In partnership with Pathé, we screened the new Danny Boyle film, Slumdog Millionaire, in digital to some 300 Europa Cinemas network exhibitors at a special preview in November at the Publicis film theatre. The film had won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival at the end of the summer.
Having won 4 Golden Globes at the beginning of the year, the film picked up 8 Oscars on Sunday, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score. Rewards which are a reminder that the Oscars are open to productions from all over the world. In recent years, the Oscars have presented awards to one or more European films: The Last King of Scotland, The Queen and Pan’s Labyrinth in 2007; La Vie en Rose, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Once and Atonement in 2008.
The phenomenon of the festivals - Slumdog Millionaire - which, let us not forget, has no famous actors - outside of India - in its cast list, has also become a fine example of the power of word of mouth in cinemas in Europe and internationally, with successful releases at these film theatres extending from December through until the end of March at least. In France, the film has registered nearly one million admissions and still runs to more than 800 admissions per print, after 5 weeks of exhibition! The figures quoted are set to rise further following the Oscars.

This success also affords us the opportunity to talk again about the careers of other European films screened at the last Europa Cinemas Conference.

The Swedish production Involuntary, by Ruben Östlund, has already been released in Sweden and Norway. It is scheduled for release this week in Hungary and the Netherlands before being distributed in France in April under the title Happy Sweden (distributor KMBO).

Following on from its success at the French box offices, with in excess of 400,000 admissions to date, Louise-Michel, from the pairing Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern, travels on across Europe: already distributed in Hungary, Germany is set to follow suit this year. As early as September, the sales corporation Funny Balloons had announced various sales for the film, even before its awards at San Sebastián and Sundance.

Revanche, winner of the Europa Cinemas Label at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, and successful at 6 international festivals, was a finalist for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars. The latest film from Austrian Götz Spielmann has just been released in Germany and will continue on its European journey in French, Norwegian and English film theatres in March.

The first feature film by Romanian Adrian Sitaru, Hooked, was released under the title Picnic in France in February; Bullet in the Head, by Jaime Rosales, will be distributed in France in March ahead of Jerichow, the latest film from Christian Petzold in April.

The two Italian comedies screened at the Conference, both of which were premiers, will be in several European cinemas this spring: Machan, winner of the Europa Cinemas Label in 2008 in Venice, directed by Uberto Pasolini, will be released in German and Dutch cinemas in May and June respectively. With regard to Mid-August Lunch, by Gianni Di Gregorio, it will be on the bill in France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands between March and August.

The icing on the cake, the documentary by Gaël Mocaër, No Popcorn on the Floor, which aroused much enthusiasm among its exhibitors who came en masse to its screening, will be distributed in France on 29 April by ADR. Remember the film is dedicated to the activities of one network cinema, L’Atalante in Bayonne.