PARIS — “Smell of Us,” directed by “Kids” helmer Larry Clark, is one of seven pics that will receive coin from Ile de France.
Penned by Mathieu Landais, the Paris-set drama turns on four skateboarding friends on a self-destructive path.
The $4.5 million pic, produced by Gaul’s Penelope Morgane Prods., will receive $513,366 from Ile de France. Mars Distribution will release the film in France. International sales will also be handled by a French shingle.
Lensing is expected to kick off in the first half of 2013.
The Ile de France’s regional support fund injects $18.1 million into about 30 films a year. It’s one of the few soft money sources in France that is open to foreign films — including U.S. pics — and can be combined with other co-production coin. To be eligible, foreign producers must shoot half of their films, or at least 20 days, in Paris and/or its suburbs and complete some of the technical services there.
Fund will also back Martin Provost’s “Violette,” a drama exploring the complex relationship between novelist Violette Leduc and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir.
Provost is best known for directing “Seraphine,” a biopic of painter Seraphine de Senlis, which nabbed five Cesars, France’s top film award.
Produced by TS Prods., “Violette” will get $513,366 from Ile de France towards its estimated $7.5 million budget.
Shooting will start Nov. 13, and stars Emmanuelle Devos (“Read my Lips”), Sandrine Kiberlain (“Mademoiselle Chambon”) and Olivier Gourmet (“The Minister”).
Other pics that will receive funding from the region include Michel Gondry’s “Mood Indigo” and Kim Chapiron’s “La Creme de la creme.”
