Co-pro projects emerge ahead of Rendez-Vous

New films by Yilmaz Arslan, Philippe Azoulay and siblings Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz [pictured] are among 22 projects being pitched at a co-production market during the 10^th edition of the German-French Rendez-Vous being held in Berlin from November 28-29.

Producer-director Arslan will be looking for a French co-producer for his $3.35m (€2.6m) 1980s-set tragicomedy Raqs, which already has Hanna Schygulla attached.

Arsam International’s Ilann Girard will be coming to Berlin to find a co-producer and sales agent for Philippe Azoulay’s Capturing The Devil about the capture of Adolf Eichmann in Argentina by Mossad agent Peter Zvi Malkin.

Elzevir & Cie’s The Trial, the final part of brother and sister Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz’s film trilogy after their To Take A Wife and 7 Days, will be looking to raise the final $390,000 (€300k) of the $3m (€2.3m) budget to begin shooting in Tel Aviv next May.

Other projects being pitched in one-to-one meetings will include:

• documentary Little Aryans, from Hamburg-based Brave New Work Film Productions’, about children growing up in a right-wing extremist environment;
  
  
• Indian director Anupam Barvé’s adaptation of Amitav Ghosh’s novel The Shadow Lines, which was selected for the NFDC Screenwriters Lab in Venice and will be produced by the Indo-German production outfit Bombay Berlin Film Productions;
  
  
• Gebrüder Beetz’s 3D documentary Berlin, Berlin – It’s Showtime. The Friedrichstadtpalast in 3D;
  
  
• Remy Chayé’s $10.3m (€8m) animated feature Longway North with Léa Seydoux already confirmed as one of the voices.

The Rendez-Vous will also be dedicated to discussions on new forms of distribution, the role of television in film financing, and current developments on the issue of intellectual property rights.

Over 300 participants from the German and French industries are expected to attend the two-day event, including Germany’s State Minister for Culture Bernd Neumann, the French Minister of Culture Aurélie Filipetti, CNC president Eric Garandeau, FFA board member Peter Dinges, producers Bettina Brokemper (Heimatfilm), David Thion (Les Films Pelléas), Christoph Friedel (Pandora Film), Roman Paul (Razor Film), Denis Carot (Elzévir Films) and broadcasters Olivier Père (Arte France Cinéma), and Meinholf Zurhorst (ZDF/Arte).

Klapisch and Hare add names to ERASMUS open letter

Meanwhile, French director Cédric Klapisch, whose 2002 romantic comedy L’Auberge Espagnole greatly popularised the ERASMUS student exchange programme, has added his name to the open letter being sent to EU Heads of State and Government in support of ERASMUS.

UK playwright-filmmaker David Hare, author Cornelia Funke and Polish artist-filmmaker Wilhelm Sasnal are among the European personalities from the art world who have signed the open letter.