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TORONTO 2017 Market

French company announcements and sales at Toronto

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- TORONTO 2017: Juliette Binoche is cast in two films in Wild Bunch’s line-up, while business is going well for Bac Films, Wide Management and MK2

French company announcements and sales at Toronto
Masatoshi Nagase, Naomi Kawase and Juliette Binoche on the set of Vision

The French international sales companies in action at Toronto (7 to 17 September) have announced several new additions to their line-ups, as well as some major sales. Here’s a quick summary.

Wild Bunch has kicked off pre-sales for Vision [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Japanese Naomi Kawase (selected to compete at Cannes five times since 2003, winning the Grand Prix in 2007 with The Morning Forest and competing this year withRadiance [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
). French actress Juliette Binoche (Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1997, nominated for Best Actress in 2001, winner of Best Actress at Cannes in 2010 and winner of the Silver Bear for Best Actress at Berlin in 1997) is set to shine in the main role as a journalist looking for a mysterious type of herb that only appears every 997 years in the Japanese countryside. Production is managed by the French companySlot Machine, along with the Japanese outfit Kumie Inc. (the filmmaker's own company). Filming is set to kick off in September, before recommencing in November, and Haut et Court, the director's usual French partner, the will be distributing the film in France.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Juliette Binoche has also been cast in another of Wild Bunch's films, High Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claire Denis
film profile
]
by Claire Denis (read more here), which is in pre-sales and is currently being filmed. Robert Pattinson and Mia Goth star alongside her in leading roles. The cast also includes German Lars Eidinger (Home for the Weeekend [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Sils Maria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Charles Gillibert
interview: Olivier Assayas
film profile
]
), Polish Agata Buzek (The Reverse [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agata Buzek - actress
interview: Borys Lankosz
film profile
]
, Agnus Dei [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lou de Laâge
film profile
]
), as well as Ewan Mitchell, Claire Tran and André Benjamin. Production of the sci-fi film, which is the first English language feature by the filmmaker, is entrusted to the French outfit Alcatraz Films, the American outfit Andrew Lauren Productions (ALP), the British outfit Apocalypse Films, and the German outfit Pandora Film Produktion, with the Polish company Madants in co-production.

Among the North-American acquisitions announced at Toronto, it's worth noting that Bac Films International has sold David Freyne’s Irish-British zombie film The Cured [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(starring Ellen Page) to IFC Films and Wide Management has sold Finnish Teemu Nikki’s Euthanizer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teemu Nikki
film profile
]
toUncork'd Entertainment.

Also of note in The Bureau Sales‘s line-up is debut feature, Only You [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
, from the English director Harry Wootliff, which has just commenced filming and features the Spanish Laia Costa (winner of a the best actress for Victoria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sebastian Schipper
film profile
]
at the Lolas in 2015) and the British Josh O'Connor (God's Own Country [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francis Lee
film profile
]
).

Last but not least is MK2, which has already seen some excellent sales at Toronto with its Venetian titles The House By the Sea [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robert Guédiguian
film profile
]
by Robert Guédiguian and M [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sara Forestier
film profile
]
by Sara Forestier, with pre-sales officially launched for Sorry Angel [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Christophe Honoré
film profile
]
by Christophe Honoré (currently in post-production with Pierre Deladonchamps, Vincent Lacoste and Denis Podalydès in the cast - read more here).

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

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