Philippe Claudel introduces his debut film in HCM City

VietNamNet Bridge – Philippe Claudel, a French film director, novelist and scriptwriter, met with film lovers in HCMC on Monday to introduce his debut film II y a Iongtemps que je t'aime (I have loved you so long) at the Institute for Cultural exchange with France (IDECAP).

Claudel, 47, has won many awards for his novels such as the France Television and Goncourt Awards. 0In 2008, he directed his own screenplay ll y a longtemps que je t'aime which won the BAFTA Award for Best Film. This film tells the story of a woman struggling to interact with her family and find her place in society after serving a fifteen-year prison sentence for the murder of her six-year-old son in an act of euthanasia as he was in pain and terminally ill.

"Euthanasia has been a controversial problem for people in Europe in general and in France in particular or even lawmakers and politicians and I posed the problem to make people think about it again," said Claudel.

Teaching in prison for 11 years inspired him to compose the screenplay ll y a longtemps que je t'aime.

The film took him nine months to complete at a cost of nearly four million euro. It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Cambridge Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival before its theatrical release in the U.S. on October 24, 2008. The movie has grossed nearly US$19 million at box offices worldwide.

The film will be screened at IDECAP, 28 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, HCMC at 3 p.m. on Saturday. A literary debate about his works and an autograph signing session by ClaudeI takes place at IDECAF on November 4.

VietNamNet/SGT