Filmfestivalen i Toronto pågår for fullt, og Variety gjør en sak på franske salgsagenters sterke tilstedeværelse på festivalene i år. Fra å tidligere hovedsakelig selge helfranske produksjoner, markerer nå spesielt Paris-baserte selskaper seg kraftig både med investeringer i – og salg av ikke-franske produksjoner. Ofte er de med helt fra manusstadiet, og avtalene blir signert allerede her. Samtidig er Frankrike som co-produksjonsland merkbart tilstede, med investeringer i sjeldent mange prosjekter fra internasjonale regissører og produsenter. (Det franske støttesystemet er som kjent åpent for utenlandske produksjoner.) På toppen av det hele er det ingen tv-stasjoner som kjøper mer film enn de franske.

Fransk filmindustris nye selvtillit er tydelig på flere områder, stigmatisert av en lenge etterlengtet Gullpalme for Entre les Murs og suksessen til Les Ch’tis. Frankrike har Europas høyeste satsing på film (1,8 milliarder dollar i fjor), det største publikumsoppmøtet (178,1 millioner solgte billetter) og ikke minst – den største andelen besøk på egenproduksjon (36,5%). Og kanskje var det på tide at Gallerne våknet fra dvalen. La oss håpe de også finner veien tilbake som Europas ledende filmnasjon hva angår nyvinning og kvalitet. Klikk deg videre for en liste over samtlige titler med fransk representasjon eller støtte i Toronto; den franske salgsagenten listet bakerst.

35 SHOTS OF RUM A widower is cared for by his daughter, who becomes his "stepwife." A Venice hit. Elle Driver

ACNE Uruguayan Fernando Veiroj’s adolescent angst dramedy, a Directors’ Fortnight standout. Rezo

THE BEACHES OF AGNES Agnes Varda’s unusual self-portrait, revisiting the beaches in her life. Roissy

BIRDWATCHERS Fat-cat fazendeiros and indios face off for land in the Brazilian jungle. From Italo-Argentine helmer Marco Bechis.Warm Venice reception. Celluloid Dreams

CHE Second major fest outing for the hugely ambitious Che Guevara two-parter, prized, hallowed ("One of the best at Cannes," the Guardian) and lamented (an "honorable, doomed effort," Time) at Cannes. A polarizer. Wild Bunch

A CHRISTMAS TALE Another step up for Arnaud Desplechin ("Kings & Queen"): a warmly received family ensembler, and hearteningly good seller for Wild Bunch.

THE COUNTRY TEACHER Friendship drama from Czech Bohdan Slama ("Something Like Happiness"). Wild Bunch

DELTA Kornel Mundruzco’s Cannes Competition Fipresci award winner. A clutch of major territory sales; more beckon. Coproduction Office

THE DUCHESS Keira Knightley dons bodice and bustle playing the 19th-century Duchess of Devonshire: glamorous, fated. Saul Dibb ("Bullet Boy") directs. Pathe Intl.

LA FILLE DEMONACO Riviera-set sex comedy from Anne Fontaine, a crowd- and (largely) crix-pleaser. Pyramide Intl.

FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA Jerzy Skolimowski returns with well-received Directors’ Fortnight opener, an ambivalent tale about a crematory worker’s amour fou. Elle Driver

GOODBYE SOLO Praised third feature by Ramin Bahrani ("Chop Shop"), about a Senegalese taxi driver. Venice standout. Memento

HOOKED New pic from highly praised Romanian Adrian Sitaru ("The Death of Mr. Lazarescu"). Rezo

I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG Family reconciliation drama, driven by a banner performance from Kristin Scott Thomas. A large Berlin critical/sales hit. UGC Intl.

INJU, THE BEAST IN THE SHADOW Barbet Schroeder’s Kyoto-set thriller with Benoit Magimel and Lika Minamoto, adapting Edogama Rampo, known as Japan’s Edgar Allen Poe. One to track. UGC Intl.

