Ashes and Blood, Oceans take honours at Athens Francophone Film Festival

French star Fanny Ardant’s debut directorial effort Ashes and Blood (Cendre et Sang) starring Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz received the best film trophy at the 11th Athens Francophone Film Festival which wrapped in Athens today.

The French-Romanian-Portuguese co-production, written by Ardant, is a family drama on a background of racial hatreds between rival clans.

Ardant moved behind the camera after a distinguished and long film and stage actress career, a former muse, preferred actress and real life companion of late director Francois Truffaut, one of the pillars of the French  New Wave.

The Audience award went to Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud’s environmental-minded multi-million budgeted documentary Oceans which follows the steps of similar previous Perrin’s succesful productions as Winged Migration. Oceans is distributed in Greece by Village Films.

French superstar Jean Reno was at the awards ceremony accompanied by Richard Berry director of closing night film L’immortel (22 Bullets), which stars Reno.

Jean-Paul Gaultier, Jane Birkin, Nana Mouscouri, Antoine de Caunes, Benoit Magimel, Anne Consigny, Riad Sattouf, Francois-Xavier Demaison toplined the 20 plus-strong delegation dispatched by Unifrance, to accompany the 80 plus films showcased during the eleven-day event.

Unifrance backing reflects the fact that French films enjoy a 8% share in the local exhibition market, the top percentage for French films share in European countries.

The festival was organized by the Athens French Institute with the backing of local Greek partners.