BERLIN – Gaumont has acquired international sales rights to vet helmer Bertrand Tavernier’s “A Journey Through French Cinema,” a feature documentary charting the history of French cinema from the 1930s through to the early 1970s.
Tavernier, who is president of Lyon’s Lumiere festival along with Cannes fest’s artistic director Thierry Fremaux, said Martin Scorsese’s “Personal Journey through American Movies” and “My Voyage to Italian Cinema” inspired him to make “A Journey Through French Cinema.” Through the doc, Tavernier will also shed light on the political and historical context of certain movies as well as share anecdotes about some directors.
Delving into French classics, the documentary includes interviews and footage from Jean Renoir, Claude Sautet, Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, Francois Truffaut and Jacques Becker.
“I am not a professor or college don. This voyage is primarily meant to be an entertaining, leisurely and non-economic stroll through the cinema I have learned to love,” said Tavernier. Tavernier has had four movies playing in Cannes including “Un dimanche a la campagne” which earned him best director and most recently “The Princess of Montpensier.”
The docu is produced by Little Bear Production, Pathe and Gaumont. Pathe Distribution will release “Journey” in France in October.
