"La Cantante de Tango" by Diego Martinez Vignatti

CRRAV RÉGION NORD-PAS DE CALAIS+ WALLIMAGE+ROTTERDAM FILM FUND +FLANDERS AUDIOVISUAL FUND

In 2002, at the Cannes film festival, producer Joseph Rouschop and director Diego Martinez Vignatti met for the first time. Rouschop was invited to Cannes as his first produced feature film ”Une part de Ciel” was selected for the festival. Vignatti visited the festival as chef operateur of the film ”Japon” by Carlos Reygadas.
In 2004, they worked together with another film by Reygadas; ”Battala en Cielo”.  Rouschop and Vignatti were both enchanted by the work of one another, and later on, Vignatti contacted Rouschop asking if he was interested in producing ”La cantante de Tango”.
-I instantly enjoyed and appriciated  the work of Vignatti, seeing his first feature documentary ”Nosotros”, Rouschop explains, and I feel fortunate to produce such a great film as ”La Cantante de Tango”.

-The script to ”La Cantante de Tango” was a pure pleasure to read and I loved it at first sight!, says Rouschop.
The film is not only dancing but also singing tango. The main character Helena loses her love and has to make a choice of what to do with her life. From this point, the film tells two parallell stories  – one where she stays in Buenos Aires and has to live with her memories – and one where she chooses to leave for Europe and becomes a tango singer.
- Making a film with that kind of history was challenging, developing and exciting, Rouschop explains.

”La cantante de Tango”, is accordingly produced by Joseph Rouschop running the production company Tarantula Belgium – which is part of the European Tarantula network, a network of film production companies. Tarantula is present in 4 countries (Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland).

”La cantante de Tango” is supported by the four Cine-Regio members CRRAV Région Nord-Pas-de Calais, Wallimage, Rotterdam and Flanders Audiovisual Fund. Rouschop has worked with three of the funds before; Wallimage, Flanders Audiovisual Fund and CRRAV Région Nord-Pas-de Calais, and have good experience thereof. The contribution from the four film funds of  approximately 30% of the budget is of course of great interest to Tarantula Belgique. Rouschop stresses, though, that the desire of working together is mutual, as the film funds, being co-financiers, are expecting their regions to be well used.
- In Nord-pas-de Calais, in the most important environment of the film, la Côte d’Opale, we shot a bit more than half of the movie. In Wallonia we have the Tarantula office and a big part of the crew. From Flandern, we have one of the main character and several artistic posts, amongst them the art designer that created the costumes of the main character, which are an extremely important factor in the film. As regards Rotterdam, it has a specific landscape that we could find nowhere else. We had a total of three days of shooting in Rotterdam, and one of those days included a rather difficult shooting in a swimmingpool!
Moreover, both Vignatti and I find it of great importance to use the characteristics within each region. As the main character lives two lifes in the movie, both cast and crew were exchanged at different shooting places, using the local people. So the different regions are very well represented in the film, Rouschop explains.

In the beginning of 2006, Rouschop and Vignatti started their work with ”La Cantante de Tango” and 2 ½ years later, the film was completed.  One year after Rouschop and Vignatti’s first meeting, at the Rotterdam Cinémart February 2007, Tarantula Belgique closed the deal with the Dutch (De productie) and Flemish (Minds Meet) coproducers. Later on, Mobilis productions (France), Trivial Media (Argentina) and RTBF (Belgium) also joined. In April 2007, the rest of the financiers came on board, amongst them INCCA from Argentina, Belgian TV and Eurimages.

The total budget ended at € 2,7 M, whereof
€ 210.000 from Wallimage
€180.000 from CRRAV - Région Nord-Pas-de Calais
€75.000 from Rotterdam
€110.000 from Flanders Audiovisual Fund
€230.000 from Eurimages.

Source : Cine-Regio, November 2008
 

Facts ”La cantante de Tango”

Synopsis

Helena no longer counts the years spent together. She lives through love and love makes time disappear. Helena is convinced of one thing: of loving and of being endlessly loved back every single day. But one day love flees away. 
   
Suddenly the world becomes hostile to her. Her sadness and despair make her lose ground. In her city, Buenos Aires, Helena is heading for a fall unless she makes up a new life and comes back to life elsewhere…

Original Title: ”La cantante de Tango”
English title: ”La cantante de Tango”
Original language: French and spanish dialogue, English subtitles
Genre: Drama
Director: Diego Martinez Vignatti
Producer: Joseph Rouschop - Tarantula Belgique
Screenplay: Diego Martinez Vignatti and Luc Jarbon
Origin of production: Belgium
Distribution Benelux: Cinéart
Co-producers: Minds Meet (Belgium), Mobilis productions (France), Trivial Media (Argentina), De productie (Holland), RTBF (Belgium).
Financiers: Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Communauté (BE), Eurimages, Wallimage (BE), CRRAV (FR), VAF (BE), Rotterdam Film Fund (NL), Belgian TV, INCCA (Argentina), Fonds voor de Film (NL)
International sales : Celluloid Dreams

Cast:
Eugenia Ramirez Miori, Argentina
Bruno Todeschini, France
Andres Ramirez Miori, France
Pieter Embrechts, France