04/07/2007

Daniel Auteuil and Monica Bellucci will be in the spotlight at the RomeFilmFest (October 18-27, 2007), as Second Wind [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by French director Alain Corneau (see article) has been selected to open its second edition.

Adapted from José Giovanni’s crime thriller – already made into a film by cult director Jean-Pierre Melville in 1966 – Second Wind also stars Michel Blanc, Jacques Dutronc, Eric Cantona, Gilbert Melki, Daniel Duval, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Philippe Nahon and Jacques Bonnaffé. Cinematography will be handled by Yves Angelo, while Bruno Coulais will score the film.

Set in the late fifties, Second Wind follows a well-known and dangerous gangster, Gu, sentenced to life imprisonment, who escapes from prison and wants to leave the country with the woman he loves. But the need for money forces the gang to do one last hold-up. Thanks to Gu, the hold-up is a success but they are framed by the police. Seen as an informer and traitor in the eyes of his accomplices, Gu decides to risk everything in order to regain his honour.

Produced by Michèle and Laurent Pétin (ARP Sélection) the €22.12m Second Wind was pre-sold to Canal+ for €3.4m, TF1 (€3.3m) and Ciné Cinéma for around €400,000. The film was also backed by the Ile-de-France region (€500,000) and is being sold internationally by Wild Bunch. ARP will release the title in French cinemas on October 27.

Its selection of Second Wind shows that the RomeFilmFest is sending a strong signal to other rival festivals, raising the level of quality of the competition, something which proved the Achilles heel for its much talked-about first edition. Powerful French world sales outfit Wild Bunch seems to have changed its opinion about the Rome event, whose creation last year seemed unnecessary.

This support has given added impetus to the festival’s second edition, which will also present Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news) out-of-competition.

(Translated from French)