French distribution outfit Rezo Films is to produce Eric Rohmer's next film, Triple Agent. The Euros 4m film, which teams Rezo with Rohmer's own production outfit, C.E.R, will also mark the distribution outfit's first foray into the foreign sales sector.

Rezo Film used to focus on the distribution (and sometimes the production) of auteurish French titles such as Claire Denis' controversial 2001 Cannes title Trouble Every Day and Pascal Bonitzer's Petites Coupures, starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Daniel Auteuil, currently in post-production.

Since the beginning of the year, the 10 year-old company headed by Jean-Michel Rey has moved on to the distribution of foreign titles in France. According to head of acquisitions (and now foreign sales) Laurent Danielou : "Foreign titles are to represent a small half of our slate, and, in line with our French titles, we will be seeking films with a difference. "

Rezo's first two such releases were Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner, the first Inuit film to be selected for the Cannes film festival (300,000 tickets sold and the second most successful non-US foreign film in France this year after Pedro Almodovar's Talk To Her and Bollywood's oscar-nominated Lagaan . Rezo has also picked up US title, Tom mcLaughlin's Andy Garcia-starrer The Unsaid, which it will open December 18.

Triple Agent, a 'spy and romance' tale set in Paris in 1936 and loosely based on a true story, will provide a good trial run for Rezo's first attempt as a foreign sale agent, as Rohmer has a cult following worldwide.

The film, which is currently being cast, is to start shooting as of January 2003 and Danielou will launch foreign pre-sales at the upcoming Mifed.

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