IT’S NOT ME, I SWEAR Mischief-making boy comes to terms with youth. From Philippe Filardeau. Films Distribution

JCVD Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself as a maudlin Muscles From Brussels. Tongue-in-cheek meta movie. Peace Arch U.S. pickup; multiple sales elsewhere. Gaumont

KHAMSA Fest fave Karim Dridi’s tale of a Romany kid’s slide into delinquency. A reportedly superlative perf from lead Marc Cortes. Rezo

KNITTING Yin Lichuan’s elliptical tale of a big-city menage a trois in modern China. Directors’ Fortnight player. Rezo

LINHA DE PASSE Working-class drama set on the streets and soccer pitches of Sao Paulo. Encouraging sales at Cannes. Pathe Intl.

MARTYRS Torture, revenge, abuse, violence: France’s latest blood fete from Pascale Laugier ("Saint Ange"). Likely to cleave crix. A Weinstein Co. pickup Stateside. Wild Bunch

MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA World preem for Spike Lee’s World War II Buffalo soldier story, from a James McBride screenplay. TF1 Intl.

ONE DAY YOU’LL UNDERSTAND Amos Gitai’s adaptation of Jerome Clement’s autobiographical novel. A Berlinale Special, and Kino U.S. pickup. Roissy

PARC Twisted friendship drama with Sergi Lopez and Jean-Marc Barr. Films Distribution

PARIS 36 Christophe Barratier’s rambunctious 1936 musical. Big home B.O. and rousing foreign sales likely. Pathe Intl.

PLASTIC CITY Brazil-Japan-Hong Kong co-production and Venice player from Yu Lik-wai about a father-son faceoff in Sao Paulo’s seething Liberdade crime burb. Celluloid Dreams

PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE One of France’s big fall bets: Jean-Francois Richet’s thundering, two-film portrait of Jacques Mesrine, France’s legendary bank robber, played to the hilt by Vincent Cassel. Screeening as a work-in-progress. Kinology

THE SEA WALL Plush Marguerite Duras adaptation, carried by Isabelle Huppert as a rice-field owner. World preem. Films Distribution

SERAPHINE True-life biopic of French postmodernist painter Seraphine de Senlis. World preem. Roissy

THE SILENCE OF LORNA Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s latest Cannes-prized, slow-burning study of the emotional binds of Belgium’s urban poor. Celluloid Dreams

THE SKY CRAWLERS Nippon toon auteur Mamoru Oshii’s groundbreaking 3-D animation pic, a WB release in Japan. Elle Driver

SNOW Aida Begic’s feature debut, a war-set tale of a mountain village cut off by winter’s first snow. Shared this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize. Pyramide Intl.

TEARS FOR SALE Serbia’s biggest production ever, a post-World War II village-set sex comedy, laced with lust, boozing, f/x and knock-out Charleston set pieces. EuropaCorp

THREE MONKEYS Best director winner at Cannes, from Turkey’s premier helmer, Nuri Bilge Ceylan ("Uzak," "Climates"). Pyramide Intl.

TREELESS MOUNTAIN Korean So Yong Kim’s sophomore sally after the Sundance 2006-prized "In Between Days." Memento

THREE WISE MEN A fiftysomethings "Big Chill," Mika Kaurismaki-style. World preem. Wide Management

TONY MANERO Promising breakout sales possibilities for Pablo Larrain’s Tony Manero imitator drama, set under Pinochet’s Chile, a Directors’ Fortnight standout. Funny Balloons

TWO-LEGGED HORSE A parable from Samira Makmalbaf, about a boy employed to carry a handicapped child to school. Wild Bunch

VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR Vanity Fair scribe Matt Tyrnauer’s bio portrait of opulent couturier Valentino. A buzz title going into Venice. Celluloid Dreams

VINYAN Fabrice du Welz ("Calvaire") returns with an apocalyptic ghost story, set in the Thai-Burmese jungle. Wild Bunch

VOY A EXPLOTAR Two 15-year-olds on a romantic lark in Guanajuato. Third pic from Mexican New Wave auteur Gerardo Naranjo. Elle Driver

WHITE NIGHT WEDDING Remarrying teacher gets cold feet. Huge home hit in Iceland. Celluloid Dreams

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MYSELF A feel-good neighbors drama from Francois Dupeyron ("Monsieur Ibrahim," "Officer’s Ward"). Kinology