Deauville Film Festival
Deb site
Aug 30, 2005
PARIS -- Not too long ago, the Deauville Festival of American Film, set to kick off its 31st edition Friday and conclude Sept. 11, was a blip on the international calendar. Sandwiched between the mighty Venice and Toronto fests, the event was conceived as a laid-back, noncompetitive showcase for Hollywood studio fare.
Indeed, Deauville in many ways was an antidote to the high-profile, pressurized atmosphere of major festivals, and A-list talent often would travel from Venice to the chic Normandy town to relax and promote their films.
During the past decade, though, U.S. independent filmmakers steadily have created buzz for the informal Deauville festival, which tends to typify its beachfront venue and unpredictable fall weather. The introduction of a 10-film competition section in 1995 helped Deauville evolve into a hot spot on the festival circuit, especially for young filmmakers looking to benefit from early exposure in Europe.
The buzz this year is louder than ever before, with a wave of first-time helmers set to make pilgrimages to Deauville to screen six debut films in competition and a clutch of first films in the festival's out-of-competition, Premieres, Panorama and documentary sections.
"The directors, many of whom have doubled as screenwriters, represent a new generation of talent who will most likely go on to win international recognition and make the return trip to Deauville with new films," says Jerome Lasserre, head of the film department at Deauville's organizing company, Le Public Systeme.
Debut writer-director Rian Johnson is delighted that his Dashiell Hammett-inspired high-school crime drama "Brick," an upcoming Focus Features release, was selected to compete in Deauville.
"One of the first things (the film's lead) Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I bonded over was our love for all things French," says Johnson, who also raised the film's $500,000 budget by borrowing money from his family and friends and will join Gordon-Levitt in accompanying it to Deauville after it screens as part of the Venice International Film Festival's Critics Week sidebar.
While Johnson describes "Brick" as a "straightforward detective movie," Marcos Siega, whose Samuel Goldwyn Films/Roadside Attractions dramedy "Pretty Persuasion" also is set to compete in Deauville, finds it more difficult to label his first feature.
"It's about a 15-year-old girl who accuses her teacher of sexual assault," he says. "You could call it a dark satire, but it satirizes much more than the device of a young girl manipulating people. There are parts of it that are 'Lolita'-esque, but it takes films like (1962's) 'Lolita' and (1999's) 'Election' to another level and doesn't hold back where those films do."
Because the Deauville festival does not include a formal market, Siega, who also wears a producer's hat on "Persuasion," hopes the exposure will lead to informal dealmaking.
"I'm excited for an audience outside the U.S. to see the film," he says. "I believe French audiences will be more accepting of a film like this."
Similarly, painter/writer/visual artist Duncan Tucker is pleased that his $1 million road movie "Transamerica," acquired recently by IFC Films and the Weinstein Co., is gaining added exposure in Deauville. He notes, though, that the festival grind has been challenging.
"I was really happy that the film, coming out of nowhere, premiered (at the Berlin International Film Festival in February) and came in completely under the radar," Tucker says. "But we had a hard time getting people from the industry in to see it because they didn't take the subject matter seriously, and they thought it couldn't be anything but a campy movie."
Starring Felicity Huffman, "Transamerica" centers on a preoperative transsexual who dips into the money earmarked for her final surgery to meet a teenage runaway who turns out to be her son. Tucker, who spent a year in France as a student, doesn't quite know what to expect from the festival. "I love France, and it's an honor be there. I hope the movie finds a French audience because I feel I am so modeled after so many French directors." He hopes the film, which has sold "everywhere pretty much but France at this point," will find a French distributor there.
Other first films in competition are Ira Sachs' Sundance grand-prize winner "Forty Shades of Blue," which centers on a Russian woman who is estranged from her music-legend husband in Memphis, Tenn.; the Showtime telefilm "Reefer Madness," directed by Andy Fickman and based on a 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda movie; and "On the Outs," a drama written by Lori Silverbush and helmed by Silverbush and Michael Skolnik that centers on three down-and-out women in New Jersey.
Also set to compete in Deauville are writer-director Rebecca Miller's "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," an IFC Films drama that centers on a hippie father (Daniel Day-Lewis) who attempts to shield his daughter (Camilla Belle) from the real world; writer-director Lodge H. Kerrigan's "Keane," a thriller about a schizophrenic man seeking a new life; and Stuart Gordon's "Edmond," an upcoming First Independent Pictures release scripted by David Mamet and based on his play, which explores Edmond Burke's journey into the New York underworld.
Rounding out the competition are Lions Gate's "Crash," written and directed by Paul Haggis, and Focus Features' "The Ice Harvest," helmed by Harold Ramis.
Read more about "The Ice Harvest"
"First-time directors, many of whom write their own scripts, have received a tremendous boost after winning an award at Deauville," says Ruda Dauphin, Deauville's New York-based U.S. festival director.
Dauphin recalls that writer-director Joshua Marston was gratified last year by the Deauville audience's response to his Fine Line drama "Maria Full of Grace," which went on to claim the festival's top prize and other awards at festivals the world over.
"Besides the fact that everybody loves to come to France, Deauville offers a strong European platform for emerging U.S. filmmakers," Dauphin says.
"Maria" is the latest in a long line of recent indie films that have screened initially at Deauville and gone on to become solid hits, including Spike Jonze's 1999 fantasy film "Being John Malkovich," Mark Illsley's 1999 comedy "Happy, Texas," Christopher Nolan's 2001 thriller "Memento," Miguel Arteta's 2002 dramedy "The Good Girl" and Steven Shainberg's 2002 dramedy "Secretary."
