Directors fall out of love with Paris, je t’aime
Chosen to open the Un Certain Regard selection on May 18 at the 59th Cannes Film Festival (May 17-28), the collection of shorts Paris je t'aime is going through a rough patch, production-wise. According to the Danish daily Politiken, producer Claudie Ossard has decided not to include the two shorts made by Denmark’s Christoffer Boe and France’s Raphael Nadjari in the final film.
Originally made up of 20 five-minute shorts dedicated to each of Paris’s 20 arrondissements and linked by transitions to create a single story (see news), the structure of Paris je t'aime will change, with the disappearance of the 15th and 11th arrondissements. Ossard (Victoire Productions) has justified her choice in that the narration by Boe’s and Nadjari’s shorts contributed to a discontinuation of the overall rhythm. Feeling personally hurt, Danish filmmaker Boe has made some strong statements in the press, hoping that a last-minute solution will be found.
These difficulties have also led to serious contention between Ossard and the film’s other producer, Emmanuel Benbihy, who thought up of the original concept of Paris je t'aime, made the transitions in the film and is now preparing two follow-ups in Tokyo and New York. Eager to keep the project’s initial identity, she is threatening to bring the case to court in order to reintegrate the two shorts for the film’s screening at Cannes.
We will no doubt hear more on this prestigious selection of shorts, which will be distributed in France by La Fabrique de Films on June 21.
(Translated from French)
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