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FESTIVALS Czech Republic

French films win over Czech audiences

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A record was achieved at the 11th Czech Republic French Film Festival, which was held from November 20-26 in eight cities and garnered over 17,000 admissions.

Organised by the French Embassy and Unifrance, the event gave cinemagoers from Prague, Brno, Ceské Budejovice, Hradec Králové, Olomouc, Ostrava, Pardubice and Plzen the chance to discover a line-up of around 40 features in 13 theatres.

The festival opened with Public Enemy Number One (Part 1) [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Public Enemy Number One (Part 2) [+see also:
trailer
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]
(to be released by HCE in Czech theatres on December 11 and January 1, 2009 respectively), whose screenings were attended by director Jean-François Richet and producer Thomas Langmann.

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The closing film was Cannes Palme d’Or winner The Class [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carole Scotta
interview: Laurent Cantet
film profile
]
by Laurent Cantet, who also made the journey to the Czech Republic, where his film was launched last Thursday by Artcam.

Other avant-premières included the Dardenne brothers’ Belgian/French co-production Lorna’s Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne
interview: Olivier Bronckart
film profile
]
and Laurent Charbonnier’s documentary Animals in Love (to be released on January 29, 2009 by SPI).

Lorraine Lévy’s London Mon Amour [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
won the competition in which ten titles vied for honours. Léa Fazer’s What If...? [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Sandrine Bonnaire’s Her Name Is Sabine [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
also scooped awards.

Other contenders included Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Olivier AssayasSummer Hours [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Belgian director Bouli Lanners' Eldorado [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

Serge Bozon and Marion Lainé also attended the festival to present their films France [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
and A Simple Heart.

The Panorama section included the following co-productions: Rumba [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Charles Gillibert
interview: Dominique Abel and Fiona Go…
film profile
]
by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy, Solveig Anspach’s Back Soon and Nadine Labaki’s Caramel [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

The programme "French film successes" hosted screenings of the Gallic titles to have enjoyed the best results at the Czech box office this year. These include Paris [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Asterix at the Olympic Games [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, animated films Persepolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marc-Antoine Robert
interview: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Pa…
film profile
]
and Dragon Hunters; and 2 Days in Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christophe Mazodier
interview: Julie Delpy
film profile
]
.

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(Translated from French)

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