SUITE FRANCAISE: Principal photography begins

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Thursday 27 June, 2013

TF1 Droits Audiovisuels (TF1 DA), Entertainment One (eOne), The Weinstein Company (TWC) and BBC Films announce the start of principal photography today on the highly-anticipated 15M€ budget SUITE FRANÇAISE which is being shot in Brussels and Paris.

SUITE FRANÇAISE stars Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn, Oz the Great and Powerful), Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone, Blood Ties), Kristin Scott Thomas (In The House, Only God Forgives), Sam Riley (On The Road, Brighton Rock), Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger, Anna Karenina), Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street), Alexandra Maria Lara (Rush, Control, The Downfall, Youth Without Youth), Tom Schilling (Oh Boy) and Lambert Wilson (Of Gods and Men, The Matrix franchise).

Over fifty years after acclaimed novelist Irène Némirovsky's death in a concentration camp, her daughter decided to find the courage to read her journals. What she discovered was an incredible story...

Set in 1940s France and based on the international best-selling work of Irène Némirovsky, SUITE FRANÇAISE follows beautiful Lucile Angellier who awaits news from her husband, a prisoner of war whilst leading a stifled existence with her domineering mother-in-law. When Parisian refugees pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' homes, Lucile’s life is turned upside down. In the Angellier home, Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno, the handsome and refined German officer who has been posted to live with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and traps them in the tragedy of war.

TF1 DA acquired the rights to the novel in 2007 from Denoel Editions, which has since been adapted for the screen by Director Saul Dibb (The Duchess) and co-writer Matt Charman.

SUITE FRANÇAISE is a France/UK/ Belgium coproduction and will be released in France (TF1), while eOne will handle direct distribution in UK, Spain and Canada. TWC will handle the US rights, as well as distribution rights in Latin America, Australia, Russia and Germany. Sales agent TF1 International has also sold the film in Benelux (Dutch Film Works), Scandinavia (Nordisk Film), Switzerland (Pathe), Israel (Lev Cinema) and Portugal (Lusomundo) and is in advanced negotiations for the other territories. The film is also backed by BBC Films.

Xavier Marchand will serve as a producer on behalf of eOne alongside Romain Brémond who will serve as a producer on behalf of TF1 DA. Qwerty Films’ Michael Kuhn and Andrea Cornwell are producing and Harvey Weinstein will serve as executive producer alongside BBC Films’ Christine Langan.

Academy Award and BAFTA nominated film composer Alexandre Desplat (Argo), Academy Award-nominated production designer Michael Carlin (The Duchess), Academy Award and BAFTA-winning costume designer Michael O’Connor (The Duchess, Jane Eyre), Academy Award and BAFTA award-winning editor Chris Dickens (Slumdog Millionaire) and director of photography Eduard Grau (The Awakening, A Single Man) are all on board.

For more information:

Ian Thomson (Unit Publicist)
McAinsh Consulting
ian@mcainshconsulting.com
+44 7909 685077
+33 6 73 53 70 90

Jackie Rubin
Entertainment One
jrubin@entonegroup.com
+1 416.979.7256

Vanessa Kirsch
Cinepresse/ TF1 International
Kirschvanessa@cinepresse.fr +33 6 11 73 42 06


ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT ONE
Entertainment One Ltd. (LSE:ETO) is a leading international entertainment company that specializes in the acquisition, production and distribution of film and television content. The company’s comprehensive network extends around the globe including Canada, the U.S., the UK, Ireland, Spain Benelux, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea. Through established Entertainment and Distribution divisions, the company provides extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production, family programming and merchandising and licensing. Its current rights library is exploited across all media formats and includes more than 35,000 film and television titles, 2,700 hours of television programming and 45,000 music tracks.


ABOUT TF1 INTERNATIONAL
TF1 International is the worldwide distribution arm of TF1 Group ; one of the leading European media groups ; co-investing projects in partnership with French distributor UGC. Years after years, TF1 International has developed close partnerships in all areas of the TV and cinema industry, giving the world sales activity a privileged position on the international market place. TF1 International has enjoyed many successes, including La Vie en Rose starring Marion Cotillard, the Oscar® winning actress, Philippe Claudel's I've Loved You So Long, Sarah Polley’s Take this Waltz starring Michelle Williams, Claude Miller’s Thérèse Desqueyroux starring Audrey Tautou and Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral. TF1 International also runs a library of 800 films, including The Piano, Amelie from Montmartre, les Diaboliques, L’Homme de Rio, and 8,000 hours of TV programming.


ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY
The Weinstein Company (TWC) is a multimedia production and distribution company launched in October 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. TWC also encompasses Dimension Films, the genre label founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, which has released such popular franchises as SCREAM, SPY KIDS and SCARY MOVIE. Together TWC and Dimension Films have released a broad range of mainstream, genre and specialty films that have been commercial and critical successes. TWC releases took home eight 2012 Academy Awards®, the most wins in the studio’s history. The tally included Best Picture for Michel Hazanavicius’s THE ARTIST and Best Documentary Feature for TJ Martin and Dan Lindsay’s UNDEFEATED. THE ARTIST brought TWC its second consecutive Best Picture statuette following the 2011 win for Tom Hooper’s THE KING’S SPEECH.

Since 2005, TWC and Dimension Films have released such films as GRINDHOUSE; 1408; I’M NOT THERE; THE GREAT DEBATERS; VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA; THE READER; THE ROAD; HALLOWEEN; THE PAT TILLMAN STORY; PIRANHA 3D; INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS; A SINGLE MAN; BLUE VALENTINE; THE COMPANY MEN; MIRAL; SCRE4M; SUBMARINE; DIRTY GIRL; APOLLO 18; OUR IDIOT BROTHER; I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT; SARAH’S KEY; SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD IN 4D; MY WEEK WITH MARILYN; THE IRON LADY; W.E.; CORIOLANUS; UNDEFEATED; THE ARTIST; BULLY; THE INTOUCHABLES; LAWLESS; and KILLING THEM SOFTLY. Currently in release are THE MASTER, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, DJANGO UNCHAINED, QUARTET, ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH, DARK SKIES THE SAPPHIRES, SCARY MOVIE 5, KON-TIKI and UNFINISHED SONG. Upcoming releases include FRUITVALE STATION, THE BUTLER and THE GRANDMASTER.

TWC is active in television production, led by former Miramax Films President of Production Meryl Poster. TWC is the studio behind such hit television series as the Emmy® nominated and Peabody Award winning reality series PROJECT RUNWAY and its spin-off series PROJECT RUNWAY ALL STARS and PROJECT ACCESSORY; the VH1 reality series MOB WIVES and its spin-off series MOB WIVES CHICAGO and BIG ANG; and the critically acclaimed scripted HBO comedy/crime series THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY which also received a Peabody Award. The company is in production on the upcoming TLC series WELCOME TO MYRTLE MANOR, the A&E series RODEO QUEENS, and the Lifetime reality competition show SUPERMARKET SUPERSTAR hosted by Stacy Keibler. Among TWC’s other projects in development for television are the martial-arts epic MARCO POLO for Starz, an untitled private eye procedural for FX, and THE NANNY DIARIES developed by ABC with a pilot by Amy Sherman Palladino.
Lien About TF1 The Weinstein Company


ABOUT BBC FILMS
BBC Films is the feature filmmaking arm of the BBC. It aims to make strong British films with range and ambition, bringing the best of British talent to audiences. BBC Films is firmly established at the forefront of British independent filmmaking and co-produces around eight films a year, working in partnership with major international and UK distributors. Christine Langan is the Head of BBC Films, responsible for the development and production slate, strategy and business operations.

Recent releases include Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, the wickedly comic, Golden Globe nominated Quartet, Rufus Norris’s award-winning directorial debut Broken, Terri Hooley biopic Good Vibrations from directors Lisa Barros D’sa and Glenn Leyburn, Mike Newell’s sumptuous Dickens classic Great Expectations, Sally Potter’s reflection on troubled friendship Ginger and Rosa, Ol Parker’s teen romance Now is Good, Fernando Meirelles’ stylish and contemporary drama 360, James Marsh’s heart-wrenching thriller Shadow Dancer, Julien Temple’s documentary feature London – The Modern Babylon, Lasse Hallström’s Golden Globe nominated romantic comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Max and Dania’s kinetic 3D film StreetDance 2 and Ralph Fiennes’ contemporary Shakespeare adaptation Coriolanus.

Forthcoming films include Nick Murphy’s gripping crime thriller, Blood, due for a limited release from 31 May 2013, Mat Whitecross’s Spike Island where Stone Roses fans take a journey of a lifetime from 21st June, highly anticipated comedy Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa from director Declan Lowney previews from 7 August, and rounding off the year is the incredible true story of writer PL Travers and Walt Disney in director John Lee Hancock’s Saving Mr Banks.

BBC Films has an impressive back catalogue, which includes titles such as Simon Curtis’ Academy Award®nominated My Week with Marilyn, Nick Murphy’s supernatural mystery The Awakening, Lynne Ramsay’s intense thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin, David Mackenzie’s bitter romance Perfect Sense, Cary Fukunaga’s gothic romance Jane Eyre, Nigel Cole’s compelling true-life drama Made in Dagenham, Lone Scherfig’s Academy Award® nominated and BAFTA award-winning An Education; Armando Iannucci’s Academy Award® and BAFTA award-nominated In the Loop; Jane Campion’s Academy Award®nominated Bright Star; and Andrea Arnold’s BAFTA award-winning Fish Tank.