BABY LOVE (Comme les autres) Official Selection: Palm Springs International Film Festival (2009) Los Angeles Premiere Comedy/Romance France, 2008 In French with English subtitles 35mm/1.85/Color/Dolby SRD/ 93 min Written & Directed by: Vincent Garenq Cinematography by: Jean-Claude Larrieu Editing by: Dorian Rigal-Ansous Original Music by: Laurent Levesque, Loïk Dury Produced by: Christophe Rossignon Production Company: Nord-Ouest Films International sales: FILMS DISTRIBUTION 34, rue du Louvre 75001 Paris Tel : +33 1 53 10 33 99 www.filmsdistribution.com With: Lambert Wilson (Manu), Pascal Elbé (Philippe), Pilar Lopez de Ayala (Fina), Anne Brochet (Cathy), Andrée Damant (Suzanne), Florence Darel (Isa), Marc Duret (Marc) http://vincent.garenq.free.fr/comme-les-autres.html A seemingly perfect same-sex couple, Emmanuel (Lambert Wilson, Babylon A.D., Dante 01, Private Fears in Public Places, Not on the Lips (COL•COA 2004), The Matrix Revolutions ) and Philippe (Pascal Elbé, Father and Sons (COL•COA 2004), Cortex (COL•COA 2008), A Simple Heart ) are in love and satisfied with their professional life. Unfortunately, they disagree on one crucial issue: parenting. Philippe categorically refuses to have children, while Emmanuel has a visceral, almost irrational desire to have a child. But Emmanuel’s attempts to fool the Social Services, or find a friend to carry a baby for him, all fail. When he meets Fina, an illegal Argentinian immigrant who agrees to be a surrogate mother if he marries her to give her legal status, Philippe refuses to accept the idea and moves out. ABOUT VINCENT GARENQ A former student at the film school La FEMIS, Vincent Garenq worked as location assistant in the 1990s on various films, including In The Eyes of the World (1991), Celestial Clockwork (1995) or The Proprietor (1996). He made two short films, Une Vie à Deux (1992) and Vita Sexualis (1994) then wrote and directed a series of documentaries for television (Les Petits Animaux Sauvages, Locomotion, Destination: World). From 2001 to 2004, he also directed various episodes of the popular French TV series Sous le Soleil. His documentary Let’s Dance: Nougzar in Georgia won 2nd place for the Adult’s Jury Award at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. Baby Love is his first feature film. PRESS "The controversial subject of same-sex adoption gets a crowd pleasing makeover in "Baby Love," the debut Gallic dramedy from writer-director Vincent Garenq. (...) The stellar cast and squeaky-clean tech package helped the pic find love during its early September Gaul release. (...) Never an easy sell in a country where same-sex civil unions are possible but where gay marriage and adoption are unlikely to be legalized anytime soon, "Baby Love" deftly avoids the trappings of political controversy..." (Variety) "The burlesque situations (...) and some hilarious dialogue allow the film to deal lightly with a touchy subject matter. They are able to get their message across and to overturn all preconceived ideas." (Liberation) "...Baby Love is the kind of film that can change hearts and minds about what makes a family. With some states in the U.S. currently denying adoptions to gay families, this is a story that is ripe for an American version with an equally stellar cast." (Glaad Blog)