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CANNES 2017 Market / France

French sellers rack up deal after deal at Cannes

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- CANNES 2017: Among the titles doing exceedingly well at the Film Market are BPM (Beats Per Minute), The Double Lover, Ava and Beauty and the Dogs

French sellers rack up deal after deal at Cannes
BPM (Beats Per Minute) by Robin Campillo

Now entering the home stretch of the Film Market at the 70th Cannes Film Festival, French sellers are bustling with activity on the Croisette. Here is a quick overview of the main announcements, an interim report that will undoubtedly be enriched with more additions as the awards ceremony approaches.

Films Distribution is taking the market by storm with BPM (Beats Per Minute) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Valois
interview: Robin Campillo
film profile
]
by Robin Campillo, which charmed a lot of people when it was premiered in the official competition. The film has already been acquired for the UK (Curzon), Italy (Teodora), Spain (Avalon), Denmark (Camera), Sweden (Folkets Bio), Portugal (Midas), Benelux (Cineart), Switzerland (Agora), Hungary (Vertigo), Mexico, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Israel, and many other territories are under negotiation.

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Another French competitor on the Films Distribution slate is making sparks fly: The Double Lover [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by François Ozon. The film, which will be world-premiered on Friday, has been acquired for the UK (Curzon), Germany (Weltkino), Italy (Academy 2), Spain (Golem), Benelux (September Films), Poland (Gutek), Hungary (Vertigo), Denmark (Camera), Greece (Feelgood), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Austria (Thimfilm), the nine countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Latvia (A-One).

Pathé International has sold the worldwide rights for The Little Stranger, the upcoming film by Irish director Lenny Abrahamson (starring Charlotte Rampling, Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson and Will Poulter), to Focus Features, apart from for the UK, France and Switzerland, where the French group will take care of the movie’s distribution itself.

It’s a sign of the times and a reflection of the changes in the global film industry that Wild Bunch has sold nine films to the Chinese ticketing platform Weying: competitors Redoubtable [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile
]
by Michel Hazanavicius, Rodin [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Jacques Doillon, Loveless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrey Zvyagintsev
film profile
]
by Andrey Zvivyagintsev, A Gentle Creature [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sergei Loznitsa
film profile
]
by Sergei Loznitsa and You Were Never Really Here [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Lynne Ramsay
film profile
]
by Scotland’s Lynne Ramsay (sold via IMR International, of which Wild Bunch is a shareholder), the opening film of this edition of Cannes Ismael’s Ghosts [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Arnaud Desplechin
film profile
]
by Arnaud Desplechin, the documentary 12 jours [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Raymond Depardon, which will be unveiled today as a special screening, the Russian sensation Closeness by Kantemir Balagov, which is duking it out in Un Certain Regard, and The Racer and the Jailbird [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Roskam
film profile
]
by Belgium’s Michaël R Roskam.

Bac Films has sold Ava [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léa Mysius
film profile
]
by Léa Mysius, which was popular in competition in the Critics’ Week, for China, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, Switzerland (Praesens) and Turkey, while negotiations are under way for the USA, Germany and Benelux.

Jour2Fête, which will distribute the movie in France, has sold Beauty and the Dogs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile
]
by Kaouther Ben Hania, revealed in Un Certain Regard, for the USA (O-Scope), China, Sweden (Folkets Bio), Benelux (Cinéart), Switzerland (Trigon), Greece (Strada) and the Middle East.

Memento Films International has got off to a very good start with the pre-sales for Claire Darling [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Julie Bertuccelli, which is currently being shot, toplined by Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni. The film has already been pre-purchased by Germany (Neue Visionen), Spain (Karma), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Frenetic), Austria (Filmladen), Greece (Seven), Turkey, Israel and Australia.

Gaumont has sold the comedies Christmas & Co [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Alain Chabat and Gaston by Pierre Francois Martin-Laval for China.

Lastly, we should note that Elle Driver has launched pre-sales for La Paranza Dei Bambini by Italy’s Claudio Giovannesi (Fiore [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Claudio Giovannesi
film profile
]
), based on the novel of the same name by Roberto Saviano. Produced by Palomar and co-produced by Wild Bunch (which will also handle the French theatrical release) and Elle Driver, the movie will start principal photography at the end of the year.

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(Translated from French)

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