EFM 2025: The buzz titles from France

Be For Films’ slate includes Léonor Serraille’s Berlin Competition title Ari and Sébastien Betbeder’s Panorama title The Incredible Snow Woman, starring Blanche Gardin as a solo explorer across Greenland. Also on its slate is Marie-Hélène Roux’s Muganga, which focuses on the treatment of female victims of sexual violence in the Congo.

Best Friend Forever brings Kateryna Gornostai’s Competition documentary Timestamp, set at a school in Ukraine amid the ongoing war, and it also has Jun Li’s Panorama selection Queerpanorama, about a man impersonating other men he has sex with as he searches for his true identity. The company also has Alireza Khatami’s The Things You Kill fresh off its best director win in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

B-Rated International has an inaugural slate featuring Marta Bergman’s Belgium-Canada co-­production L’Enfant Bélier, Juris Kursietis’s upper-class satire The Exalted and Yannis Dimolitsas’s documentary Maria Callas, Monica Bellucci: An Encounter.

The Bureau Sales brings Jean-Paul Salomé’s The Money Maker, about real-life counterfeiter Jan Bojarski, nicknamed ‘the Cézanne of fake money’. It also brings Fabienne Godet’s Guess Who Is Calling?, Grégory Lucilly’s Mum Don’t Love Me No Mo’ and The Velvet Queen director Vincent Munier’s nature documentary Whispers In The Woods.

Charades is in town with Irish filmmaker Brendan Canty’s Generation opener Christy, about brothers reconciling in Cork’s working-­class Northside. It is also launching sales on Kasper Kalle’s Faroe Islands-set romantic horror No Rest For The Wicked and Yoshitoshi Shinomiya’s animation New Dawn.

Coproduction Office brings Ruben Östlund’s aeroplane-set black comedy The Entertainment System Is Down, with a cast including Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, Keanu Reeves and Nicholas Braun.

Elle Driver debuts Thomas Kruithof’s politically charged couples drama Ablaze starring Virginie Efira and Arieh Worthalter; Adam Yorke’s Phreaker, about a 15-year-old blind hacker wanted by the FBI; and Camille Ponsin’s Cévennes mountains-set The Vanished Girl, starring Céline Sallette.

France tv distribution is selling Antony Cordier’s south of France-set comedy The Party’s Over! starring Laure Calamy, Laurent Lafitte, Ramzy Bedia and Elodie Bouchez. Also on the slate is Anthony Dechaux’s thriller The Price To Pay about local organic farmers embroiled in a corporate system, and Nicolas Keitel’s The Girl Without A Name, starring Diane Rouxel and Cécile de France, about reconciling sisters.

Gaumont’s slate includes Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard Of The Kremlin starring Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Jeffrey Wright and Tom Sturridge. It has a new promo reel for Yann Gozlan’s The Residence starring Cécile de France and Lars Mikkelsen, and a market screening for Ken Scott’s Once Upon My Mother starring Leïla Bekhti.

Ginger & Fed starts sales on Éric Besnard’s Les Misérables: The Story Of Jean Valjean, starring Grégory Gadebois in the titular role. The company also has a promo reel for Melisa Godet’s social drama A Place For Her, set at a women’s shelter and starring Karin Viard. Ginger & Fed also hosts market screenings for Enya Baroux’s Bon Voyage Marie, which tackles the subject of assisted suicide through comedy.

Goodfellas has festival selections Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s The Ice Tower (Competition) starring Marion Cotillard, Balint Daniel Sos’ Growing Down (Perspectives) and Burhan Qurbani’s No Beast. So Fierce (Special Presentation).

Indie Sales brings Jean-Pierre Améris’ romantic comedy It Takes Two To Tango starring Valérie Lemercier and Gérard Darmon, about a famed crooner planning to end his life until he meets an enthusiastic fan. It also has Michel Gondry’s stop-motion Generation film Maya, Give Me A Title, narrated by Pierre Niney.

Kinology is in Berlin with first footage of Teona Mitev­ska’s Mother starring Noomi Rapace, about seven days in the life of Mother Teresa; more from Luc Besson’s Dracula, A Love Tale, the filmmaker’s take on the gothic masterpiece starring Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz; and Leïla Sy’s upcoming Maldives-set suspense thriller Hell In Paradise starring Nora Arnezeder.

Les Films du Losange market premieres Joachim Lafosse’s Côte d’Azur-­set Six Days In Spring starring Eye Haidara and Emmanuelle Devos, and kicks off pre-sales on Bi Gan’s Resurrection starring Jackson Yee and Shu Qi about a woman waking up from a brain operation to find a world in ruins. The company also has Kristen Stewart’s feature directing debut The Chronology Of Water starring Imogen Poots and Thora Birch.

Le Pacte starts pre-sales on Guillaume Nicloux’s upcoming Canary Islands-set thriller Mi Amor starring Pom Klementieff and Benoit Magimel, and the Michael Winterbottom and Mohammed Sawwaf co-directed documentary Gaza Year Zero. It also brings a new promo reel for Stéphane Demoustier’s 1980s-set architecture saga The Great Arch starring Claes Bang, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Xavier Dolan and Swann Arlaud.

Loco Films has Natesh Hegde’s crime drama Tiger’s Pond, which is playing in Forum, and Mehrnoush Alia’s Panorama title 1001 Frames, about actresses auditioning for the role of Scheherazade in A Thousand And One Nights who discover the director has more in mind than just casting.

Lucky Number heads to EFM with its inaugural slate, which includes Thierry Machado’s Greenland-­set family adventure Pipaluk, The Girl Who Raced The Wind; David Roux’s Mrs. starring Mélanie Thierry, Éric Caravaca and Jérémie Renier; and Alain Ughetto’s 3D-animated Rose And The Marmots. Its also reps Competition titles What Marielle Knows by Frédéric Hambalek and The Blue Trail by Gabriel Mascaro.

Luxbox is handling a pair of Competition selections: Kontinental ’25 by Radu Jude, about a woman’s attempt to soothe her conscience after a homeless man she was attempting to evict dies by suicide; and The Message by Ivan Fund, about a young girl in the Argentinian countryside who earns a living as a medium for pets.

Memento International launches sales on Shatara Michelle Ford’s Panorama selection Dreams In Nightmares, a road movie about a trio of queer Black friends on a life-­changing journey across the US. Memento also brings Emilie Blichfeldt’s Sundance and Panorama title The Ugly Stepsister, and Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s Ancestral Visions Of The Future, which is getting a Berlin special screening.

mk2 Films launches first sales on Golden Bear-winner Carla Simón’s Romería, about an 18-year-old orphan on the Spanish coast piecing together her past family memories. It also brings Sundance and Berlin selection The Thing With Feathers by Dylan Southern and headlined by Benedict Cumberbatch; and Kleber Mendonca Filho’s 1970s-set political thriller The Secret Agent. The slate also has festival selections The Safe House (Competition), Guillaume Ribot’s All I Had Was Nothingness and a commemorative screening of Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah (both Berlinale Special screenings).

MPM Premium hosts market screenings for Rohan Kanawade’s Sundance selection Cactus Pears and Jean-Luc Gaget’s French romantic comedy This Charming Girl starring Pauline Clément and Karin Viard. It also brings a promo reel for Marie Rémond’s comedy Vanishing Goats.

Newen Connect’s slate is headlined by Lucas Belvaux’s psychological thriller Haunted Minds, about a twisted manhunt starring Niels Schneider and Ramzy Bedia; Vinciane Millereau’s time-­jumping comedy Cycle Of Time; Nabil Aitakkaouali and Olivier Dacourt’s road-trip comedy The Family Road; and Edouard Pluvieux’s family comedy No Signal!, about siblings who are caught up in a robbery gone awry.

The Party Film Sales heads to the market with Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys’ We Believe You, a world premiere in Perspectives about a woman in a legal battle to gain custody of her children and protect them from their father before it is too late.

Pathé opens business on Amélie Bonnin’s French feature debut Bye Bye (working title), a comedy drama sprinkled with music starring French singer-actress Juliette Armanet. Pathé also brings the first promo reel for Martin Bourboulon’s Afghanistan evacuation thriller 13 Days, 13 Nights — In The Hell Of Kabul starring Roschdy Zem, Lyna Khoudri and Sidse Babett Knudsen.

Playtime has a promo reel for Pierre Schoeller’s The Rembrandt Syndrome, starring Camille Cottin and Romain Duris as a couple working in France’s nuclear industry as one grows attached to the titular painting and impending disaster looms. Playtime also brings first images for Thierry Klifa’s The Richest Woman In The World starring Isabelle Huppert as a fictionalised version of billionaire Liliane Bettencourt; and Frédéric Chopin biopic Chopin, A Sonata In Paris.

Pulsar Content handles sales on David Charbonier and Justin Powell’s horror Push, about a pregnant realtor trying to escape a sadistic killer, and Valentin Paoli’s ocean-set documentary The Musician And The Whale, about French composer Rone’s dialogue with the sea creatures.

Pyramide International has Cagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti’s Panorama selection Confidante, about a phone-sex operator during an earthquake in Istanbul. Pyramide also brings Grégory Magne’s Paris Rendez-vous opener The Musicians starring Valérie Donzelli and Frédéric Pierrot, and Irene Iborra’s Spanish animation Olivia (working title).

Reel Suspects takes on Lilly Hu’s China-set teen love triangle drama 1 Girl Infinite; Belgian drama On The Edge, about a nurse trainee and her patient in a psychiatric hospital produced by Wrong Men; and Moonika Siimets’ sci-fi black comedy The Black Hole.

SBS International showcases Ira Sachs’ 1974-set Sundance breakout Peter Hujar’s Day starring Ben Winshaw and Rebecca Hall, screening in Panorama.

Studiocanal has Martin Mauregui’s Spanish-­language psychological horror thriller Vieja Loca, which stars Carmen Maura and is produced by JA Bayona. Other market debuts include Cédric Klapisch’s time-jumping family drama Colours Of Time, Roxine Helberg’s Caribbean-­set action thriller Coka Chica and Vincent Maël Cardona’s No One Will Know.

Totem Films has a trio of completed social comedies from rising filmmakers, including Judith Davis’s countryside comedy Hello Madness, Victor Rodenbach’s romantic comedy Stages Of Love and Arab Blues director Manele Labidi’s Queen Mom, about a Tunisian family living in France in the early1990s.

Urban Sales has a market premiere for Valentine Cadic’s Perspectives selection That Summer In Paris, set during the 2024 Olympic Games. It also has a market screening for Kid Koala’s music-filled Space Cadet about a young girl on an outer-space adventure with her guardian robot, and brings Akaki Popkhadze’s completed film In The Name Of Blood starring Denis Lavant and Finnegan Oldfield.

• EFM 2025: The buzz titles from the Americas