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CANNES 2016 Market / France

Wild Bunch knocks the Croisette for six again

by 

- With ten films across the various selections, including five duking it out for the Palme d'Or, and a plentiful, all-star line-up, the French vendor is really holding its own

Wild Bunch knocks the Croisette for six again
The Neon Demon by Nicolas Winding Refn

To say that Wild Bunch feels completely at home on the Croisette would be an understatement, given that the French company’s international sales team has been totally omnipresent on the line-up at the gathering for the last 15 years or so. And the 69th Cannes Film Festival (11-22 May 2016) is no exception, as its slate includes five films in official competition, three of which are brand-new opuses by former winners (The Unknown Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile
]
by Belgian directors Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Graduation [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Cristian Mungiu
film profile
]
by Romania’s Christian Mungiu and I, Daniel Blake [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by British filmmaker Ken Loach), which are joined by The Neon Demon [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Nicolas Winding Refn
film profile
]
by Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn (sales for which are shared with Gaumont) and Staying Vertical [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile
]
by French director Alain Guiraudie. For the record, since it was founded, Wild Bunch has always (apart from in 2005) had at least one movie in the running for the top prize at Cannes (seven in 2006, six in 2013, five in 2015, four in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2014, three in 2000, 2011 and 2012, two in 2004 and 2010, and one in 2007).

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Wild Bunch will also be selling three features that will have their world premieres in Un Certain Regard: The Dancer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by France’s Stéphanie Di Giusto, the animated film The Red Turtle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Dutch director Michael Dudok de Wit and After the Storm by Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-Eda. Also making an appearance on the line-up are Blood Father [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Jean-François Richet (toplined by Mel Gibson), which will be unveiled as an official selection midnight screening, and Raw [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julia Ducournau
film profile
]
by Julia Ducournau, which will be in competition in the Critics’ Week.

At the Film Market, pre-sales will get under way for Le Redoutable [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile
]
 by Oscar winner Michel Hazanavicius, an adaptation of Anne Wiazemsky’s novel Un an après (which describes the ups and downs of her love life with Jean-Luc Godard in the middle of the Latin Quarter in Paris in 1968), starring Stacy Martin and Louis Garrel in the leads.

Pre-sales will also kick off for Les Fantômes d’Ismaël [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Arnaud Desplechin
film profile
]
by Arnaud Desplechin (starring Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Marion Cotillard), Loveless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrey Zvyagintsev
film profile
]
by Russian director Andrey ZvyagintsevA Gentle Creature [+see also:
film review
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interview: Sergei Loznitsa
film profile
]
 by Ukraine’s Sergei Loznitsa (based on the short story of the same name by Dostoyevsky), and The Racer and the Jailbird [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Roskam
film profile
]
by Belgium’s Michaël R Roskam (starring Matthias Schoenaerts and Adèle Exarchopoulos – read the article).

This range of brilliant new titles rounds off an incredible line-up that also comprises the science-fiction project High Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claire Denis
film profile
]
by Claire Denis (toplined by Robert Pattinson), Rodin [+see also:
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trailer
film profile
]
by Jacques Doillon (set to start shooting soon, starring Vincent Lindon, Izia Higelin and Séverine Caneele), Endangered Species by Gilles Bourdos (read the article – in post-production), Maniac Cop by John Hyams (produced by Nicolas Winding Refn – set to be shot this summer) and the animated movie Playmobil: Robbers, Thieves & Rebels by Lino DiSalvo (produced by Paris-based outfit On Animation), among others.

Also of note are the market premieres of Into the Forest [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Gilles Marchand, Kiki, Love to Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paco León
film profile
]
by Spaniard Paco Leon, and the documentaries France [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Raymond Depardon and Rocco [+see also:
trailer
interview: Thierry Demaizière, Alban T…
film profile
]
 by Thierry Demaizière, not to mention new promo reels for The Odyssey [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Jérôme Salle (read the article) and the ever-mysterious On the Milky Road [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Emir Kusturica.

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(Translated from French)

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