Paris-based Urban Sales is to handle world sales of Jeanne Aslan and Paul Saintillan debut feature Spare Keys, which is set to receive its world premiere at San Sebastian next month.

The French romantic comedy, which will play in the festival’s New Directors section, stars Céleste Brunnquell as a teenage girl who starts a relationship with her friend’s brother, played by Quentin Dolmaire.

Screen can exclusively reveal a first trailer for the feature, which will be released under the title Fifi in France by New Story in 2023. 

It also marks the first feature produced by Paris-based Haiku Films, led by producers Antoine Delahousse and Thomas Jaeger, alongside associate producer Claire Trinquet. Each previously worked on acclaimed projects such as Party Girl, which won the Camera d’or at Cannes in 2014, In Bed With Victoria, selected for Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2016, and Onoda: 10,000 Nights In The Jungle, which played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2021.

Turkish filmmaker Aslan previously directed short Jeux De Mains while French director Paul Saintillan has directed several shorts that have been broadcast on Arte and Canal+ in France. They live in Lille and are working on their next film together.

Spare Keys in set in the French eastern town of Nancy and follows a teenage girl, who jumps at the chance to get the spare keys to her wealthy friend house and escape her troublesome family environment. But while enjoying the spacious home she thought was deserted for the summer, she bumps into her friend’s older brother who was also planning on staying.

Dalahousse and Jaeger of Haïku Films said the film “subtly deals with social issues through an unexpected love encounter, but it is also the portrait of an independent, whimsical and resourceful young woman.”

Irène Cadavid, head of festivals at Urban Sales, said the feature has “a unique tone mixing realism, humour and freshness” and added: “We were all fascinated by this sweet and unexpected love story. The film is a natural and radiant debut where predetermination and opposite social backgrounds meet for a summer.”

Also on the slate of Urban Sales (formally known as Urban Distribution International) is Charcoal, the feature debut of Brazil’s Carolina Marcowicz, which will world premiere in Toronto’s Platform strand before playing San Sebastian’s Horizontes Larinos section.

Previous titles include Cannes’ Camera d’Or winner Plan 75, which has sold to more than 20 territories, and will receive its North American Premiere at TIFF Contemporary World Cinema; the Portuguese animation Nayola, named best film at Guadalajara film festival; and the English-language pre-school animation Hug Me.

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