The latest film by François Dupeyron has become the surprise hit of the fall season in Italy.

With over 300,000 Italian spectators flocking to the screens in 5 weeks, "Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran" looks set to outshine the performance of "Euro Pudding," and become the most successful French film in Italy so far in 2003.
After its presentation at the Venice Film Festival at which a tribute was paid to its lead actor, Omar Sharif, for Lifetime Achievement in the movie industry, the film's distributor, Lucky Red, pulled out all the stops with a 126-screen release in its opening week.
Still showing in more than 80 theaters, "Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran"'s career is far from over.

Gilles Renouard