Top European films out in force, but fail to steal the show

29/11/2006

After three Dutch releases in November – Crusade in Jeans [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Ben Sombogaart, Slaughter Night by Frank Van Geloven and Wild Romance by Jean van De Velde – today’s European cinema star is Black Book [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Dutch helmer Paul Verhoeven, which is being released by Alternative Films in 26 cinemas (see news).

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Cinéart are also releasing two attractive French co-productions. First up is 2006 Venice Silver Lion winner and Italian co-production Private Fears in Public Places [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by one of the greatest arthouse film directors, Alain Resnais (see interview), followed by The Court [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Mauritanian-born Mali director Abderrahmane Sissako, screened this year in Cannes and produced by the director’s Paris-based company Chinguitty Films.

Paolo Virzì’s N.:Napoleon & Me [+see also:
trailer
film profile], another French/Italian co-production which opens this week through Les Films de L'Elysée, strengthens the Italian presence along with last week’s Salvatore – This is Life by Gian Paolo Cugno and the excellent Along the Ridge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kim Rossi Stuart
film profile] by Kim Rossi Stuart (see Focus), released through Abc Distribution in early November.

Lastly, Ice scream, I scream (Dondurmam Gaymak) by Yüksel Aksu is a Turkish film being distributed by Maxximum film und kunst, a German-based outfit specialised in the distribution of Turkish films in Europe (see news).

A UK/US co-production between Aardman and Dreamworks Animation, Flushed Away, released in 52 cinemas, is more or less the star of a week that includes four other US productions. A total of 18 North American productions (including one Canadian musical documentary) will have been released in November, two of which were co-productions: the UK/US title Casino Royale [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and the hit German/Belgian co-production Black Dahlia.

Local titles in November included two documentaries: Duo portrait: Frans Buyens - Lydia Chagoll by Lydia Chagoll and Moroccan co-production La Couleur du Sacrifice by Mourad Boucif.

The three new European releases were Woody Allen’s UK title Scoop [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Spanish co-production Pan’s Labyrinth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Guillermo Del Toro and German film Tough Enough [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Detlev Buck.

As for international titles, only one Indian film, Water by Deepa Mehta, made it to Belgian screens. Forty-two new films opened in November, half of which came from one single country, the US, and the other half from Europe.

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(Translated from French)