Films Boutique has acquired French and international rights to “Pigskin” (“Peau de cochon”), a 2004 film directed by Philippe Katerine, a French musician, actor and filmmaker who took part in the Olympics’ opening ceremony. Films Boutique will relaunch the film in the fall festivals for its 20th birthday.
Katerine stars in the film opposite French singer Dominique A, film critic Thierry Jousse and Helena Noguerra. Katerine won the Cesar for best actor in a supporting role in Gilles Lellouche’s box office hit “Le Grand Bain” in 2019. He’s also been celebrated as a musician and was crowned Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique, French equivalent to the Grammy awards in 2020. He previously performed “Moustache” on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show.
More recently, Katerine played the Greek God Dionysus in the controversial scene which was interpreted by some as a satirical take on Leonardo da Vinci’s religious painting “The Last Supper.”
Mixing documentary and fictionalized self-portrait, “Pigskin” was shot in 2004. It was produced by Michel Klein at Les Films Hatari, whose credits include Claire Simon’s latest film, “Elementary” which premiered at Cannes Film festival in May.
The film comprises scenes filmed by Katerine, as well as friends and family. The title of the film is inspired by Katerine’s real life experience. He has said that at the age of 8, he was grafted at the age of 8 with a pigskin of “the size of a 5 franc coin” that saved his life.
“Being a great fan of Philippe Katerine art and music myself, I always considered ‘Pigskin’ to be an outstanding and unique film that was strongly underrated and lacking the recognition it deserved,” said Films Boutique’s Jean-Christophe Simon. “Made with a pure DIY approach, the film is a one of a kind film which manages to be a very funny and entertaining piece while being a powerful documentary about fantasies, death and childhood,” Simon continued.
Klein said the journey to make “Pigskin” started in 2003, when he asked Katerine to direct a short film commissioned by Arte called “1km a pied”. “The film was about retracing the walking path from his school to his house and use this ‘pilgrimage’ to recall many forgotten childhood memories,” said Klein, adding that this short film, which was successful, “gave the opportunity to Philippe to handle a camera for the first time.”
“As with his guitar when composing songs, he then wanted to compose several sequences and asked me for a camera again. That’s how this film called ‘Pigskin’ was born as a record. An almost improvised film, a playful self-portrait, a film holding at heart his best friend: the child that Philippe was,” Klein continued.
Source Agencies
