08/04/2008

After a successful start in feature production, earning them selections at last year’s Venice and San Sebastian Film Festivals (see news), the young outfit Château-Rouge Production continues to unearth new talent and challenging films, with three debut features in the offing.

Of note in post-production is Éric Forestier’s La troisième partie du monde (“The Third Part of the World”, see news), starring Gaspard Ulliel, Clémence Poésy, Eric Ruf and the Italian actress Maya Sansa. This quasi-fantastic film will be included in Films Distribution’s Cannes line-up and will be released domestically on June 18 by Shellac.

The company headed by Sébastien de Fonseca, Cédric Walter and Gaëlle Jones has another title in post-production: Emmanuel Parraud’s Avant poste (“Outpost”). Starring Marie Vincent, Mélanie Leray and Martin Combes, the film traces the misadventures of a teacher from the slums who takes a group of teenagers on a week-end expedition to the country in order to earn the money to fund a trip to Algeria as part of a cultural exchange.

Faced with these youngsters from difficult backgrounds, and one member of the group in particular, the teacher falls into the trap of empathy. The film’s nine-week shoot took place mainly in France, as well as in La Réunion, the Italian city of Genoa and in Algeria.

Avant poste received an advance on receipts from the National Centre for Cinematography (CNC) and backing from the Ile-de-France and Haute-Normandie regions. Shellac will release the title in the autumn and international sales are still under negotiation.

In August, Château-Rouge will also start shooting on Jacques Sechaud’s Suerte (“Fate”), starring Bernard Blancan (Best Actor Award at Cannes 2006 for Days of Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Bréhat
interview: Rachid Bouchareb
film profile]).

Adapted from the autobiographical novel Suerte - L'exclusion volontaire (“Fate – Voluntary Exclusion”) by Claude Lucas (nicknamed "the gangster philosopher"), the feature centres on a 35-year-old man who appears to lead a steady life but is in fact a lone amateur hold-up man.

After a hold-up, he flees to Spain and drifts around in an alcoholic stupor. He then returns to France and tries to rob a diamond merchant but the robbery goes wrong. Whilst trying to escape from the police, he turns his gun on himself.

The director previously made the experimental short Protocoles de rêves (2005) with Hanna Schygulla.

Having been granted an advance on receipts from the CNC, Suerte is set to have a nine-week shoot: four weeks in France, three in Spain (Seville) and two in Belgium. Negotiations are currently underway with Spanish and Belgian co-producers.

(Translated from French)