email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

BERLINALE 2017 Market / France

Alma Cinema makes its way to the EFM with To The Ends Of The World

by 

- The new film by Guillaume Nicloux, which is set to shoot in March, takes centre stage on the firm’s slate, while another new addition is A Blue Bird in My Heart

Alma Cinema makes its way to the EFM with To The Ends Of The World
Gaspard Ulliel graces the promo poster for To The Ends Of The World

Launched in May 2015 and managed by Sarah May, French international sales agent Alma Cinéma is shifting up a gear, as it is set to arrive at the European Film Market of the 67th Berlin Film Festival (9-19 February 2017) with a tantalising line-up of six titles, two of which are currently being prepared and two are in post-production. The firm’s contingent is spearheaded by To The Ends Of The World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillaume Nicloux
film profile
]
, the 14th feature by the unusual and talented Guillaume Nicloux (in competition at Berlin in 2013 with The Nun [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillaume Nicloux
film profile
]
 and at Cannes in 2015 with Valley of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
; also popular in the Berlinale Forum with The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 in 2014 and The End [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 in 2016). The shoot for the movie will kick off in Vietnam at the end of March, with a cast including Gaspard Ulliel (nominated for the César Award for Best Actor in 2015 and 2017 for Saint Laurent [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Bertrand Bonello
film profile
]
 and It’s Only the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Gérard Depardieu (who is working with the director for the third time, following Valley of Love, which earned him a nomination for the César Award for Best Actor in 2016, and The End, which was nominated in the same category at the 2017 Lumières) and Guillaume Gouix (nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2012 for Jimmy Rivière [+see also:
trailer
interview: Teddy Lussi-Modeste
film profile
]
 and popular at Rotterdam last week in This Is Our Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lucas Belvaux
film profile
]
).

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Penned by Nicloux and Jérôme Beaujour (nominated for the César Award for Best Adaptation in 2009 for Love Me No More [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 and who already partnered up with the filmmaker to write The Nun), the story begins in Indochina in 1945. Robert, a young French soldier, witnesses the Japanese executing his family. Hungry for revenge, he enlists in the fight alongside the French soldiers, but his encounter with an Indochinese prostitute will turn his beliefs and his hatred on their head. 

Produced by Sylvie Pialat and Benoît Quainon for Les Films du WorsoTo The Ends Of The World will be filmed in Vietnam from the end of March until May. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the film will be released in France by Ad Vitam.

Also arriving on Alma Cinéma’s line-up is another film currently being prepared: A Blue Bird in My Heart [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, the directorial feature debut by French screenwriter Jérémie Guez, an English-language project toplined by Denmark’s Roland Møller (Bodil Award for Best Actor in 2016 for Land Of Mine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louis Hofmann
interview: Martin Zandvliet
film profile
]
) and Belgium’s Veerle Baetens (European Film Award for Best Actress in 2013 for The Broken Circle Breakdown [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Felix van Groeningen
interview: Felix Van Groeningen
interview: Felix Van Groeningen
film profile
]
). It tells the story of an ex-convict who has his sights set on a quiet life, but is savagely wrenched away from it when the daughter of the woman hosting him is attacked. The production is being staged by Aimée Buidine for Atchafalaya Films et by Julien Madon (Producer on the Move 2016 – interview) and Julien Leclercq for Labyrinthe Films.

Another new addition to the company’s slate is The Charmer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ardalan Esmaili
interview: Milad Alami
film profile
]
 by Milad Alami, a feature debut in post-production, produced by Denmark (Good Company Films) together with Sweden (Garagefilm International) and France (Vixens), and revolving around a charming young Iranian man in search of a wife so that he can lawfully stay in Denmark.

Another interesting title in post-production is the Canadian zombie survival flick Ravenous by Robin Aubert (starring Marc-André Grondin and Monia Chokri); plus, there will be a market premiere for Not on My Watch [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Emmanuelle Cuau (released in France on 29 March) and a screening of In Between [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maysaloun Hamoud
film profile
]
 by Maysaloun Hamoud (awarded at San Sebastián and also set to be distributed in France from 29 March).

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy