15/05/2008

With its weighty line-up (see news), French international sales company Wild Bunch got sales off to a cracking start at the Cannes Festival Film Market.

Arnaud Desplechin’s Un conte de Noël [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (“A Christmas Story”, in official competition this year on the Croisette) was bought by IFC for the US. Before Cannes, the title had already been sold to Switzerland, Romania, Portugal, Bulgaria, France, Mexico, Central America, Israel, India and Canada.

There has also been a great deal of interest in the forthcoming project by UK director Ken Loach. The film – which will be dedicated to former French footballer Eric Cantona – has been pre-bought by Diaphana (France), BIM (Italy) and Icon (UK).

Italy’s BIM Distribuzione (partners of Wild Bunch) also took Radu Mihaileanu’s The Concert (in production) on their line-up.

Among the many announcements made at the start of the Cannes Film Market, it was revealed that StudioCanal had added to its slate My Very Own Love Song by Olivier Dahan (La Vie en Rose [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), an English-language feature starring Forest Whitaker and Renee Zellweger as an injured fireman and a handicapped former singer. Produced by Legende, the title is set to start shooting this summer.

Finally, there will be a new Franco-British alliance between Paris-based distribution and international sales company Le Pacte and London-based production house Corniche Pictures. The aim is to provide additional funding for Le Pacte whose distribution line-up features three Cannes titles, including Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Domenico Procacci
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Matteo Garrone
film profile] and Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in official competition.

(Translated from French)