25/11/2005

After I Don't Kiss in 1991 and Strayed in 2003 (in official competition at Cannes), the filmmaker André Téchiné is ready to rediscover Emmanuelle Béart for the third time in Les Témoins (The Witnesses). The cast for the director’s 17th feature also includes Michel Blanc, Julie Depardieu and Sami Bouajila who made their first appearance in the filmmaker’s universe in the last film Changing times [+see also:
trailer
film profile] which competed in the Berlinale 2005.

Project initially entitled Le combat de l'ange (The angels’ battle), Les Témoins retraces the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic in Marseille in the 80s. Focussing on an homosexual police officer (Sami Bouajila) who meets a doctor (Michel Blanc), a writer (Emmanuelle Béart) and an opera singer (Julie Depardieu). With a screenplay co-written by André Téchiné, Laurent Guyot and Viviane Zig, the first two also collaborated on Changign Times.

Produced by SBS Films, a company set up this year by Saïd Ben Saïd at the heart of UGC, Les Témoins is a European co-production with Spain through Vertigo and Italy with Edelweiss. Note too that SBS Films has a solid association with the Italian company since they also co-produced (with aid from Eurimages of 400 000 euros) Le Héros de la Famille (The hero of the family) by Thierry Klifa, currently shooting with Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Lanvin and Emmanuelle Béart.
With a budget of around 6 million euros and sold by UGC International, the new Téchiné, shooting in Spring, has already been pre-sold recent American Film Market, in particular for Bénélux and Portugal, and negotiations are underway for a Switzerland and Italy.

(Translated from French)