Buyers from across the globe are back on the Croisette, shopping lists at the ready. Screen picks through some of the hottest titles from the UK, at various stages of production, that are available in the market.
Altitude Film Sales is selling Arachnid, a thriller from Angel Gomez Hernandez. Matilda Lutz stars in the chiller that sees a plague of venomous spiders unleashed in an apartment block. CAA handles US sales, and producers are Basil Iwanyk and Scott Strauss. Altitude also has promo footage from Nick Love’s comedy Marching Powder, starring Danny Dyer.
Anton is co-repping Claude Barras’s family stop-motion animation Savages! (alongside Gebeka International), which follows a girl, her father and a rescued baby orangutan. Laetitia Dosch is among the voice cast. Nadasdy Film, Haut Et Court, Panique! and Beast Animation produce. Also on the slate is S. Craig Zahler’s action thriller The Bookie & The Bruiser starring Vince Vaughn and set in 1950s New York.
Bankside Films has California Schemin’, the directing debut of James McAvoy in which he also stars alongside Samuel Bottomley and Seamus McLean Ross. The drama is based on the true story of two young men from Scotland who conned the international music industry. The producers are Ransom Films and Homefront Productions. Bankside is also selling love story The Well Of Saint Nobody, directed by Neil Jordan and starring Helena Bonham Carter and Jeremy Irons.
Black Bear continues sales on Train Dreams, starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones, about a day labourer forced to spend periods away from home. Production companies are Kamala Films and Black Bear; WME Independent handles US sales. Also on Black Bear’s slate is I Want Your Sex starring Olivia Wilde, and helmed by Gregg Araki, with CAA Media Finance repping US sales.
Cornerstone Films is introducing buyers to love story Takes One To Know One from Nathalie Biancheri, starring Olivia Cooke and Jamie Bell. Producers are Gail Egan, Claude Dal Farra, Brian Keady and Cooke. Cornerstone and CAA Media Finance co-rep the US. Also on Cornerstone’s slate is Harry Lighton’s kinky romance Pillion starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard, produced by Element Pictures.
Dogwoof leads with Reiner Holzemer’s Thom Browne: The Man Who Fell To Earth, a documentary about the revered US fashion designer, featuring Cardi B, Bella Hadid and Anna Wintour. Dogwoof also has Oliver Stone and Rob Wilson’s Cannes Special Screening Lula, about Brazilian politician Luiz Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva.
Embankment Films is bringing The King Of Covent Garden to market — a drama about Baroque composer George Frideric Handel, with Anthony Hopkins in the lead role. US filmmaker Andrew Levitas directs with Dan Lupovitz and Kevan Van Thompson producing. Also on Embankment’s slate is Harmonia, Guy Nattiv’s drama about a woman trapped in a cult starring Naomi Watts, Vicky Krieps and Bella Ramsey. Range Media Partners and CAA Media Finance represent US sales.
Film Constellation leads with Emma Benestan’s Animale, the closing film of Critics’ Week about a woman whose experiences in male-dominated French bull-riding take a startling turn, starring Oulaya Amamra. June Films and Frakas Productions produce. Film Constellation also has a market premiere of dystopian comedy Turn Me On from Michael Tyburski.
HanWay Films has boarded Iuli Gerbase’s sci-fi This Blue Is Mine, starring Zazie Beetz and Elizabeth Debicki. A dysfunctional family on holiday find a new addition to the group is not quite what she seems; Kamala Films produces. Also on the slate is psychological thriller Dreamquil, directed by Alex Prager and starring Elizabeth Banks.
Independent Entertainment continues sales on Mr Burton, a biopic about the Welsh schoolmaster who inspired actor Richard Burton, starring Harry Lawtey, Toby Jones and Lesley Manville. Marc Evans directs, with Severn Screen and Promise Pictures producing. Joining Independent’s slate is James J Robinson’s debut feature, Philippines-set drama First Light.
Metro International brings boxing drama Salvable starring Toby Kebbell, Shia LaBeouf and James Cosmo. The project marks the debut feature of UK-based music video directing duo Franklin & Marchetta. Producers are Lowkey Films and Featuristic Films.
Mister Smith Entertainment is launching Sean Byrne’s horror thriller Dangerous Animals, starring Hassie Harrison, Jai Courtney and Josh Heuston, about a surfer abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer. Brouhaha Entertainment, LD Entertainment, Oddfellows Entertainment and Range Media Partners produce. Henry Dunham’s Second World War action thriller Perdition is also being sold, starring Sam Claflin and Rupert Friend. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group co-rep North American rights.
