10/05/2024 - The French sales agent is notably staking its bets on seven films in Un Certain Regard, Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week, as well as on upcoming films by Julia Ducournau and László Nemes

It’s with an XXL line-up of 30 films that French international sales agent Charades will be disembarking up at the Marché du Film, which is set to unspool within the 77th Cannes Film Festival (running 14 – 25 May). And there’ll be no shortage of tantalising offerings on any level whatsoever, especially when it comes to the seven feature films set to shine in the festival’s various selections.

The team composed of Yohann Comte, Carole Baraton and Pierre Mazars will be selling three films set to world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section: Armand by Norway’s Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (read our article – distributed in France by Tandem), animated movie Flow [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Latvia’s Gints Zilbalodis and My Sunshine [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Japan’s Hiroshi Okuyama. Jostling alongside them are two titles in Critics’ Week (Blue Sun Palace by American Constance Tsang in competition, and Queens of Drama [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by French director Alexis Langlois in a special screening), and a further two in the Directors’ Fortnight: the animated movie Ghost Cat Anzu by Japanese duo Yôko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita, and Plastic Guns by French director Jean-Christophe Meurisse.

A fistful of first-class trump cards are set to join the line-up, notably Alpha by French filmmaker Julia Ducournau (awarded the Palme d’Or in Cannes 2021 via Titane [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julia Ducournau, Vincent Li…
film profile]), which stars Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim in lead roles, which is produced by Mandarin & Compagnie and Petit Film (in co-production with Belgium’s Frakas Productions) and which Charades are set to pre-sell in association with Filmnation.

Pre-sales will also kick off on Orphan by Hungary’s László Nemes (awarded Cannes’ Grand Prize in 2015 and 2016’s Best Foreign Film Oscar thanks to Son of Saul [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: László Nemes
interview: László Rajk
film profile], and a Venice competitor in 2018 by way of Sunset [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: László Nemes
film profile]), which is due to commence filming in June and which will be sold by Charades in association with New Europe Film Sales.

Other eye-catching additions to the line-up include three titles in post-production: Vermiglio, The Mountain Bride by Italian Maura Delpero (article), The Rule of Jenny Pen by New Zealander James Ashcroft, and Override by Aleksey Chupov and Natasha Merkulova (the first English-language film by the Russian duo who were well-received in Venice’s competition in 2021 for Captain Volkonogov Escaped [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]).

Another two new titles in the Charades line-up are set to enjoy world premiere market screenings in Cannes: the American documentary honoured at the Sundance Film Festival Gaucho Gaucho, by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, and Naoko Yamada’s animated movie The Color Within (selected in competition in Annecy). And another five world premiere market screenings are on the agenda, namely for animated film Memoir of a Snail by Australia’s Adam Elliot (likewise selected to compete in Annecy), Spermageddon by Norwegians Tommy Wirkola and Ramus A. Sivertsen (article), Heavier Trip by Finnish directors Jusso Laatio and Jukka Vidberg, animated Pakistani movie The Glassworker by Usman Riaz (which will feature in Annecy’s Contrechamp competition) and Smoke Signals by France’s Antoine Raimbault.

Last but not least, pre-sales will continue on David N. Weiss’ American-Japanese animation currently in production, Hypergalactic, as well as on three feature films in post-production: Meet The Barbarians by French director Julie Delpy (article), Enough is Enough! by her compatriot Gustave Kervern (starring Yolande Moreau, Laure Calamy, Raphaël Quenard and Anna Mouglalis) and the Canadia-Belgian-French animation Night of the Zoopocalypse, by Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro. And as if that weren’t enough, sales are set to be rounded off on seven finished feature films, including Borgo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by French director Stéphane Demoustier.

(Translated from French)