Other Angle Pictures has boarded international sales on Christine Paillard and Chad Chenouga’s A Smile Doesn’t Lie and will kick off sales in Cannes in May.
The film, whose French title Pourquoi tu souris? means ‘why do you smile?’, follows a man who is always smiling despite life’s hassles. He heads to Bordeaux to start a new life, passes himself off as a migrant and forms an unlikely trio with a humanitarian woman and homeless man who secretly leads them into a questionable situation. It stars Simply Black’s Jean-Pascal Zadi, Emmanuelle Devos and 2023 breakout star Raphael Quenard (Junkyard Dog, Yannick).
A Smile Doesn’t Lie is Chenouga’s fourth feature after 17 rue Bleue, that premiered at Locarno Film Festival, Lumiere Award-winning Do It Right and The Principal starring Roschdy Zem. Paillard directs for the first time after co-writing the latter two films with Chenouga. It is produced by France’s TS Productions, who are behind Nicolas Philibert’s Berlin Golden Bear-winning On the Adamant and Anna Novion’s 2023 Cannes selection and Cesar-winning Marguerite’s Theorem.
Other Angle, who recently launched a Los Angeles-based sales, distribution and production house, is packaging the film as a title with strong remake potential as part of its new global strategy.
The company will host the fourth edition of its French Comedy Club event in Los Angeles on April 27-28 designed to spark distribution and remake deals for French comedies. This year’s titles include Other Angle’s own A Little Something Extra, plus comedies from other sales agents including recent Open Season (Newen Connect), Retirement Home 2 (Ginger & Fed), and Lucky Winners (Charades).
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