be held in the afternoon. The first will analyse Tell No One and will be attended by its director Canet and producer Alain Attal, while the second will study Un secret [+see also:
trailer
film profile], attended by director Claude Miller, writer Philippe Grimbert, producer Yves Marmion (UGC YM) and scriptwriter Natalie Carter.

Miller’s feature is among the favourites to compete at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, along with Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Parronaud’s comic strip adaptation Persepolis, two jewels in a trend that sees the gap becoming ever smaller each year between film industry professionals and editors, who have opened specialised cinema services and now send producers details of their forthcoming publications as a matter of course.

(Translated from French)