Bubbelcom is a communication agency from Thionville known to moviegoers for sumptuous reissues of films on blu-ray/DVD. Rania Griffete, from Stiring-Wendel, created the agency with her partner. Their project for 2023: to become publishers of prestigious blu-ray reissues themselves.
07:00 | updated at 19:15
It is in a communication agency that Rania Griffete, originally from Stiring-Wendel, and Stéphane Chevalier meet. In 2017, they created La Plume, a Luxembourg communication agency. Both passionate about cinema, they count among their clients the Rimini editions for which La Plume takes care of the writing, the layout and the addition of content for their blu-ray reissue, with collaborators such as Christophe Chavdia and Franck Brissard (homepopcorn.fr).
Return to France in 2021, where the couple created Bubbelcom in Thionville. Still with Rimini as a client, the agency is working on the blu-ray reissue of the film The Quiet Man by John Ford, who recently won the 2023 DVD/Blu-ray prize from the Syndicat français de la Critique de Cinéma.
Starting with three titles
But Stéphane and Rania want to edit, produce and communicate on the films they have chosen. This project starts this year with three titles that have never had a blu-ray release in France: Desperately looking for Susan (with Rosanna Arquette and Madonna), Stay Hungry (for which Arnold Schwarzenegger got his only Golden Globe) and Life, love, cows (a comedy starring Billy Crystal). “After negotiations with MGM, from March 1 we will own the distribution of these films in France for a period of 5 years,” says Rania, delighted.
Digitize filmstrip
The agency will have to check if quality blu-ray masters exist, and if not, digitize the films but also check the quality of the subtitles and above all go in search of archives (photos, rush, anecdotes… ) to write the booklets that will accompany these beautiful blu-ray editions. And this is where Rania delivers very good news for the reissue of Desperately looking for Susan which will be released in the fall. Director Susan Seidelman and actors Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn and Will Patton are participating in this project. “We will fly next April to the USA to carry out the interviews. We are lucky to have the director in the loop and she will no doubt have archives to share”.
A fairly accessible environment
Rania also met, among others, Michael Radfort, director of 1984 (blu-ray reissue at Rimini planned for this year). “The world of cinema is quite accessible, she assures us, specifying that for stars like Brad Pitt, it’s sure, it’s less obvious”.
Information on www.bubblecom.fr
