How two French producers see the Swiss film
Published: Monday, May 20th 2024, 11:40
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Barbara Letellier and Laurence Petit, who work for the Paris-based production and distribution company Haut et Court, have emphasized the strength of Swiss film. "When I was young, I was influenced by 'Dans la ville blanche' (1983) by Alain Tanner," Letellier told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
"We grew up with Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Tanner," added Petit. Like Godard, Tanner is a political poet. "His entire cinema is characterized by an avant-garde gesture. I hope that he will be discovered by the new generations."
In the literary register, the producer also mentions the Vaudois writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (1878-1947), "for me one of the greatest writers in the world". She would have liked to film "La vie de Samuel Belet", his last novel from 1913.
Switzerland has always been perceived as "a pacifist territory, but with artists of this caliber, it is in fact a territory of warriors and very committed and visionary filmmakers," Petit continued.
Swiss film as a talent factory
"Then there is a whole generation of Swiss filmmakers who we have been following for a long time and whom we greatly appreciate," Letellier continues. She mentions the "incredible filmmaker" Ursula Meier, one of whose first short films "Tous à table" she discovered at the International Short Film Festival in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand, where it won the Audience Award in 2001.
In Swiss film, "there is a pool of talent, writers and directors," Letellier continued. "We also worked with another Swiss director we really like, Jean-Stéphane Bron, whose film 'Mon frère se marie' (2016) we distributed," she continued.
The two producers currently have a series project in production with Valais director Frédéric Mermoud. Like Lionel Baier, the three directors named by the producers belong to the production company Bande à Part Films, which is based in Lausanne.
Not forgetting Valais director Claude Barras, whose film "Sauvages" they have just co-produced, an ecological fable set against the backdrop of the Borneo rainforest. It is a "committed animated film with a little child-level alarmist", says Letellier, "but also a quirky film with a lot of imagination".
The co-production of "Sauvages"
For obvious linguistic reasons, the French production and distribution company works with French-speaking directors and companies. The co-production of "Sauvages" came about thanks to Nicolas Burlet, producer and director of the Geneva-based company Nadasdy Film.
Although two other countries, Belgium and France, contributed to the financing of the film, Switzerland provided the majority. The realization was based on the expertise in puppet design and stop-motion technology in the three countries. The three nationalities are also represented in the voice cast, for example with the French-Swiss actress Laetitia Dosch.
In addition to its selection in Cannes and the first screening on Saturday afternoon, "Sauvages" will also be shown in competition at the animation film festival in Annecy, France, which takes place from June 9 to 15 this year. A campaign with a call to action accompanies the film. It is accessible at https://www.sauvages-lefilm.com/, aims to support projects against deforestation and was launched on Sunday after the press conference in Cannes. Partners include Greenpeace, Foodwatch and the Bruno Manser Fund for the Tropical Forest.
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