Moscow IFF Competition: Escalation/Escalade

21-06-2011

Moscow IFF Competition: Escalation/Escalade

By Nina Boyarshinova

French director, scriptwriter and producer Charlotte Silvera turned to the Russian play Dear Elena Sergeevna by Lyudmila Razumovskaya as the source material for her film Escalation. It tells a story about group of teenagers visiting their high school headmistress, who comes to realize that these young boys and girls want to blackmail her.

{mosimage}Silvera places the plot in a French setting, with the main character of her film Alice Nabat (Carmen Maura) inviting the group of young people to have a drink, not knowing that they actually want to steal the answers to the Baccalaureat exam. The teacher becomes a hostage in her own home.

Silvera made her film directing debut in the late 1970's with several documentaries and short films. In 1984 her film Louise...L'insoumise (Louise the Rebel), a dramatic story about Tunisian Jews settling in a suburb of Paris in the early 1960's, won Grand Prix of the Cadiz Film Festival.

Prior to Escalation the director made several films focusing on women characters in different situation: Prisonnieres/ Women In Prison (1988), a story about the complicated relationship between women in prison; C'est La Tangente Que Je Prefere/ Love, Math And Sex (1997) about love and sex between 15-years-old Sabine and her much more older teacher; and Les Filles, Personne S'en Mefie/ Girls Can Get Away With Anything (2002) about two girls dreaming about cinema.

{mosimage}Escalation was in the Official selection for the Women's Film festival in Creteile (www.filmsdefemmes.com) and screens in the Main Competition at the 33rd International Film Festival in Moscow (www.moscowfilmfestival.ru).

The producers told FNE that the budget of the film was 1,100,000 euros. Funding came from Liberté Films, France 2 Cinéma (www.france2.fr), SOFICA Carrere, Région Nord-Pas de Calais (www.nordpasdecalais.fr), and Malvarosa (Spain).

Distribution is managed by Hévadis Films (www.hevadis.eu), and the world sales company is Rendez-vous pictures (www.rendezvouspictures.com).

Credits:

Director: Charlotte Silvera

Writer: Charlotte Silvera

Cinematography: Yves Cape

Film editing: Hélène De Luze

Art director: Nikos Mélétopoulos

Costumes designer: France Thebaut

Music: Jacques-Emmanuel Rousselon

Production manager: Pascal Lamargot

Executive Producer : Jean-Claude Jean

Associate production company : Liberté Films