PRESENTATION
Rouge Brésil is an ambitious project requiring a world class Director as well as outstanding actors and top technicians. These will drawn from France and Brazil, the two main co-production countries as well as Portugal.
The film recounts the story of the French invasion in Brazil in the 16th century, that was meant to establish a French colony overseas –Antarctic France. This historical event has relevance in today`s world: a religious conflict which anticipates a religious war that will shake Europe ten years later.
At the time Brazil was inhabited by millions of native Indians who at first were abandoned by the Portuguese discoverers and then decimated by them a couple of centuries later. The intrigues of the French court, the epic experience of a boy and a girl, who were lured into a trip to an unknown destination believing they would rejoin their long lost father; and the cruel commander of this expedition, Villegagnon, compose this panel of compelling history.
Accepting this challenge was not an easy task, especially for a Brazilian producer. Even with the comeback of Brazilian cinema on the international scene, the partnership with an experienced producer such as Pierre Spengler, with whom I have worked with in the past is indispensable. His participation is an additional guarantee for investors in France, Brazil, Europe and in the United States that this project will come safely into port.
The fact that Jean-Christophe Rufin, renowned author of ROUGE BRÉSIL, has been awarded the Prix Goncourt only adds to our responsibility in this production. We will have to draw the best of what we have in both our countries to produce a film that will be distributed world-wide.
Also, it is essential that this project be included in the scope of activities to be developed by both governments in 2005, the “Year of Brazil” in France. The schedule foresees the film`s Premiere in Paris in December 2005. The changes now taking place in Brazil are yet another reason to motivate and promote this production.
The support Éditions Gallimard have been giving us, through Prune Berge, is also paramount for the conclusion of this project. And even if Jean-Christophe Rufin has not been directly involved in the production, he is totally behind it and giving us his full support and advice.
Cláudio Kahns
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE RUFIN was born in 1952. A doctor, who pioneered the humanitarian movement “sans frontiers”, he spent many years in Brazil as the cultural attaché for the French General Consulate in Recife. As a writer he published essays on the third world and novels that have been translated into many languages. Among his novels are THE ABYSSINIAN (1977), awarded the Prix Goncourt for first novel and the Prix Méditerrané; THE SIEGE OF ISFAHAN (1998); LOST CAUSES, awarded the Prix Interallié 1999.
Jean-Christophe Rufin awarded the prix Goncourt for the novel ROUGE BRÉSIL.
