Films

INTERRAIL

2017 · Franco-Croatian location-unit production archive · feature film production

French-Croatian feature film project tracking Interrail youth travel and Pag production logistics.

Francusko-hrvatski film odrastanja: Aning Film vodio servisnu produkciju paškog snimanja za pariški JS Productions, ljeto 2017.

INTERRAIL — production still

This project credentials: Service production

Notes from the producer

Interrail was a service job, and I take service work seriously: a French unit needed Pag and Novalja to look and function exactly right during the busiest week of the summer, around the Sonus festival, and our job was to make that happen without drama. We scouted, cast the local extras, booked the accommodation and the vehicles, and put a 31-person unit on the ground for the shoot in late August 2017. That part worked.

What did not work cleanly was getting paid. We delivered, invoiced the 7.350,57 EUR that was still owed after the shoot, and then watched it go overdue - to the point where I had to issue a separate late-fee invoice, which is not a document any producer enjoys writing. The film itself reached French cinemas in 2018. I am keeping this one in the portfolio precisely because it is honest: the production discipline held, and the closeout did not. Both are true, and both are worth knowing about how this business actually runs.

- Matija Radeljak

The story

INTERRAIL is a French coming-of-age road film directed by Carmen Alessandrin and co-written with Julie Manoukian, about a group of recent graduates who win Interrail passes and chase one last stretch of freedom across Europe before adult life closes in. It reached French cinemas on 11 July 2018. Its Croatian leg - Zagreb, Novalja, and the island of Pag - ran through Aning Film, which handled service production on the ground for the Paris company JS Productions.

The Croatian work was methodical long before any camera rolled. The V7 screenplay was in hand by late April 2017. By late June a Novalja location package broke the segment down scene by scene: a bus station, wild camping close to the sea, beach continuity, and access to the nightlife spaces around the Sonus electronic-music festival. A pre-scout on Pag from 10 to 12 July tested access and constraints, and on 12 July a public casting call at Hotel Liberty in Novalja sought twelve extras aged 18 to 30.

Shooting was compact and timed to the Sonus window. Extras' contracts fixed the work period to 22-25 August; the Sonus production brief set 23-24 August as the key dates and put 31 people on the ground, moved by a 9 m3 van and minibuses. The Zadar County Film Commission later logged the Pag shoot in its own records, crediting the service production to Aning Film of Zagreb and JS Productions of Paris.

The ledger is unusually complete. The Croatia spending report for 1-28 August 2017 totals 216.940,80 HRK (29.350,57 EUR), split across accommodation, equipment rentals, locations, transport, extras, a line producer, a casting manager, and a production fee. Roughly 22.000 EUR of that was settled during the unit itself.

Then came the part independent producers know too well. On 13 September Aning Film issued invoice 26-3-1 for the outstanding 7.350,57 EUR; by 18 September it was overdue, and on 22 September a second invoice, 27-3-1, added a 5,00 EUR late-payment fee. The film was finished and released the following summer; the Croatian invoice sat in collection. As a portfolio entry, INTERRAIL is a plain demonstration of what service production actually is - locations, casting, crew, and transport delivered on schedule under festival pressure - and an honest record that delivery and payment do not always arrive together.

Milestones

  • 2017-04-28 — Screenplay V7 documented (Carmen Alessandrin, Julie Manoukian)
  • 2017-06-27 — Novalja location package compiled scene by scene
  • 2017-07-12 — Public casting call at Hotel Liberty, Novalja (12 extras, ages 18-30)
  • 2017-08 — Principal photography on Pag / Novalja, timed to the Sonus festival window (31-person unit)
  • 2017-09-13 — Aning Film issued invoice 26-3-1 to JS Productions (7.350,57 EUR outstanding)
  • 2018-07-11 — Interrail released in French cinemas

Outcomes

  • Croatia unit delivered — Principal photography completed on Pag and in Novalja, August 2017; total local spend 216.940,80 HRK / 29.350,57 EUR across accommodation, rentals, locations, transport, extras, line producer, casting, and production fee.
  • Feature completed and released — Interrail (dir. Carmen Alessandrin) reached French cinemas on 11 July 2018.
  • Final settlement overdue — Invoice 26-3-1 for 7.350,57 EUR went overdue by 18 September 2017; a late-fee invoice 27-3-1 (5,00 EUR) followed on 22 September 2017.

Credits

  • Carmen Alessandrin — Director
  • Julie Manoukian — Co-writer
  • Matija Radeljak — Producer (Aning Film)
  • Louise Krieger — Production manager
  • Aning Film d.o.o. — Croatian service production (Zagreb)
  • SAS JS Productions — Production (Paris)
  • Bethsabee Mucho — Co-production
  • Julien Seul — CEO / Producer (JS Productions)
  • Lisa Azuelos — Producer

Press & links

Related work: Sixth bus · Breathing into marble

Aning Film