French producer Claudie Ossard, a member of last year's Deauville jury, notes that offbeat U.S. indie films often perform better in France than they do back home.
"The French audience is very open to different kinds of films," she says. "The careers of young directors usually take off after their films are screened in Deauville."
Indeed, Deauville in many ways was an antidote to the high-profile, pressurized atmosphere of major festivals, and A-list talent often would travel from Venice to the chic Normandy town to relax and promote their films.
During the past decade, though, U.S. independent filmmakers steadily have created buzz for the informal Deauville festival, which tends to typify its beachfront venue and unpredictable fall weather. The introduction of a 10-film competition section in 1995 helped Deauville evolve into a hot spot on the festival circuit, especially for young filmmakers looking to benefit from early exposure in Europe.
The buzz this year is louder than ever before, with a wave of first-time helmers set to make pilgrimages to Deauville to screen six debut films in competition and a clutch of first films in the festival's out-of-competition, Premieres, Panorama and documentary sections.
"The directors, many of whom have doubled as screenwriters, represent a new generation of talent who will most likely go on to win international recognition and make the return trip to Deauville with new films," says Jerome Lasserre, head of the film department at Deauville's organizing company, Le Public Systeme.
Debut writer-director Rian Johnson is delighted that his Dashiell Hammett-inspired high-school crime drama "Brick," an upcoming Focus Features release, was selected to compete in Deauville.
"One of the first things (the film's lead) Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I bonded over was our love for all things French," says Johnson, who also raised the film's $500,000 budget by borrowing money from his family and friends and will join Gordon-Levitt in accompanying it to Deauville after it screens as part of the Venice International Film Festival's Critics Week sidebar.
While Johnson describes "Brick" as a "straightforward detective movie," Marcos Siega, whose Samuel Goldwyn Films/Roadside Attractions dramedy "Pretty Persuasion" also is set to compete in Deauville, finds it more difficult to label his first feature.
"It's about a 15-year-old girl who accuses her teacher of sexual assault," he says. "You could call it a dark satire, but it satirizes much more than the device of a young girl manipulating people. There are parts of it that are 'Lolita'-esque, but it takes films like (1962's) 'Lolita' and (1999's) 'Election' to another level and doesn't hold back where those films do."
Because the Deauville festival does not include a formal market, Siega, who also wears a producer's hat on "Persuasion," hopes the exposure will lead to informal dealmaking.
"I'm excited for an audience outside the U.S. to see the film," he says. "I believe French audiences will be more accepting of a film like this."
Similarly, painter/writer/visual artist Duncan Tucker is pleased that his $1 million road movie "Transamerica," acquired recently by IFC Films and the Weinstein Co., is gaining added exposure in Deauville. He notes, though, that the festival grind has been challenging.
"I was really happy that the film, coming out of nowhere, premiered (at the Berlin International Film Festival in February) and came in completely under the radar," Tucker says. "But we had a hard time getting people from the industry in to see it because they didn't take the subject matter seriously, and they thought it couldn't be anything but a campy movie."
Starring Felicity Huffman, "Transamerica" centers on a preoperative transsexual who dips into the money earmarked for her final surgery to meet a teenage runaway who turns out to be her son. Tucker, who spent a year in France as a student, doesn't quite know what to expect from the festival. "I love France, and it's an honor be there. I hope the movie finds a French audience because I feel I am so modeled after so many French directors." He hopes the film, which has sold "everywhere pretty much but France at this point," will find a French distributor there.
Other first films in competition are Ira Sachs' Sundance grand-prize winner "Forty Shades of Blue," which centers on a Russian woman who is estranged from her music-legend husband in Memphis, Tenn.; the Showtime telefilm "Reefer Madness," directed by Andy Fickman and based on a 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda movie; and "On the Outs," a drama written by Lori Silverbush and helmed by Silverbush and Michael Skolnik that centers on three down-and-out women in New Jersey.
Also set to compete in Deauville are writer-director Rebecca Miller's "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," an IFC Films drama that centers on a hippie father (Daniel Day-Lewis) who attempts to shield his daughter (Camilla Belle) from the real world; writer-director Lodge H. Kerrigan's "Keane," a thriller about a schizophrenic man seeking a new life; and Stuart Gordon's "Edmond," an upcoming First Independent Pictures release scripted by David Mamet and based on his play, which explores Edmond Burke's journey into the New York underworld.
Rounding out the competition are Lions Gate's "Crash," written and directed by Paul Haggis, and Focus Features' "The Ice Harvest," helmed by Harold Ramis.
Read more about "The Ice Harvest"
"First-time directors, many of whom write their own scripts, have received a tremendous boost after winning an award at Deauville," says Ruda Dauphin, Deauville's New York-based U.S. festival director.
Dauphin recalls that writer-director Joshua Marston was gratified last year by the Deauville audience's response to his Fine Line drama "Maria Full of Grace," which went on to claim the festival's top prize and other awards at festivals the world over.
"Besides the fact that everybody loves to come to France, Deauville offers a strong European platform for emerging U.S. filmmakers," Dauphin says.
"Maria" is the latest in a long line of recent indie films that have screened initially at Deauville and gone on to become solid hits, including Spike Jonze's 1999 fantasy film "Being John Malkovich," Mark Illsley's 1999 comedy "Happy, Texas," Christopher Nolan's 2001 thriller "Memento," Miguel Arteta's 2002 dramedy "The Good Girl" and Steven Shainberg's 2002 dramedy "Secretary."
French producer Claudie Ossard, a member of last year's Deauville jury, notes that offbeat U.S. indie films often perform better in France than they do back home.
"The French audience is very open to different kinds of films," she says. "The careers of young directors usually take off after their films are screened in Deauville."
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