Film production in the Ile De France, whichincludes Paris, was up last year, figures have revealed.
Statistics released by the National Film Centre show that on any one dayin 2005, 10 film or TV productions were being shot on the region's boulevards,parks or studios, amounting to 3,363 shoot days.
Feature films accounted for 40 shooting weeks in total - up from 29weeks in 2004.
Eleven foreign productions, including four major studio shoots, visitedthe area last year.
The Ile De France has the largest fundsavailable for any of France's regions. Incentives to shoot in the area includea $17m fund for those productions that film or use post-production facilitiesas well as tax credits. There is also a national tax credit available.
One in two French films shot in the region during 2005, accounting for100 features and 90 shorts.
Homegrown productions included Francis Veber'scomedy The Valet (La Doublure),currently in post-production, about a millionaire who persuades his mistress(Kristin Scott Thomas) to live with a taxi driver.
Also wrapped is Michel Hazanavicius's spystory OSS 117, which is based on thepopular James Bond-style novels of Jean Bruce. JerômeCornuau's TheTiger Brigades, another espionage feature, also used the capital but is setinstead during the belle epoque.
Paris coupled with London for Antoine de Caunes'Remake (Twice Upon a Time), in whichtwo ageing hipsters (Charlotte Rampling and Jean Rochefort) from the 1970s meet up again.
Other features included Michel Gondry's The Science OfSleep, which played Sundance this week; NouvelleChance, Anne Fontaine's comedy about a washed-up soap actress; and Cyril Gelblat's Cycles,which follows a Jewish family over three generations.
Scheduled to begin shooting in Paris - and Prague - during the next sixmonths is La Vie En Rose, an Edith Piaf biopic featuring Marion Cotillard(A Very Long Engagement, Big Fish) in the lead role.
While the qualification for subsidies can be tougher for foreignproductions - around half their shoot or half their post-production in the Ile De France - several larger productions still shot inthe region.
Chief among them was Sofia Coppola's MarieAntoinette, which spent 60 days in the area and generated about $24m worth of spending. Other Statesidevisitors included Steven Spielberg's Munich,Ron Howard's adaptation of The Da Vinci Code - which will open Cannes in May - andDavid Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada.
Among incoming non-US productions, UK director Stephen Frear's brought TheQueen, about the aftermath of the death of the Princess Diana, while Indiandirector David Dhawan shot his comedy Shaadi N°1
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