Protagonist Pictures brings Double Booked, the directing debut of Adam Scott. The thriller follows a couple whose weekend in a secluded lodge turns nasty, starring Sterling K Brown and Zazie Beetz. UTA Independent Film Group and CAA are co-repping the US sale, and the producers are Dichotomy Creative and Great Scott Productions. Also on Protagonist’s slate is Simon Curtis’s comedy Encore, starring Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons.
Rocket Science is co-selling Sacrifice with CAA Media Finance, an adventure film starring Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Salma Hayek Pinault and Brendan Fraser, in which a charity gala is raided by violent radicals. Romain Gavras directs and also produces alongside Iconoclast, Robert Walak, Taylor-Joy and Evans. Rocket Science also reps Louis Leterrier’s supernatural horror 11817.
SC Films has comedy The Way, My Way, about an Australian man turning 60 who decides to take an 800km pilgrimage trail across Spain, starring Chris Haywood. Bill Bennett wrote and directs, and produces with Jennifer Cluff.
Signature Entertainment is showing first footage of drama Pike River starring Melanie Lynskey, about the fight for justice after the deadly Pike River mine explosion in New Zealand in 2010. Rob Sarkies directs while Vicky Pope produces. Signature will also debut first-look footage for Dito Montiel’s crime comedy Riff Raff starring Ed Harris, Jennifer Coolidge, Gabrielle Union and Pete Davidson.
WestEnd Films has thriller Constance, starring Diane Keaton, with Mark Pellington directing and Vincent Newman and Tom Gorai producing. An older woman’s fight for independence leads to a battle for survival. Vadim Perelman’s thriller The Zealot is also being sold by WestEnd, headlined by Kodi Smit-McPhee and Djimon Hounsou.
Alief leads with Megan Seely’s dark comedy Puddysticks, in which she stars as a burned-out video-game designer.
AMP International is unveiling a promo for sci-fi thriller Levels, starring Cara Gee and Peter Mooney and directed by Adam Stern. The love of a man’s life is murdered in front of his eyes.
Blue Finch Films is warming up Cutter Hodierne’s thriller Cold Wallet, about a cryptocurrency scam. The cast includes Raul Castillo and Melonie Diaz.
Brilliant Pictures makes a splash with Elliott Hasler’s biographical drama Vindication Swim, about the first British woman to swim the English Channel, starring Kirsten Callaghan and John Locke.
Carnaby International brings gangland instalment Rise Of The Footsoldier: Ibiza, the seventh film in the action series helmed by Nick Nevern and produced by Andrew Loveday. Craig Fairbrass continues in the lead role of ex-convict Tate, who becomes entangled with ruthless criminals in Ibiza.
Canoe Films is screening feature documentary 500 Days In The Wild, directed by Dianne Whelan, which follows her six-year 24,000km journey by foot, bicycle and canoe across Canada to complete the world’s longest trail.
Devilworks has slasher Behave, directed and produced by Francesco Gabriele and starring Georgia Viero and Christian Vit. A group of teenagers are terrorised by a masked killer in a luxury villa retreat.
FilmSeekers is introducing sci-fi thriller The Draw, directed by Tom Ruddock and starring Ryan Gage and Lara Lemon, set in a world where free will is a thing of the past.
GFM Animation has a premiere market screening of Pete Browngardt’s The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, the first ever fully animated feature-length Looney Tunes adventure. Sister company GFM Film Sales is selling Phil Hawkins’ Robin And The Hoods, starring Naomie Harris and Gwendoline Christie.
Jinga Films has boarded sci-fi horror Protos, from Brian and Laurence Avenet-Bradley. Anja Akstin and Fred Thomas Jr star as death-row inmates used like lab rats.
Kaleidoscope has just boarded The Listener. Steve Buscemi directs the drama, with the only on-screen role taken by Tessa Thompson as a crisis helpline volunteer.
Moviehouse Entertainment reps Heart Strings from Ate de Jong, a country music-based romance with an original score by Randy Edelman.
Parkland Pictures is leading with Angels In The Asylum, a crime thriller directed by Rob Sorrenti.
Rapt Films brings coming-of-age drama Sunflower to the market, the directing debut of Gabriel Carrubba. Liam Mollica plays an Australian teenager who is struggling with his sexuality.
Reason8 has Jonas Trukanas’s horror Melisma, the story of a flesh-eating siren chained beneath a water park.
Together Films rallies behind Julie Lunde Lillesaeter’s documentary An Army Of Women, about a movement in Texas challenging the system that allowed rapists to walk free.
Screenbound has Austin Jennings’ horror film Eight Eyes. A mysterious local crashes a couple’s vacation in the former Yugoslavia.
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