Four debut features to receive advances on receipts
Headed by Pierre Chevalier since January, the advances on receipts committee of the National Centre for Cinematography (CNC) has just selected four screenplays for debut features.
Chosen projects include Xabi Molia’s S’éloigner du rivage (“Move Away from the Shore”), which retraces the misfortunes of a mother who tries to find a job in order to free herself from a difficult situation and get back her son. The film – which is set to start shooting in the summer – will be produced by Moteur S'il Vous Plaît Production, who are currently handling post-production for another debut feature that received an advance on receipts, the French/Swedish co-production Grown Ups by Anna Novion.
Another film set to receive an advance on receipts is Ma compagne de nuit (“My Night Companion”) by directorial duo Isabelle Brocard and Hélène Laurent who continue their collaboration with Edouard Mauriat for Mille et Une Productions (see news), following the film short Lait de sorcière. The project – which is set to start shooting in early 2009 – has been selected for the 2008 session of the summer university Emergence.
The committee also decided to support Benjamin de Lajarte’s Le jeu des nuages et de la pluie (“The Movement of the Clouds and the Rain”, Qualia Films). This screenplay intertwines the stories of several characters who are trying to escape from loneliness.
Protagonists include an Asian film star who wanders aimlessly around the city, a waitress desperately struggling to find some kind of balance in her life, an investigator who is irresistibly attracted to the woman he has been following at a distance for months and a couple of cabaret magicians who are undergoing a crisis.
Finally, Dominique Marchais’s documentary project Le temps des grâces (“Time for Thanks”, Capricci Films) is also set to receive an advance on receipts.
The pledge has also been renewed of an advance on receipts for La grande vie (“The High Life”) by actor and screenwriter Emmanuel Salinger (who has worked on numerous films with Arnaud Desplechin). Taken up by Les Films du Poisson, the project – whose screenplay is co-written by the debut director and Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Dory, Camille Fontaine and Marcia Romano – tells the story of how an improbable encounter between a modest philosophy teacher and a famous television presenter changes the course of both their lives.
(Translated from French)
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