24/02/2009

The second edition of the Daniel Toscan du Plantier Prize, for the Best French Producer of 2008, was jointly awarded to Pascal Caucheteux (Why Not Productions) and Thomas Langmann (La Petite Reine).

Organised by the Cesars Academy, the prize was inaugurated last year by Claude Berri. Competing in this edition were 139 producers of at least two films that were potential contenders for the Best Film Cesar or majority French productions, one of which must have been released in 2008.

Caucheteux won honours thanks to the success of Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. In 2009, he’ll be banking on success with Claire Denis’ White Material [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Bruno Podalydes’ Bancs publics (Versailles rive droite) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Public Stands, Versailles Right Bank”), Christophe Honoré’s Non, ma fille, tu n’iras pas danser (“No, My Daughter, You Won’t Go Dancing”), and Jacques Audiard’s Un prophète (“A Prophet”).

Why Not also was co-producer on Czech director Bohdan Sláma’s A Country Teacher [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bohdan Slama
film profile] and Ken Loach’s forthcoming title, Looking for Eric [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cannes 2009
Ken Loach
interview: Steve Evets - actor
film profile].

Langmann made a splash in 2008 thanks to the excellent box office performance of Asterix at the Olympic Games [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (which he co-directed with Frédéric Forestier - 6.8m admissions in France) and the diptych Public Enemy Number One (Part 1) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Public Enemy Number One (Part 2) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2.2m and 1.5m viewers respectively).

(Translated from French)