ScreenDaily’s weekly round-up of the local and independent openings in key markets this week.

France

La Rafle, Roselyne Bosch’s depiction of the ‘Round Up’ of the Jews in Paris in 1942 was released in France on Wednesday March 10 on roughly 600 copies. The film, starring Jean Reno, Melanie Laurent and Gad Emaleh, looks at the collusion between the French and the Nazis, who imprisoned 13,000 Jews in the Velodrome d’Hiver before sending them off to concentration camps. The film is told from the point of view of a young boy who survived to tell his tale. Alain Goldman, of La Vie En Rose fame, produces with Gaumont distributing.

Wedding comedy Piece Montee was released by Diaphana Films on Wednesday on about 350 prints. The film stars Clemence Poesy, Jeremie Renier and Jean-Pierre Marielle in a story set on the wedding day of Berengere and Vincent where generations of families come together to explosive consequences. Wedding comedies have a good track record in France with the notable performance of Valerie Guignabodet’s Mariages! in 2004. That StudioCanal release brought in over 2 million admissions.

Atom Egoyan’s Chloe, a sexy drama starring Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried and Liam Neeson, was sent out by StudioCanal on 187 screens on Wednesday. Moore plays a doctor who suspects her husband of cheating. In order to assuage her doubts, she hires Chloe (Seyfried) to test her husband’s fidelity. Things take a turn, however, when the doctor herself falls susceptible to Chloe’s charms. Egoyan is a regular at Cannes but his films, with the exception of Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter and Where The Truth Lies, have had a hard time breaking the 100,000 admissions barrier in France.

UK

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo finally reaches cinema screens in the UK, after its unprecedented success across Europe. The film is the first installment of the big-screen adaptations of Stieg Larson’s Millennium trilogy that chronicles the investigations of journalist Mikael Blomkvist and anti-hero Lisbeth Salander. Momentum Pictures has the film nationwide from Friday March 12.

Under Great White Northern Lights, a documentary that follows rock band The White Stripes on their Canadian tour, gets a limited release in key cities through distributor More2Screen.

Germany

The Oscar-nominated Israeli-German film Ajami, which premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, is released by Neue Visionen in around 30 towns. The Match Factory handles international sales.

One of the Berlinale’s most talked about films, Feo Aladag’s feature debut When We Leave is opened by Majestic Film in 40 locations throughout Germany. Premiering in the Panorama section, the film was awarded the Europa Cinemas Label.

Ratpack Filmproduktion and Constantin Film prepare a nationwide release for their homage to Germany’s answer to James Bond, Jerry Cotton. Starring Christian Tramitz, Christian Ulmen and Penelope’s younger sister Monica Cruz, the production recreated 1960s New York at locations in Berlin and Hamburg save for a couple of days’ exteriors in the Big Apple.

All eyes will be on Universal Pictures International’s release of the family film Devil’s Kickers (Die Teufelskicker) across Germany. This is the first completed production from the new powerhouse UFA Cinema to be distributed via UPI as part of their strategic distribution partnership.

Spain

An audience award winner at San Sebastian last year, Sherry Horman’s Desert Flower now hits Spanish theatres through Golem on 50 copies. The film is based on Waris Dirie’s best-selling autobiography about the transformation of her life as a Somalian Nomad to an American supermodel. Backed by German outfit Majestic Filmproduktion, UK company Desert Flower ad France’s Bac Films among others, and starring mostly British actors, including Sally Hawkins, Juliette Stevenson and Timothy Spall, the film has already taken and impressive $10m in Germany.

Emilio Aragon’s $8m local drama Paper Birds will be released nationwide on 230 prints through Hispano Foxfilms. The film follows a group of travelling vaudeville performers in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, played by leading actors Lluis Homar, Carmen Machi and Roger Princep, among others. Versatil Cinema and Antena 3 co-produce with Imagina handling sales.

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