Arte France Cinéma’s (managed by Olivier Père) fourth selection committee of 2014 has opted to get involved in co-producing and pre-purchasing five projects. Among these titles is Happy Time Will Come Soon (supported for the Development by the Fund) by Italy’s Alessandro Comodin, who rose to fame with his feature debut L’estate di Giacomo (winner of the Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present section at Locarno in 2011) and who this time will plunge straight to the heart of a love story haunted by the history of the last century. Having won the Arte International Prize at the Rotterdam CineMart, this project produced by Shellac Sud and Okta Film will be shot in northern Italy and will be a blend of documentary and fairy tale.

And then Elle by the renowned Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, back behind the camera eight years after Black Book to shoot a French-language film adapted from the novel Oh… by Philippe Djian. The cast is toplined by the brilliant Isabelle Huppert, and the shoot will kick off in January next year (produced by SBS Films together with Pallas Film).

In addition, the Franco-German channel will be supporting Voir du pays, the second feature by sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin, who came to fame at the Cannes Critics’ Week 2011 with 17 Girls . Produced by Archipel 35 and adapted from the novel of the same name by Delphine Coulin, the film should start shooting next spring, starring Ariane Labed (winner of the Best Actress Award at Venice in 2010 for Attenberg and at Locarno this summer for Fidelio, l’odyssée d’Alice) in the lead. The story revolves around two female soldiers who, just like all of the military personnel on their way back from Afghanistan, go through a decompression chamber, spending three days in a five-star hotel in Cyprus.

Arte France Cinéma will also be co-producing Foxtrot by Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz (winner of the Golden Lion at Venice in 2009 with Lebanon ), who looks back on his experiences as a soldier through a tragic story (due to be filmed in February 2015 – A.S.A.P Films with Pola Pandora Filmproduktion and Spiro Films). The last title on the list of selected films is Masaan, the feature debut by India’s Neeraj Ghaywan, which is currently being shot (Macassar Production with Sikhya Entertainment and Phantom Films).

For the record, this year Arte France Cinéma has already picked Louder Than Bombs by Norwegian director Joachim Trier , Le trésor by Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu, Babi Yar by Ukrainian filmmaker Sergeï Loznitsa, L’ombre des femmes by Philippe Garrel, Fatima by Philippe Faucon, Ce sentiment de l’été by Mikhaël Hers, Le Grand Jeu by Nicolas Pariser, animated film The Red Turtle by Dutch director Michael Dudok de Wit and La femme de la plaque argentique by Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa.