EFM 2023: The buzz titles from France

Elle Driver launches four-time Oscar nominee Sylvain Chomet’s animated The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol about the life of the eponymous novelist and filmmaker. It also unveils new promo reels for Arnaud des Pallieres’ Party Of Fools, a story of female solidarity inspired by true events that stars Mélanie Thierry, Marina Foïs and Carole Bouquet; Pablo Berger’s animated feature Robot Dreams; and Cédric Kahn’s Making Of, which has an A-list French cast including Denis Podalydes and Emmanuelle Bercot.

SND-M6 has a market premiere of Julien Hervé’s French comedy Ooh La La and a new English-language dubbed version of Eric Barbier’s family adventure Princes Of The Desert in addition to screenings for Lisa Azuelos’ globe-trotting drama The Book Of Wonders, Cécilia Rouaud’s Killing Blues, Eric Besnard’s A Great Friend and Pierre-Francois Martin-Laval’s Jeff & Jean-Marc’s Adventures. The company will unveil a teaser for Vanessa Filho’s Consent, the big-screen adaptation of Vanessa Springora’s bestselling memoir, and also on its slate is Yvan Attal’s star-studded thriller Breaking Point.

Charades is selling Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Competition title Disco Boy, and will give market premieres to Laurent Tirard’s French comedy Oh My Goodness! and Charlotte Regan’s Sundance title Scrapper. Also on Charades’ slate is Katell Quillévéré’s Along Came Love (Le Temps d’Aimer) starring Anaïs Demoustier and Vincent Lacoste about a young mother and a wealthy student whose paths collide in post-Second World War Normandy. It also brings SXSW title Upon Entry, a Spanish psychological thriller based on directors Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez’s experiences as emigrants; Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth about a girl contacted by an unknown life form; and Baya Kasmi’s second feature The (In)famous Youssef Salem about a Maghrebi novelist who grapples with overnight success.

Indie Sales market premieres Milad Alami’s Panorama title Opponent, about a man and his family forced to flee Iran who end up in a rundown hotel in Sweden. The film won the main prize at Les Arcs’ work in progress section in 2021. It also has Zeno Graton’s Generation 14plus selection The Lost Boys and is introducing Léa Todorov’s anticipated drama Maria Montessori, with Jasmine Trinca playing the real-life education pioneer; Leila Bekhti also stars in the latter. Indie Sales is hosting the first screenings for animated sequel Richard The Stork 2 following the original’s global run to 155 territories, with pre-sales already signed in several territories.

Les Films du Losange is representing Nicolas Philibert’s Competition title On The Adamant, following the daily lives of patients and caregivers at a psychiatric centre floating on the Seine river, and Patric Chiha’s Panorama title The Beast In The Jungle, a modern interpretation of the Henry James novella. Also on the Paris-based company’s EFM slate are Joachim Lafosse’s A Silence starring Daniel Auteuil and Emmanuelle Devos and animated title Titina, a polar adventure that has already sold to 35 territories.

Kinology’s new market titles include Mareike Engelhardt’s thriller Rabia about a young French woman locked up in a house with other women in a country at war; Benoit Chieux’s French animated feature Sirocco, which follows two sisters who turn into cats as they navigate a fantastic kingdom; and She-Conann, Bertrand Mandico’s follow-up to Fantastic Fest 2021 best film winner After Blue. It will also have first images for Nanni Moretti’s period comedy A Brighter Tomorrow, Bertrand Bonello’s dystopian love story The Beast starring Léa Seydoux and George MacKay, Michel Gondry’s The Book Of Solutions about a director fighting his own demons, and Mathieu Turi’s French-language horror The Deep Dark about a creature in the mines of northern France.

MPM Premium will be out to lure buyers with Panorama Dokumente title Transfariana from director Joris Lachaise, an unexpected love story between a trans former sex worker and a Colombian Farc rebel. It also has Rotterdam Bright Future competition title Almost Entirely A Slight Disaster from Turkish director Umut Subasi, a tragicomedy about millennials navigating life in Istanbul; Sylvie Gautier’s French feature debut Bright Women; and Cláudia Varejao’s queer drama Wolf And Dog.

Urban Sales is representing Tonia Noyabrova’s Ukrainian coming-of-age drama Do You Love Me?, which screens in Panorama. The 1990-set story follows a 17-year-old girl emerging from adolescence into adulthood at the same period that Ukraine gains its independence from the Soviet Union. The Paris-based company is also at the market with a script for Jean-Francois Laguionie’s animated title Slocum and will have first market screenings for Spare Keys, Amore Mio and Abdelinho.

Be For Films has Panorama title The Teachers’ Lounge, Ilker Catak’s German drama about an educator at breaking point. It also market premieres a hefty slate of new titles including Guy Edoin’s French-language Canadian drama Frontiers, about a paranoid woman who believes her house is haunted by her dead father; Olivier Peyon’s French drama Lie With Me, based on Philippe Besson’s bestseller; and Benoit Mariage’s Belgium-France-Switzerland co-production Habib about a struggling actor who lands a role opposite Catherine Deneuve and Tizza Covi.

Wide is handling sales on Apolline Traoré’s Panorama title Sira, about a young nomad who takes a stand against Islamist terror. It also market premieres Kristina Atovska’s Ukraine war documentary Siren Lullabiesand Marisa Vallone’s debut feature Land Of Women, which is set in 1950s Sardinia and follows two generations of women fighting against tradition for sexual and emotional freedom.

Memento International will show EFM buyers Chinese filmmaker Liu Jian’s animated Competition feature Art College 1994, a colourful portrait of youth set at a Chinese arts university. It also market premieres a pair of Sundance titles: Anthony Chen’s English-language debut Drift starring Cynthia Erivo as a Liberian refugee on a Greek island, and Babak Jalali’s black-and-white Fremont about an Afghan woman who served as a translator for the US army. Memento also has first promo reels for Bruno Dumont’s The Empire starring Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin and Lyna Khoudri, and Martin Provost’s Bonnard, Pierre & Marthe about the renowned French painters.

The Party Film Sales is representing Paul B Preciado’s Encounters title Orlando, My Political Biography and will market premiere Veerle Baetens’ When It Melts following its Sundance best performance prize for star Rosa Marchant. The company is also continuing sales on Pascal Plisson’s documentary Happy!.

Best Friend Forever will market premiere Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s Mutt, fresh from its special jury award at Sundance for actor Lio Mehiel and in parallel to screening in the Generation 14plus section. Other market premieres include Nicolas Silhol’s Anti-Squat about a young mother facing eviction who finds refuge with a shady French housing start-up, and Angela Ottobah’s genre drama Rapture about a girl’s tormented relationship with her father.

Studiocanal launches several titles at the market including Thomas Bidegain’s Suddenly starring Gilles Lellouche and Mélanie Thierry as a couple stranded on a dangerous deserted island; Elias Belkeddar’s The King Of Algiers about a gangster seeking redemption with Benoit Magimel and Reda Kateb in the cast; and Granny Nannies: Daycare Chaos, a comedy about a group of retirees who run a daycare centre for teenagers. It will also kick off pre-sales on Jonny Campbell’s sci-fi action film Cold Storage starring Liam Neeson and Georgina Campbell and will show a promo reel for Thea Sharrock’s Wicked Little Letters starring Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Timothy Spall about scandalous anonymous letters that shake up a picturesque English town.

Wild Bunch International arrives in Berlin with a hefty slate that includes Competition titles Suzume and The Plough and David Zonana’s chilling social drama Heroic, which plays Panorama following its Sundance world premiere. It also market premieres Kim Chapiron’s Mercy, about a young future imam on the outskirts of Paris, and has promo reels for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster and Maïwenn’s Jeanne Du Barry.

Orange Studio is giving a market premiere to Virginie Sauveur’s Magnificat starring Karin Viard and Francois Berléand, about the revelation that a recently deceased priest was a woman posing as a man for years, and Cécile Telerman’s comedy All Because Of The Cat about a group of friends gathered for a vacation in a country home who lose their friends’ beloved cat.

