I’M GLAD THAT MY MOTHER IS ALIVE Je suis heureux que ma mère soit vivante Best Screenplay award at 2009 Montréal World Film Festival Festival Selection: New York Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Today (2010), Venice International Film Festival (2009), Montréal World Film Festival (2009) West Coast Premiere Drama France, 2009 In French with English subtitles 35mm/1.85/Color/Dolby SRD/90 min Directed by: Claude Miller, Nathan Miller Written by: Alain Le Henry, Claude Miller, Nathan Miller Based on a story by: Emmanuel Carrère Cinematography by: Aurélien Devaux Editing by: Morgane Spacagna Music by: Vincent Segal Produced by: Jean-Louis Livi Production Company: F Comme Film Coproduction: France 3 Cinéma, Orly Films, Page 114 International Sales: Orly Films 10, avenue George V 75 008 Paris Phone: +33 1 53 23 95 00 In association with: Coach 14 21, rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud 75011 Paris Phone: +33 1.47.00.10.08 www.coach14.com Cast: Vincent Rottiers (Thomas Jouvet at the age of 20), Sophie Cattani (Julie Martino), Christine Citti (Annie Jouvet), Yves Verhoeven (Yves Jouvet), Maxime Renard (Thomas Jouvet at the age of 12), Olivier Guéritée (Patrick / François at the age of 17), Ludo Harlay (Patrick / François at the age of 9), Gabin Lefébure (Tommy at the age of 4), Quentin Gonzalez (Frédéric), Chantal Banlier (Chantal) Adapted by Alain Le Henry (A Self-Made Hero, See How They Fall) from a real-life story and co-directed by Claude Miller and his son Nathan, I am Glad That My Mother is Alive explores childhood trauma and its dire consequences on adult life. Unbeknownst to his adoptive parents, troubled 18 year-old Thomas (newcomer Vincent Rottiers, also in Silent Voices and In the Beginning, both shown this year at COL•COA) searches for his birth mother, who abandoned him and his brother when they were very young. He finds her single, with a small child, living in a nearby suburb and introduces himself to her. Traumatized by years of emptiness and longing for his mother, he starts an ambiguous relationship with her, part courtship part obsession, which slowly drives him to an act of madness. A graduate of L’IDHEC film school, CLAUDE MILLER started his career as assistant director to Robert Bresson, Jacques Demy and Jean-Luc Godard. While serving as production manager for François Truffaut (1968 to 1975), he wrote and directed two short films, La Question ordinaire (1969) and Camille ou La comédie catastrophique (1971), both presented at the Cannes Directors Fortnight. After a much-noticed debut feature The Best Way to Walk (1976), he turned to thrillers, with This Sweet Sickness (1977), adapted from a Patricia Highsmith novel, The Grilling (1981), César award for Best Screenplay and Deadly Circuit (1982). His subtle portraits of childhood and psychological torment have won critical acclaim: Louis Delluc award for L’Effrontée (1985), Jury Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for La Classe de Neige, International Critic’s Prize at the 2000 Berlinale for Of Woman and Magic (COL•COA 2000) and, most recently, Grand Prix des Amériques at the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival for A Secret (COL•COA 2008). Claude Miller taught film at Columbia University, the City College of New York and the School of Visual Arts in 2003 and was also a guest lecturer at VCU Arts Cinema in Richmond, VA in 2008. PRESS A model of clear, economical story-telling, I’m Glad’s plot meticulously provides all the relevant facts but never indulges in any psychoanalysis or speculation, inviting the viewers to make their own decisions. Starring several unknowns in tremendously effective performances, this looks like a natural festival hit...Dan Fainaru, Screen International. Co-directed, like "Band," with younger blood -- here, Miller's 40-year-old son, Nathan -- the pic has a restlessness and almost tactile feel, mirroring the young protag as he forms a curious relationship with the birth mother who once abandoned him. Derek Elley, Variety.