17/11/2021 - Radu Mihaileanu’s series project Haussmann, based on a screenplay co-penned by Vincent Mariette, steals focus at the event’s co-production market, unfolding in Bonn on 17 and 18 November

Director Radu Mihaileanu, whose series project Haussmann has been selected for the event

The French-German Film Meetings (steered by UniFrance, German Films and the French-German Film Academy) are back to unspooling in person as their 19th edition kicks off today in Bonn. For two days, the state of the film and audiovisual industries on both sides of the Rhine will be examined and debated in detail, with a particular focus on public funding, collaboration with platforms, independent production, different possible approaches for enhancing diversity, film education and the lessons to be learned twenty years on from the signing of the French-German mini-treaty on co-production. But, needless to say, emphasis will also be placed on the works to come out of the co-production market and its 15 projects.

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Unsurprisingly, given current trends (and the re-organisation of UniFrance, who are now promoting audiovisual productions worldwide, in addition to French cinema  – read our news), two of the nine French projects jostling in the line-up are series, including Haussmann by Radu Mihaileanu, who is making his first foray into serial TV.

Known for Train de vie (screened in Venice in 1998 and awarded the Audience Award at Sundance in 1999), Live and Become [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Carot
interview: Didar Domehri
interview: Radu Mihaileanu
film profile] (gracing the Berlinale’s Panorama section in 2005 and awarded the 2006 Best Screenplay César), The Concert [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Mihaileanu
film profile] (earning itself six nominations and two trophies at the 2010 Césars) and The Source [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (in competition in Cannes in 2011), to name just a few titles, the director of Romanian descent wrote the screenplay for this 6x52 min film in league with Vincent Mariette (Fool Circle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Savage [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]). Taking the viewer back to the 19th century, Haussmann’s plot revolves around Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte’s dream: to modernize France and achieve the industrial revolution, therefore modernizing and transforming Paris. On December 2, 1851, he becomes Emperor after a coup, proclaiming himself Napoleon III. To fulfill his dream – the transformation of Paris – he needs a strong man, capable of leading a pharaonic construction site, very talented, faithful, not afraid to face the fiercest opponents, as his task is a highly unpopular operation: to expropriate, destroy half of the city, level hills, move populations, change lifestyles and finally put men, women and children of all social classes in front of mankind’s biggest fear: change. This man is Georges Eugene Haussmann, aka Baron Haussmann! Through the romantic and tumultuous life of Baron Haussmann, at a crucial time in French society, awash with social struggles, fights for women’s rights, an intense cultural life, strong political figures, great debauchery (the golden age of the French cancan), wars and increased competition with foreign powers, this story relays the adventure of the transformation of Paris, which will soon become one of the most beautiful cities in the world... Currently at the pilot and story arcs stage, this project is produced by Marc Stanimirovic on behalf of Calt Production, and has already secured a partnership with France Télévisions.

The second series project presented at the co-production market, Rose & Olympe, which is written by Elizabeth Verry and produced by Glaam Films, will revolve around two remarkable women alive at the time of the French Revolution: Rose Bertin, the first fashion stylist recognised abroad, and Olympe de Gouges, the first great heroine of feminism.

Likewise set for the French film showcase are two documentary projects coming courtesy of Claire Simon and Keren Moriano, alongside five fiction projects. Standing tall among the six German projects in the offing, meanwhile, is a film paying tribute to the Italian giallo genre, directed by Peter Koller, two documentaries (helmed by Hermann Vaske and Valentin Thurn respectively), and Lutz Gregor’s new project blending documentary with fiction.

The full list of projects is as follows:

Gentleman Jim - Noël Alpi (France)
Production: La Gaillarde Productions

Wild Wild Talk - Paul Balykin (Germany)
Production: PixelPEC

Forbidden Harvest - Martin Beilby (France)
Production: Nynamor Films

Eleventh Passenger - Csongor Dobrotka (Germany)
Production: PixelPEC

A Rooster on The Fire Escape - Guetty Felin (France)
Production: Aldabra Films

Transit Africa - Lutz Gregor (Germany)
Production: Medea Film

The Sound - Peter Koller (Germany)
Production: San Cinema UG & Co

Bad Life - Yvan Le Moine (France/Belgian)
Production: Artisan Film, AA Les Films Belges

Haussmann - Radu Mihaileanu (France) (series)
Production: Calt Production, France Télévisions

Snatched From The Stars - Keren Moriano (France)
Production: Options Productions

A Century - Samuel Rondière (France)
Production: Film(s) & Co

The Body of The Women - Claire Simon (France)
Production: Les Films du Lendemain

Survival - Valentin Thurn (Germany)
Production: Thurnfilm

How Are We Creative - Hermann Vaske (Germany)
Production: Emotional Network

Rose & Olympe - Elizabeth Verry (France) (series)
Production: Glaam Films

(Translated from French)