US audiences cannot get enough French films this year, industry watchers
told AFP at the Toronto International Film Festival, where a handful of US
distribution deals were signed.
"This year is one of the best on record for French films in the US," said
Katherine Verret-Vimont, executive director of Unifrance USA, which promotes
French films in the United States.
In 2004, only 57 French films and co-productions were released in the United
States. By the end of 2005, a record number will have opened on US screens,
Verret-Vimont said, the exact number still undetermined.
"It's cheaper than a ticket to France," said Sony Pictures Classics vice
president Michael Barker.
Charlotte Mickie, head of acquisitions for Celluloid Dreams, said she was
lured by "French actresses (who) are beautiful, and not in a cookie cutter
way" as well as the way the films deal with "relationships in a mature way."
What is more, "The French are not afraid of mature women," she said.
Veteran director Patrice Chereau, whose film "Gabrielle" starring Isabelle
Huppert was shown in Toronto and will be screened at the upcoming New York
film festival, said French films deal with love and sex "a little more
easily than in American films."
French films grossed 111 million US dollars (or over 150 million US dollars
including co-productions) in North American at the box office so far this
year, including the second most popular documentary ever "March of the
Penguins," which grossed 67 million US dollars in America, more than double
revenues generated by the hugely successful "Amelie" two years ago.
"Diva" premiered in Toronto in 1981 and went on to make 7.4 million US
dollars. "Amelie" won the People's Choice Award in Toronto in 2001.
This year, the Toronto festival will have shown 25 French films and l6
co-productions in 10 days by the time it winds down Saturday. Six of them
found distributors, including British co-production "Oliver Twist" by exiled
US filmmaker Roman Polanski and Francois Ozon's "Time to Leave" starring
actor Jeanne Moreau, which was picked up on the first day of the festival by
Strand Releasing.
Several others are in negotiations.
"French films are increasingly taking pride of place," said festival chief
executive officer Piers Handling. "The number of French films at the
Festival is second only to the US and Canada."
Their US audience remains baby boomers whose first foreign film experience
was likely the work of famed French directors Louis Malle and Francois
Truffaut, said Wellspring Films' Marie-Therese Guirguis.
Younger people, she noted, are beginning to respond to visually stylish
films like "Amelie" and edgy films such as Catherine Breillat's "Fat Girl."
Even subtitles, once a major barrier for non-English films are no longer as
big an issue, according to Michael Barker of Sony, which will release
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "L'Enfant," which won the Palme d'Or and
"Cache" which won Best Director at Cannes for Michael Haneke.
"The revelation of the past few years is that young people send text
messages, read text on computers. There's even rolling 'subtitles' on the
bottom of CNN. They're used to seeing print on screen," he said.
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| User: "7" |
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| Title: Re: French films hot at US box office this year |
18 Sep 2005 06:39:13 AM |
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MonsieurStat avait soumis l'idée :
US audiences cannot get enough French films this year, industry watchers told
AFP at the Toronto International Film Festival, where a handful of US
distribution deals were signed.
Et le rapport avec Michel ?
.
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| User: "MonsieurStat" |
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| Title: Re: French films hot at US box office this year |
18 Sep 2005 03:27:33 PM |
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"7" <7@7.7> wrote in message news:mn.93337d59065033a2.36369@7.7...
MonsieurStat avait soumis l'idée :
US audiences cannot get enough French films this year, industry watchers
told AFP at the Toronto International Film Festival, where a handful of
US distribution deals were signed.
Et le rapport avec Michel ?
Wasn't he French?
Stat.
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