Code Name Melville - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Code Name Melville is a feature length

Feature length

Feature length is motion picture terminology referring to the length of a feature film. According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a feature length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes to be eligible for an Academy Award.The term may also...

documentary

Documentary

A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

about Jean-Pierre Melville, directed by Olivier Bohler and produced by Raphaël Millet

Raphaël Millet

Raphaël Millet is a French writer, critic, producer and director of cinema and television, as well as an organiser and programmer of cultural events.- Studies :...

for Nocturnes Productions

Nocturnes Productions

Nocturnes Productions is a French production company founded in 2007 by Olivier Bohler and Raphaël Millet.- Activity :Nocturnes Productions produces mainly documentary films about cinema and film-makers, such as Code Name Melville directed by Olivier Bohler and Pierre Schoendoerffer, the Sentinel...

in 2008. Its world premiere took place in November 2008 at the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei

Taipei

Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

(Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

). It has been shown on French channel CinéCinéma Classic

CinéCinéma Classic

CinéCinéma Classic is one of Cinecinema channels dedicated to classic films from all over the world, mainly American & French cinema.The Programs begin at 08:00 CET and goes till the next day morning.all Films broadcast in their original language with French subtitle or in a separate audio channel...

in March–April 2010, and on Belgian channel La Deux (RTBF

RTBF

Radio Télévision Belge Francophone is the public broadcasting organization of the French Community of Belgium, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium...

) in May 2010. It is the first feature documentary about Jean-Pierre Melville since he died in 1973.

Synopsis

Jean-Pierre Melville, born Jean-Pierre Grumbach, was of Alsatian Jewish descent. Having to flee Nazi-occupied France during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he joined the French Resistance

French Resistance

The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...

and took the pseudonym Melville, in tribute to American novelist Herman Melville

Herman Melville

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....

. He subsequently retained his war name as his stage name, once the war was over. This personal experience of the war and in particular of resistance fighting impacted Melville's formative year and has an influence which can be seen in his films.

Production

Code Name Melville is a co-production between Nocturnes Productions and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel

Institut national de l'audiovisuel

The Institut national de l'audiovisuel , is a repository of all French radio and television audiovisual archives. Additionally it provides customers with a free and immediate access to archives of countries such as Afghanistan and Cambodia...

(INA, the French National Institute for Audiovisual).

It has been funded by the National Center of Cinematography and the moving image, the Regional Fund of Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...

and the Regional Fund of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur or PACA is one of the 27 regions of France.It is made up of:* the former French province of Provence* the former papal territory of Avignon, known as Comtat Venaissin...

, with the support of the French Ministry of Defence, Ciné Cinéma, RTBF

RTBF

Radio Télévision Belge Francophone is the public broadcasting organization of the French Community of Belgium, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium...

and StudioCanal

StudioCanal

StudioCanal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world...

Cast

Michel Dreyfus-Schmidt
Leo Fortel
Pierre Grasset
Laurent Grousset
Rémy Grumbach
Masahiro Kobayashi
Masahiro Kobayashi
is a Japanese actor and seiyū from Yakumo, Futami District, Hokkaidō. He is a graduate of Yakumo-chō Ritsu Yakumochū School and Hokkaidō Hakodate Chūbu High School, and is a drop-out of the cinema course in the Nihon University College of Art. In 1995 he enrolled in the Seinenza Theater Company...
André S. Labarthe
André S. Labarthe
André S. Labarthe is a French actor, film producer and director. He starred alongside Anna Karina in the 1962 film Vivre sa vie.-Selected filmography:* Vivre sa vie * L'amour fou...
Philippe Labro
Philippe Labro
Philippe Labro, is a French author, journalist and film director, born in Montauban on 27 August 1936. He has worked for RTL, Paris Match, TF1 and Antenne 2...
Jean-Pierre Melville (archival footage)
Jean-Jacques Nataf
Rui Nogueira
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker who has worked in Germany, France and the United States...
Bertrand Tavernier
Bertrand Tavernier
Bertrand Tavernier is a French director, screenwriter, actor, and producer.-Life and career:Tavernier was born in Lyon, the son of Geneviève and René Tavernier, a publicist and writer, several years president of the French PEN club. Tavernier wanted to become a filmmaker since the age of thirteen...
Johnnie To
Johnnie To
Johnnie To Kei-Fung, born 22 April 1955, is a Hong Kong film director and producer. Popular in his native Hong Kong, To has also found acclaim overseas...

Festival screenings

Golden Horse Film Festival, Taipei, November 2008.
Torino Film Festival
Torino Film Festival
The Torino Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Turin, Italy. Held every November, it is the second largest film festival in Italy, following the Venice Film Festival...

, November 2008.
Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels
Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels
The International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes , founded in 1987 by Michel Mitrani , was first held in Cannes in October 1987....

(FIPA), Biarritz, 24 January 2009 (in competition for the Mitrani Award).
Festival international du film policier de Beaune, 9 April 2009 http://www.cotedor-tourisme.com/festival-international-du-film-policier-de-beaune_fr_35_detail_fmabou0210009216.html.
Sotto le Stelle del Cinema, Bologne, 27 July 2009.
Cambridge Film Festival, 19 & 25 September 2009.
CineCity - Brighton Film Festival, 24 November 2009.
Documentary Month in Franche-Comté, 2009.
Amiens International Film Festival, 19 novembre 2009.
Tokyo's Franco-Japanese Institute, in conjunction with Tokyo FilmEx, 12 December 2009.
French Cultural Center in Beijing, 21 December 2009.
Angers Premiers Plans Festival, January 2010.
Screenings as part of the Melville retrospective of the 26th French Film Festival in Singapore on 04 & 9 October 2010.
Screening at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, 8 October 2010.
Screening at TischAsia (New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Asia), Singapore, 8 October 2010.
Screening at the Cinémathèque Française
Cinémathèque Française
The Cinémathèque Française holds one of the largest archives of films, movie documents and film-related objects in the world. Located in Paris, the Cinémathèque holds daily screenings of films from around the world.-History:...

(French Cinematheque), Paris, 10 November 2010.
Screening at the Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey, on 25-26–27 February 2011.

External links

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