UPI checks in for French transatlantic flight romcom Amour et Turbulences

Universal Pictures International has added three French productions – Amour et Turbulences, The Real Life of Teachers (La Vraie Vie Des Profs) and A Coup Sur - to its slate for 2013.

The slate additions were announced by UPI President David Kosse and UPI France managing director Stéphane Huard on Tuesday (July 3).

The French slate additions follow in the wake of the UPI-backed French thriller Tu Seras Mon Fils, which pulled in some 700,000 spectators in France last year.

Alexander Jooss, senior vice president of legal and business affairs for UPI negotiated the deals on all three productions, which will be overseen by JJ Lousberg, VP international production and Isabelle Stewart, manager international production. 

“We, at UPI France, feel very privileged to keep on co-producing and distributing such great local projects in 2013 led by solid production teams and amazing French talent,” said Huard.

Amour et Turbulences, starring Ludivine Sagnier and Nicolas Bedos as a former couple who re-meet unexpectedly on a New York to Paris flight, is due to start shooting on July 16.

Director Alexandre Castegnetti is best known in France as one half of the comic music duo La Chanson du Dimanche. His previous directing credits include the 2004 comedy L’Incruste and the Arte-backed sitcom Les Invincibles.

Mathieu Robinet and Julien Ralanto at Révérence are producing alongside Manchester Films and Thelma Films.

The Real Life of Teachers, which is currently shooting in Marseilles, is the first live action feature from Emmanuel Klotz and Albert Pereira-Lazaro, the directing duo behind the popular 2009 feature-length animation Les Lascars.

The comedy — produced by Xavier Rigault and Marc-Antoine Robert of Paris-based 2.4.7. Films — is set against the backdrop of a Marseilles high school where abunch of pupils wreak havoc when they set up a website revealing the private lives of their teachers.

Delphine de Vigan’s A Coup Sur revolves around a woman who vows to become the best lover in Paris after an ex-boyfriend tells her she is terrible in bed. Laurence Arne, Eric Elmosnino and Valerie Bonneton are in the cast. 

It is the latest production from Frédéric Brillion and Gilles Legrand at Epithète Films who are currently working on Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s upcoming The Young and Prodigious Spirit.

UPI France will release The Real Life of Teachers and A Coup Sur in five French-speaking territories in 2013.

Meanwhile, UPI’s French arm is currently gearing up for the October 31 release of Diane Kruger and Dany Boon-starrer Un Plan Parfait, the second film from director Pascal Chaumeil and latest feature from Paris-based production powerhouse Quad of Intouchables fame.

UPI released Chaumeil’s first film Heartbreaker which achieved $29.8 million at the French box office in 2010.