Brussels-based producers Joao Vinhas and Benjamin Honoré and lawyer Camille Doyen are launching distribution outfit Case Départ into the Benelux market with the release of Quentin Dupieux’s comedy Yannick in September.
Sold by Kinology, the film won the Europa Cinemas Label as best European film at this month’s Locarno Film Festival.
Case Départ has also acquired Dupieux’s comedy Daaaaaali! which is screening out of competitin at the Venice film festival, to be released in spring 2024.
Further releases include Edouard A. Tremblay’s fantasy comedy Farador on November 1. The film follows a group of geeks playing Farador, a medieval role-playing game similar to Dungeons & Dragons.
Case Départ aims to release five to seven films in its first year of operation, with a view to increasing this figure to seven to 12 films a year in the short term. Initially, the films will be aimed at a mainly French-speaking audience, with a long-term plan of covering the whole of Benelux.
The company manages theatrical releases, as well as video, VOD, PayTV, FreeTV and SVOD distribution.
The execs will attend Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris in January and the Berlinale in Febuary. Doyen is in charge of acquisitions.
Vinhas and Honoré previously launched production company Octopods Films & Agency in 2016, which produces shorts, features, music videos and commercials. They have just completed their first two features as producers: Michel Bulteau’s BAC+12 and Tremblay’s Farador, a co-production with Canada. The advertising division of their company has created work for companies including Lexus, Johnson & Johnson and BNP, while music videos include Gojira’s Born for One Thing.
Doyen is a lawyer specialising in intellectual property in the film and audiovisual sector, and has advised several production and distribution companies.
The founders say that Case Départ aims to take a disruptive and playful approach to film distribution. “Each film release is treated like a game, with a carefully crafted exploitation strategy to ensure relevant visibility and significant resonance in the territory.”
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