Wild Bunch is heading into the annual French Film Rendez-Vous with a host of new films as well as screeningfour premieres for international buyers.

And, in a bid to energiseforeign distributors to open Luc Jacquet's The FoxAnd The Child as a day-and-date release nextDecember, Wild Bunch will show 45 minutes of the film to distributors. Alreadysold pretty much throughout the world, Jacquet's MarchOf The Penguins follow-up will be scheduled for ahigh-profile December release in Franceby Buena Vista International.

The Rendez-Vous, sponsoredby French export body Unifrance, runs from Jan12-15 in the capital.

First up on the list of new films is Go West,A Lucky Luke Adventure from Olivier Jean-Marie; an $18.2m (Euros 14m) animatedcomedy produced by Marc Du Pontavice'sXilam. The film is based on the Lucky Luke comics andset in the USwhere the Daltonbrothers are escaping across the country in a wagon train. Pathewill release the film in France and Wild Bunch plans to show 25 minutes of thefilm in Canneslater this year. Visuals will be available at the Rendez-Vous.

Claude Chabrol is back onthe Wild Bunch line up; this time with The Woman Cut InTwo. A dangerous love triangle with an erotic bent,the film stars Francois Berleand, LudivineSagnier, Benoit Magimel andEdouard Baer. Shooting has been completed and thefilm will be ready for Venice.

Pascal Laugier's latest filmMartyrs is also on deck starring Vahina Giocante and Mylene Jampanoi. Wild Bunch chief Vincent Maravalcalls the picture 'an extreme horror film along the lines of Saw or Hostel,'and notes that the film 'goes very far but not in an amoral way.' A story ofthe effects of torture on a little girl now grown up, Martyrs isproduced by Richard Grandpierre of Eskwad and will begin shooting next month on a $3.6m (Euros 2.8m)budget.

Surviving With Wolvescomes in on a more melodramatic note. The true story of little Belgian girl whoescapes the Nazis just as her parents are captured, the film follows herodyssey throughout the forests of Belgium and across to the Ukraine in adesperate attempt to find her mother and father whom she believes have gone tothe east. On her journey, she lives with wolves.

Vera Belmont is directing and producing the Euros 7mnfilm which is based on a book written by the girl in question, Misha Defonseca. Wolves is currently shooting and will be released by Bac Films in the fall of 2008.

Samuel Benchetrit follows upJanis And John with If I Was A Gangster,a concept film along the lines of Jim Jarmusch's CoffeeAnd Cigarettes. Set in a rest stop restaurant, the film's cast includes Edouard Baer, Jean Rochefort,Anna Mouglalis and Alain Bashungand will be ready for Cannes.

Wicked Week-End by OlivierDoran follows a group of friends who meet up years after they all survived abus accident. The road movie is a comedy but also poses moral questions andstars Bruno Solo, Kad Meradand Valerie Benguigui.

Premiere screenings include Laurent Tirard's Moliere, Pierre Salvadori's Priceless, Lionel Delplanque'sPresident and Eric Barbier's The Snake.

First images of First Cry, a documentary aboutthe lives of babies, will be shown as well as a promo for stop-motion animatedfilm Max & Co. There's also a teaser for Alain Corneau'sThe Second Wind starring Daniel Auteuil,Monica Bellucci and Eric Cantona.

Other films on the line up include Marc Caro's solo directing debut Dante O1, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's Actress,Martin Cognito's Exes with a cameo by AbelFerrara, Manuel Pradal's A Crime, Zabou Breitman's The Man Of My Life and a new edit of Nicole Garcia's Cannescompetitor Charlie Says.

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