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CANNES 2017 Market / France

Happy End leads the pack for Les Films du Losange

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- The firm can boast a line-up including Michael Haneke (eyeing his third Palme d'Or), Makala in the Critics’ Week and Barbet Schroeder as a special screening

Happy End leads the pack for Les Films du Losange
Happy End by Michael Haneke

Spurred on by its ambition of seeing Austrian director Michael Haneke become the first filmmaker in history to win three Palmes d'Or, Paris-based company Les Films du Losange, managed by Margaret Ménégoz, which is active in the fields of production, French distribution and international sales, will be rolling up at the Film Market of the 70th Cannes Film Festival (17-28 May) brimming with confidence. And the sales team headed up by Bérénice Vincent fully intends to achieve a return on investment with all of the assets on its very well-stocked slate.

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Having already been pre-sold for a sizeable chunk of the world, the French-Austrian-German co-production Happy End [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Michael Haneke
film profile
]
by Austria’s Michael Haneke will be one of the star attractions in the official competition. Produced by Les Films du Losange together with Germany’s X Filme Creative Pool and Austria’s Wega Film, the feature boasts a cast comprising Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz, Fantine Harduin, Franz Rogowski, Laura Verlinden and Toby Jones.

Another big name in world cinema is also on the company’s line-up, in the guise of Barbet Schroeder, who will unveil the French-Swiss documentary The Venerable W [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbet Schroeder
film profile
]
, also produced by Les Films du Losange, as an Official Selection special screening. The final instalment in the filmmaker’s "trilogy of evil", which began with General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974) and continued with Terror’s Advocate [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(revealed in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2007 and winner of the César Award for Best Documentary in 2008), the movie revolves around a highly respected and influential Buddhist monk, and delves to the heart of everyday racism, observing how Islamophobia and hate speech lead to violence and destruction.

Les Films du Losange is also selling the doc Makala [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Gras
film profile
]
by Emmanuel Gras, which will take part in the Critics’ Week competition. The second feature by the filmmaker, following Bovines (nominated for the César Award for Best Documentary in 2013), takes place in the Congo, where a young villager dreams of providing his family with a brighter future. His only wealth lies in the strength of his own arms, the bushland around him and his iron will. After travelling dangerous and exhausting roads in order to trade the fruit of his labour, he discovers the value of his efforts and the price to pay for his dreams.

The slate also includes the French-Turkish-Greek co-production Djam [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Tony Gatlif, which will be premiered at a special Cinéma de la Plage evening event, with a concert also featuring on the programme.

At the Film Market, Les Films du Losange will press on with sales for the documentary The Paris Opera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Swiss director Jean-Stéphane Bron, which has just broken through the 100,000-admissions mark in French theatres after four weeks on general release, as well as I Still Hide to Smoke [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Rayhana, which has been on the cinema listings in France for the last two weeks.

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(Translated from French)

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