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Code Name Melville
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Wikipedia article
'Code Name Melville' (original French title: 'Sous le nom de Melville') is a feature length documentary film about Jean-Pierre Melville, directed by Olivier Bohler and produced by Raphal Millet for Nocturnes Productions in 2008.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1309567/ 'Code Name Melville' on IMDB] Its world premiere took place in November 2008 at the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei. It has been shown on French channel CinCinma Classic in MarchApril 2010, and on Belgian channel La Deux (RTBF) in May 2010.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110615161555/http://www.rtbf.be/tv/programme-tv/detail_sous-le-nom-de-melville?uid=49208161668&idshedule=801f1cce754ce9870a5299fed62cea79 Programming of 'Sous le nom de Melville' on RTBF's website] It is the first feature documentary about Jean-Pierre Melville since he died in 1973.
Synopsis
Jean-Pierre Melville, born Jean-Pierre Grumbach, was of Alsatian Jewish descent. Having to flee Nazi-occupied France during World War II, he joined the French Resistance and took the pseudonym Melville, in tribute to American novelist Herman Melville. He subsequently retained his war name as his stage name, once the war was over. This personal experience of the war and in particular of resistance fighting impacted Melville's formative year and has an influence which can be seen in his films.
Production
'Code Name Melville' is a co-production between Nocturnes Productions and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA, the French National Institute for Audiovisual).
It has been funded by the National Center of Cinematography and the moving image,[http://www.cnc.fr/Site/Template/T3.aspx?SELECTID=2996&ID=2047&t=3 Official website of the CNC] the Regional Fund of Franche-Comt[http://dev.reseau-farr.org/page.php?id=3 Official website of the Franche-Comt] and the Regional Fund of Provence-Alpes-Cte d'Azur, with the support of the French Ministry of Defence, Cin Cinma, RTBF and StudioCanal.
Cast
* Michel Dreyfus-Schmidt
* Leo Fortel
* Pierre Grasset
* Laurent Grousset
* Rmy Grumbach
* Masahiro Kobayashi
* Andr S. Labarthe
* Philippe Labro
* Jean-Pierre Melville (archival footage)
* Jean-Jacques Nataf
* Rui Nogueira
* Volker Schlndorff
* Bertrand Tavernier
* Johnnie To
Festival screenings
* Golden Horse Film Festival, Taipei, November 2008.
* Torino Film Festival, November 2008.
* Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels (FIPA), Biarritz, 24 January 2009 (in competition for the Mitrani Award).
* Festival international du film policier de Beaune, 9 April 2009.
* Sotto le Stelle del Cinema, Bologne, 27 July 2009.[http://www.cinetecadibologna.it/Sotto_stelle_cinema_2009/ev/programmazione Page on the official website of the Cineteca di Bologna]
* Cambridge Film Festival, 19 & 25 September 2009.[http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/films/2009/codename-melville/ Page on the website of the Cambridge Film Festival]
* CineCity - Brighton Film Festival, 24 November 2009.
* Documentary Month in Franche-Comt, 2009.
* Amiens International Film Festival, 19 novembre 2009.[http://www.filmfestamiens.org/?SOUS-LE-NOM-DE-MELVILLE&lang=en Page in Amiens International Film Festival's official website]
* Tokyo's Franco-Japanese Institute, in conjunction with Tokyo FilmEx, 12 December 2009.
* French Cultural Center in Beijing, 21 December 2009.
* Angers Premiers Plans Festival, January 2010.
* Screenings as part of the Melville retrospective of the 26th French Film Festival in Singapore on 04 & 9 October 2010.[http://www.nationalcriticschoice.com/singapore_french_film_festival Review of 'Code Name Melville' on the National Critics Choice website]
* Screening at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, 8 October 2010.
* Screening at TischAsia (New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Asia), Singapore, 8 October 2010.
* Screening at the Cinmathque Franaise (French Cinematheque), Paris, 10 November 2010.[http://www.cinematheque.fr/fr/projections/hommages-retrospectives/fiche-manifestation/sous-nom-melville,11910.html Programme officiel de la Cinmathque franaise]
* Screening at the Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey, on 25-2627 February 2011.
References
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