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RENAULT AND CINEMA: A LOVE STORY

Renault and the cinema are part of a love story stretching back over more than one hundred years. A century of cinema stars and automotive stars and – above all – a century of storytelling by the greatest names in cinema and the Renault brand.

A love story lasting one hundred years 

On February 13, 1895, the Lumière brothers filed a patent for the first camera “designed to obtain and view chronophotographic proofs”. The cinema was born. Just four years later, Louis Renault appeared in a film at the wheel of the Type A voiturette. He was one of the first manufacturers to see the cinema as a new way of promoting his products.

The course of the next century transformed both the cinema and the automotive industry. Against a backdrop of cultural and technological change, Renault continued to work with the silver screen at prestigious festivals around the world and on film sets.

Renault and the cinema bring great stories to life 

Vel Satis and Brad Pitt at the Cannes Film Festival

Throughout its history, Renault has maintained close relations with TV and cinema production companies. The brand’s vehicles are frequently present on the set, for films, documentations and TV series. To meet the needs of production companies, Renault has a fleet of around 70 vehicles representing the entire range.

 

Every year, Renault receives more than 300 scenarios. This partnership between Renault and the cinema has produced many a great on-screen story. A few examples:

 

  • Roger Moore as James Bond, does amazing things at the wheel of a Renault 11 in a classic sequence at the Eiffel Tower. A View to a Kill (1985) deserves its title!
  • In 2007, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker take part in an impressive car chase across Paris in an Espace in Rush Hour 3.
  • In The Wings of Desire (1987), director Wim Wenders takes a new look at the poetry of the 4CV.
  • In the science fiction movie Children of men (2006), Clive Owen and Julianne Moore travel in a modified Avantime until a breathtaking action sequence disrupt the journey.
  • A gleaming Vivastella disturbs the calm of François the postman’s village in Jour de fête (1949), Jacques Tati’s masterpiece.

 

And the story doesn’t stop there. Renault vehicles can be seen in many films scheduled for release in 2009 :

 

Feature films

 

  • Les Herbes Folles, by Alain Resnais, with André Dussolier, Emmanuelle Devos and Sabine Azéma
  • Le jour de la jupe, by Jean-Paul Lilienfeld, with Isabelle Adjani
  • Je l'aimais, by Zabou Breitman, with Daniel Auteuil 

French TV series

 

  • Plus Belle la Vie (channel France 3)
  • R.I.S. (channel TF1) 
  • Boulevard du Palais (channel France 2)
  • Femmes de Loi (channel TF1)