Code Name Melville (original French title: Sous le nom de Melville) is a feature length documentary film about Jean-Pierre Melville, directed by Olivier Bohler and produced by Raphaël Millet for Nocturnes Productions in 2008.[1] Its world premiere took place in November 2008 at the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei. It has been shown on French channel CinéCinéma Classic in March–April 2010, and on Belgian channel La Deux (RTBF) in May 2010.[2] It is the first feature documentary about Jean-Pierre Melville since he died in 1973.

Code Name Melville
Opening title credit
Directed byOlivier Bohler
Written byOlivier Bohler
Produced byRaphaël Millet
Nocturnes Productions
StarringJean-Pierre Melville (archival footage)
Johnnie To
Masahiro Kobayashi
Bertrand Tavernier
Philippe Labro
Volker Schlöndorff
André S. Labarthe (interviews)
CinematographyJulien Selleron
Edited byNicolas Dupouy
Music byJessica Lalanne
Distributed byStudioCanal (video)
Release date
  • 15 November 2008 (2008-11-15) (Golden Horse Film Festival)
Running time
76 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

Synopsis

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Jean-Pierre Melville, born Jean-Pierre Grumbach, was of Alsatian Jewish descent. Having to flee Nazi-occupied France during World War II, he joined the French Resistance and took the pseudonym Melville, in tribute to American novelist Herman Melville. He subsequently retained his war name as his stage name, once the war was over. This personal experience of the war and in particular of resistance fighting impacted Melville's formative year and has an influence which can be seen in his films.

Production

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Code Name Melville is a co-production between Nocturnes Productions and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA, the French National Institute for Audiovisual).

It has been funded by the National Center of Cinematography and the moving image,[3] the Regional Fund of Franche-Comté[4] and the Regional Fund of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, with the support of the French Ministry of Defence, Ciné Cinéma, RTBF and StudioCanal.

Cast

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Festival screenings

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References

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  1. ^ Code Name Melville on IMDB
  2. ^ Programming of Sous le nom de Melville on RTBF's website
  3. ^ Official website of the CNC[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Official website of the Franche-Comté[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "FIPA 2009 website". Archived from the original on 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  6. ^ "Festival International du Film Policier de Beaune - fêtes et manifestations à BEAUNE - Côte-d'Or en Bourgogne". www.cotedor-tourisme.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Screening at the Festival international du film policier in Beaune". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  8. ^ Page on the official website of the Cineteca di Bologna
  9. ^ Page on the website of the Cambridge Film Festival Archived September 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Listing in CineCity programme online". Archived from the original on 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  11. ^ "CRDP's official programme". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  12. ^ Page in Amiens International Film Festival's official website
  13. ^ "Annonce du film dans le programme officiel de l'Institut franco-japonais de Tokyo". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  14. ^ "Présentation du film sur le site du festival Premiers Plans d'Angers". Archived from the original on 2010-01-29. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  15. ^ "Article in LePetitJournal.com". Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  16. ^ Review of Code Name Melville on the National Critics Choice website
  17. ^ Programme officiel de la Cinémathèque française[permanent dead link]
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