French indie hub Commune Image makes market debut

Paris-based indie producer hub Commune Image makes its market debut this Cannes with Alexandre Villeret’s En Pays Cannibale, about a bunch of hard-core ravers on a 48-hour bender.

It is the latest film to come out of the production hub based in a former factory refurbished to look like an old cinema on the outskirts of Paris, which is home to some 40 independent companies.

Previous Commune-based projects include Djinn Carrenard’s €150 guerilla film Donoma, Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tullaye’s Benda Bilili!, which screened in Directors’ Fortnight in 2010.

Commune Image is handling distribution and international sales on Villeret’s debut feature following a bunch of clubsters on a 48-hour odyssey across Paris.

The hub gave the film a first market screening earlier this week and is planning a theatrical release for the film in December.

Commune Image was launched three years ago by the philanthropic, real estate, multimillionaire Oliver Laffon, who has invested millions of euros in developing spaces with a social or collective use.

Some 40 independent companies work out of the hub, ranging from Screen Runner, the producers of the Would You have Sex With An Arab?, short films specialists Affreux, Sales & Méchants Productions to alternative post-production company Les Machineurs and editing software company Firefly.

“The idea behind Commune Image was to create a space where film and media companies which are a bit alternative or New Wave can work together to get their projects off the ground,” explains Commune Image manager Michaël Werner.

“The hub revolves around three key activities, post-production, office space for independent producers and events,” he says. “The idea is that the three activities feed into one another… so that a film can be made from A-Z at Commune Image.”

En Pays Cannibale, for example, was produced by resident producers Takamete Film and Tracto Film and then cut by Les Machineurs.

Emamanuel Pampuri, the founding chief of Les Machineurs, says he strives to find low-cost, post-production workflow solutions for features being produced at the Commune.

“Traditionally a director would have to deal with several different companies when doing post-production. At Commune Image every thing is under the same roof… we offer an alternative workflow which covers every aspect of the film from processing the images to the final cut,” says Pampuri.