Pyramide International has Léa Fehner’s Midwives playing in Panorama, a story of two women just starting out as midwives. It also has market premieres for Lucie Borle­teau’s strip club-set My Sole Desire and Eve Duchemin’s Time Out, about prison inmates on weekend leave, and promo reels for Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer about a lawyer and mother who has a quasi-

incestuous affair with her 17-year-old stepson. It also kicks off pre-sales on French-language dramas Le Théorème De Marguerite from director Anna Novion, about a brilliant maths student dealing with a mistake that shakes up her life and future, and Marie Garel-Weiss’s legal tale Sur La Branche starring Benoit Poelvoorde and Agnes Jaoui.

Reservoir Docs brings its Panorama Dokumente title The Cemetery Of Cinema, which follows director Thierno Souleymane Diallo as he takes his camera around Guinea to trace his country’s cinema heritage.

Coproduction Office is giving a market premiere to Jessica Hausner’s psychological drama Club Zero starring Mia Wasikowska (Bergman Island) as a teacher at an elite school who forms a bond with students before the relationship takes a dangerous turn.

Alpha Violet has Competition title Tótem, a Mexico-Denmark-France co-production from director Lila Avilés about a seven-year-old girl helping her family prepare a surprise party for her father as chaos ensues. It also market premieres Makbul Mubarak’s debut feature Autobiography about a young man confronting the truth about his father figure.

Film Seekers hosts its first market screening for Pandemonium, a horror film from artist and director Quarxx about a man who dies at the scene of a car crash and descends into the depths of hell, where he is doomed to experience the pain of tortured souls. It is also introducing Dutch-language romantic comedy If Only She Knewbased on the bestseller by Chantal van Gastel.

Cité Films market premieres Dmitriy Fiks’ Russia-Latvia co-production The Jew (completed in 2021). Set in 1946 USSR, the film is about a man who goes on a killing spree of former concentration-camp guards. It also will have online screenings of Elfar Adalsteins’ comedy drama Summerlight And Then Comes The Night, set in an Icelandic village, and Francoise Ferraton’s documentary Krishnamurti, The Revolution Of Silence, which delves into the mind of the eponymous 20th-century thinker through archival footage. The latter is in post-production.

Luxbox has several new titles on its slate including Karim Dridi’s road movie Lazy Girls, Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls set in an elite boarding school in northern India, and Mohamed Ben Attia’s Floating In A Vacuumabout a man just out of jail set on taking his son to the mountains. It also unveils Carolina Markowicz’s Tollabout a toll booth attendant who helps a thieving gang to raise money to send her son to a gay conversion workshop.

mk2 Films brings a big slate to the market, complete with 13 new promo reels and Tina Satter’s debut feature Reality, which world premieres in Panorama. The tense US drama-thriller stars Sydney Sweeney as real-life US whistleblower Reality Winner, who stirred up a media storm when she leaked a classified report to press. Among its buzzy new titles are Xavier Legrand’s The Successor starring Marc-André Grondin as a Parisian artistic director who heads back to his native Montreal for his estranged father’s funeral; Molly Manning Walker’s teen coming-of-age drama How To Have Sex; Justine Triet’s Hitchcockian procedural thriller Anatomy Of A Fall; Felipe Galvez’s colonial Chile-set drama The Settlers; Monia Chokri’s Quebecois romantic comedy The Nature Of Love; Jim Capobianco’s star-studded family animation The Inventor, about Leonardo da Vinci;and Fien Troch’s post-tragedy drama Holly. The company also teases upcoming titles including Robert Guédiguian’s And The Party Goes On, Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon’s The Falling Star, Darren Thornton’s Four Mothers, Jérémie Perin’s Mars Express, Ruben Amar’s Silver Star, Paul Bolger’s Outfoxed!, Alex Helfrecht’s A Winter’s Journey and Sophie Barthes’s Sundance title The Pod Generation.

Other Angle’s EFM slate includes Warner Bros France release Hawaii starring Bérénice Bejo in an ensemble comedy about nine friends whose Hawaii vacation is ruined by a big argument during a false nuclear attack. Other titles include Jennifer Devoldere’s The Midwife starring Karin Viard and Melvin Boomer about a male medical student who enters a midwifery school; Mélanie Auffret’s Sweet Little Things about a 60-year-old who joins an elementary class to learn to read and write; and Benjamin Lehrer’s 38.5 Police Fever set in a criminal investigation unit of the French police.

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