09/06/2020 - Shining bright among the nine titles in the French agent’s line-up are Rascal by Peter Dourountzis and Beasts by Naël Marandin, awarded the Official Selection and Critics’ Week labels respectively

The French international sales agent Kinology, steered by Grégoire Melin, will have an impressive hand to play at the Cannes Film Festival’s Online Marché du Film (running 22 – 26 June), flaunting a line-up of nine films which perfectly epitomise the great strategic divide brought about by the health crisis, with some titles launching this season and others pushed back to 2021.

Shimmering in the showcase are two French feature films awarded a Cannes Label and which will enjoy private (specially chosen) screenings, ahead of premieres set to unfurl in September. Standing tall under the “Official Selection Cannes 73” banner is Peter Dourountzis’s Rascal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Dourountzis
film profile], a first feature film starring Pierre Deladonchamps, Ophélie Bau and Sébastien Houban. The story follows in the footsteps of Djé, who arrives in Paris without a penny, armed only with his charm, and who seizes every opportunity to work, love, sleep… and kill. Produced by 10:15! Productions, the film will be distributed in France by Rezo.

Honoured with the Critics’ Week Label, Naël Marandin’s second feature Beasts (article) stars Diane Rouxel, Finnegan Oldfield, Jalil Lespert and Olivier Gourmet in its cast. The story centres around a young woman fighting to save the family farm from bankruptcy and battling to gain respect in a male-dominated environment. This Diligence Films production will be distributed in France on 25 November by Ad Vitam.

The Kinology team will also press ahead with presales on six titles in post-production, notably two French-Belgian films unfolding within extraordinary film genres: How I Became A Superhero [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Douglas Attal and Romain Quirot’s sci-fi feature Paul W.R.’s Last Journey [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

The four other post-production titles gracing the Kinology line-up are all highly awaited films whose teams have opted to sidestep the current uncertainties surrounding festivals and caused by the health crisis, by delaying their premieres to next year. As such, Bergman Island by Mia Hansen-Løve (with its top-notch cast composed of Luxembourg’s Vicky Krieps, English actor Tim Roth, Australia’s Mia Wasikowska and Norway’s Anders Danielsen Lie) has been announced for 2021, the French-Israeli production Ahed’s Knee [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nadav Lapid
film profile] by Nadav Lapid, Leos Carax’s Annette [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Bertrand Mandico’s After Blue [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Last but not least and equally worth a mention is Mathias Malzieu’s French-Belgian-Macedonian co-production A Mermaid in Paris [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which Sony Pictures will re-release in French cinemas on 22 June following the interruption of its initial release in March after just three days in movie theatres, courtesy of the health crisis).

(Translated from French)