Famed director Claude Lelouch shoots his latest project in Romania's MediaPro Studios

The 45th project to come from Claude Lelouch, feature film “Ces Amours La” starts shooting on the 8th on June at the MediaPro Studios in Buftea. "It's a film I've wanted to make my whole life," the French director said of "Ces amours la."

"It took me 40 years to write it. I always knew I'd make this movie." Living legend of French and world cinema, Claude Lelouch has earned an Oscar and a Palm D'Or for his 1966 movie "A Man and a Woman" ("Un homme et une femme"), starring Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

During an impressive career spanning over fifty films, the director work with acting legends such as Yves Montand, Lino Ventura, Annie Girardot, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Fanny Ardant, Jeremy Irons, Claudia Cardinale, Anne Parillaud and many other resounding names in world
cinema.

Lelouch started work for this project almost 40 years ago - and has shot for it, in a way or another, in every project undertaken since. Because of this, the film's current stars will even share screen time even with legendary actors who are no longer with us. "I read in the Torah one day that we all have the right to five great loves in our lives, so I decided to make a film about that," Lelouch said.

Lead Audrey Dana stars in the life story of a woman (Ilva) that recollects her frantic life through the storms of the first half-century - and above all her five great loves, french, american and german, one of them played by famous french singer Raphael on his screen debut. The cast includes both current stars of french cinema as well as names that enchanted viewers generations ago and are no longer with us such as Dominique Pinon, Anouk Aimee, Judith Magre, Christine Citti, Jacky Ido and Salome Lelouch, to name but a few.

CES AMOURS LA tells the story of Ilva, the lead character, from 1940 to 1960, while presenting her history and future through a prologue and epilogue respectively. The film is a first for Claude Lelouch - while he so far has produced his own movies, this time the director puts his trust in a young production company - Les Films du Kiosque. The budget amounts to 7.5m Euros, but that does not include the sequences shot by Mr. Lelouch throughout the last 40 years in preparation to this film - that amounts to another almost 25m.

But CES AMOURS LA is also a love story of Cinema, the film reflecting the evolution of the art through the history it depicts - it starts as a silent, black&white film, with music, sound and colour making their appearance as history (and the story) moves on. Music has always played a crucial part in Mr. Lelouch's work - and taht holds true here asa well. The first theme for this project was composed penned ago by legendary composer Francis Lai, a long time collaborator and friend of Lelouch and himself a winner of the Oscar, Cesar, Bafta and Golden Globe awards. And for a maximum of involvement, the composer who took up that legacy - Laurent Couson - will be performing himself in front of the cameras.

Filming will be split between MediaPro Studios in Buftea, Romania and Beaune - a french city where Mr. Lelouch is starting a school of cinema - and will take the better part of eight weeks. The release is planned for early next year, so that it could eneter the cometition of the Cannes Film Festival.