Summary

TAPE: EF03/0472 IN_TIME: 20:50:46 DURATION: 5:31 SOURCES: APTN/Flach Pyramid International/Wild Bunch RESTRICTIONS: No re-use/re-sale of film clips without clearance DATELINE: Cannes, May 2003 SHOTLIST 1. GV's Steps for 'Les Invasions Barbares' Flach Pyramid International 2. Film clip -'Les Invasions Barbares' APTN Material 3. B-roll Denys Arcand (director) 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Denys Arcand: "The idea came to me that if I was going to try with these characters, the actors that climbed the American empire, it would work somehow because these people would try and enjoy life to the last moment. They would smoke a joint the last night, they would drink the last bottle of wine, they would make jokes, even bad jokes, but they would still fight it to the end. So as soon as I decided that it became clear that the script would have this kind of lightness in it that I wanted in it. So here I am." Flach Pyramid International 5. Film clip - 'Les Invasions Barbares' APTN Material 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephane Rousseau: "It is an incredible scenario. I read it so many times before playing it and I was crying all the time and always when my sister, she's on a boat far away and she speaks to her dad for the last time, every time I would have tears on my cheek. It happened again last night and I've seen it four times now and last night it was the jet lag and everything and the movie just started and I had my tear going down and I was like 'oh man' and it lasted all movie. It's a great moment because you get to share it." 7. GV's steps for 'Purple Butterfly' Wild Bunch 8. Film clip - 'Purple Butterfly' APTN Material 9. MS Liu Ye (actor) 10. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Lui Ye: "He thinks that he is very talented, he's an upcoming director in China and having the chance to work with him made his decision to work on this project." Wild Bunch 11. Film Clip - 'Purple Butterfly' APTN Material 12. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Lou ye, Director: "First of all I had the same feelings that there are parts of the film that I am still figuring out what they really mean to me. So basically the film is about different people that come together and what are the factors that bring them together and why they meet up and why they get separated later. It is about destiny, fate and so there can be many answers. I tried to use the film to try and understand fate and destiny because I don't have the answers myself. Through the film I hope that I can help myself to come to understand these matters." Wild Bunch 12. Film Clip - 'Purple Butterfly' CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR FRENCH COMPETITION RUNNER, AND ASIAN HOPE FOR PALME D'OR LES INVASIONS BARBARES A few days ago, critics had put 'Dogville' at the front running to win the prestigious Palme D'Or but now many have changed their minds after the screening of 'Les Invasions Barbares' by acclaimed Canadian director DENYS ARCAND. Arcand has long been a film festival favourite, but has never yet lived up to the reputation he gained after the 1989 Grand Jury prize winner 'Jesus of Montreal' until now. 'Les Invasions Barbares' may appear to be a follow up to his 1986 film 'Le Declin de L'Empire Americain' as it contains the same cast playing the same characters but Arcand states that he in no way wants the new film to be viewed as a sequel. The film follows the story of Remy, who is terminally ill in hospital. Remy (Canadian actor Remy Girard) is a middle-aged divorcee and former swinger. His ex-wife Louise (Dorothee Berryman) persuades their son Sebastien (STEPAHNE ROUSSEAU), a millionaire financier, to come home from London to visit his dying father. Estranged children (Marie-Josee Croze, Marina Hands), old friends (Pierre Curzi, Yves Jacques), and former mistresses (Louise Portal, Dominique Michel) gather around his bedside with their emotional support and their memories. A passing reference to September 11th introduces Arcand's theme of modern barbarians at the gate of civilization, and the director uses Remy's situation to look at the personal and the political in today's society, and the universal themes of love, faith, family and death. At its screening, 'Les Invasions Barbares' received a standing ovation, building on the strong opening it received when it was released in Canada recently. Arcand had to edit the movie down by 12 minutes for his Cannes appearance on the insistence of his distributors as they felt the film was too localized in areas. The film is Arcand's second film in French since 1989 and his 22nd film in total. PURPLE BUTTERFLY Although fear of spreading SARS prevented many Chinese filmmakers from coming to Cannes, the cast from LOU YE's film 'Purple Butterfly' premiered the film at the festival, with the beautiful 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' star Zhang Zi Yi. 'Purple Butterfly' is set in 1928 when Shanghai had been unofficially occupied by Japan. It centres around Cynthia, also known in the film as Ding Hui, who is working for Purple Butterfly, a resistance group planning to assassinate the Japanese head of the secret service, Yamamoto.. It contains numerous subplots and the theme focuses on people not having control of their own destinies. It follows three stories interwoven within the plot. One plotline follows Itami (Tori Nakmura), Cynthia's former lover, forced to leave when he was called home from his military service. In '28, Itami is also in Shanghai, operating as a secret agent and reporting directly to Yamamoto. Arriving at Shanghai station to meet his fiancee, Szeto, a young Chinese man, is mistaken by the assembled resistance fighters for the assassin they have hired to kill Yamamoto. Violence erupts and Szeto's fiancee is shot dead in the crossfire. Szeto escapes with the Purple Butterfly members, all of whom believe him to be the hired killer. Only Ding Hui realises the truth. The film has received mixed reviews from the notoriously harsh Cannes critics. 'Purple Butterfly' is the third feature from director Lou Ye, and the first to be selected in Cannes. CLEARANCE DETAILS FILM CLIP DETAILS Les Invasions Barbares Flach Pyramide International 33 (0) 1 42 96 02 20 Purple Butterfly Wild Bunch 33 (0) 1 53 01 50 24