Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's Daratt (top); Kevin Bishop, Siobhan Hewlett, Marianne Faithfull in Irina Palm (middle); Nadja Uhl, Thekla Reuten in Twin Sisters (bottom)
The European Film Academy has announced that the winners of the 2009 Prix Eurimages, an award "acknowledging the decisive role of co-productions in the European film industry," will go to two producers "who have combined their efforts to develop and promote European cinema": Diana Elbaum and Jani Thiltges, heads of, respectively, Entre Chien et Loup in Belgium and Samsa Film in Luxemburg. Additionally, they have joined forces with Patrick Quinet, Sébastien Delloye and Claude Waringo to create Liaison Cinématographique, a production company based in Paris.
Under those various banners, Elbaum and Thiltges have co-produced films by Sam Garbarski, Lucas Belvaux, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Jacques Doillon, and Marina de Van. Among their credits (together or individually) are the unusual Jean-Claude van Damme vehicle JCVD; Irina Palm, starring Marianne Faithfull; the Academy Award-nominated Twin Sisters; Daratt, winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Venice Film Festival; and Elles, starring Miou Miou, Carmen Maura, Marisa Berenson, and Marthe Keller.
The information below is from the European Film Academy's press release:
Since founding her own company Entre Chien et Loup in 1989, Diana Elbaum has produced a wide range of award-winning films – fictions and documentaries – which have received critical acclaim on all continents. Joined by Sébastien Delloye in 1999, they have together produced some 30 films. In 2008, Diana Elbaum co-founded the company Dream Touch Pictures, the new distribution structure in Belgium.
Diana Elbaum has been a group leader at EAVE since 2006. Graduate of New York University, she now lives in Brussels.
Graduate of the INSAS in Brussels, Jani Thiltges co-founded the company Samsa Film in Luxembourg in 1986. In association with the producer Claude Waringo, he has gained a solid reputation as a producer of commercial arthouse films and has built up a catalogue of some 40 feature films. Jani Thiltges is President of the EAVE programme. In 2004, he was decorated by the Grand-Duke of Luxembourg for his activities in the cinematographic field.
The European Co-Production Award – Prix Eurimages will be presented at the 2009 European Film Awards Ceremony in Bochum, Germany, on Saturday, Dec. 12.
More on Eurimages.