The Euro 75: Kazak Productions (France)

Need to know: Jean-Christophe Reymond was lead producer on Julia Ducournau’s Cannes 2021 Palme d’Or winner Titane, having first worked with her on short Junior (2011). He created Kazak Productions in 2007 and was joined by associate producer Amaury Ovise in 2010. Shareholders include Pascal Caucheteux, co-head of Why Not Productions. Kazak focused initially on producing shorts by emerging names including Ducournau, Clément Cogitore, Manele Labidi, Nicolas Pleskof, Teddy Lussi-Modeste and Nicolas Silhol. As these filmmakers progressed to features, so did Kazak, with Reymond increasingly taking the lead on the cinema projects while Ovise focused more on series and animation. Feature credits include Cogitore’s The Wakhan Front, Silhol’s Corporate, Lussi-Modeste’s The Price Of Success, Labidi’s Arab Blues and Pleskof’s Murder Party.Reymond has also moved into co-production. He has strong ties with Jonas Dornbach at Germany’s Komplizen, after connecting during an Ace producers network training course. This resulted in him boarding Berlin 2022 Competition film A E I O U — A Quick Alphabet Of Love and Un Certain Regard title Corsage.

Key personnel: Jean-Christophe Reymond and Amaury Ovise, producers.

Incoming: Kazak is in Cannes with Cogitore’s Sons Of Ramses (Critics’ Week), and as a co-producer on Corsage. Silhol’s housing-crisis drama Anti-Squat is in post-production, while new films by Lussi-Modeste, Labidi and Zoe Wittock among others are in development.

Jean-Christophe Reymond says: “The market is saturated so we’re always trying to propose something different. We’re often working with smaller budgets and on auteur projects, but this is the sort of cinema we want to defend.” 

Contact: info@kazakproductions.f