U.S. Deals in Cannes 2018

CannesIFF

Sydney Levine, SydneysBuzz про фільми, які були придбані дистриб’юторами для північноамериканського кінопрокату під час Каннського МКФ.

Fifty-one films have thus far been acquired by U.S. distributors out of Cannes.

A24 acquired Gaspar Noé’s Acclaimed Drug Trip Movie Climax, winner of Directors’ Fortnight Art Cinema Award for No. America from Wild Bunch.

Amazon picked up Best Director Prize Winner in the Competition, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, last August. Based on his own parents’ love story, this gorgeously shot, Robert Doisneau-esque (when in Paris) black and white period piece takes a slice of your heart away in its retelling.

Archstone acquired No. American (and U.K., Australia and New Zealand) rights to The Big Take from Bleiberg.

Bleecker Street acquired No. American rights to Arctic from XYZ.

Breaking Glass acquired No. American rights to Wobble Palace from Visit Films.

CBS Films has horror film by Guillermo del Toro Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark being sold by Sierra Affinity.

Cohen Media acquired No. American rights to Malian director Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu)’s The Perfumed Hill. Look for it in Toronto!

Dark Star acquired No. American rights to South African crime thriller Number 37 from Reel Suspects when it premiered at SXSW.

Doppelganger, the genre arm of Music Box, has acquired U.S. rights to Heavy Trip from LevelK.

FilmMode is expanding from international sales into No. American distribution with its thrillers The Harrowing and Mad Genius.

Film Movement acquired No. American rights to Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage Coda from Celluloid Dreams.

Focus acquired Pope Francis: A Man of His Word by Wim Wenders for No. America and for world sales.

Focus acquired No. American rights to Memento’s Everybody Knows along with U.K., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, select Asian territories, Spain and the Middle East apart from Iran.

Competition Grand Prix winner BlacKkKlansman by Spike Lee is also being distributed by Focus which set the fact-based feature for an August 10 theatrical release date, picked to reflect the one-year anniversary of the Charlottesville protests, which took place on August 12, 2017. The protests also play a part in the film, with Lee using footage from them to frame a timely coda that everyone at the festival was buzzing about.

Global Road acquired No. American rights to The Secret Garden based on the beloved children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett and starring Colin Firth, Julie Walters and Dixie Egerickx from StudioCanal.

Goldwyn acquired No. American rights outside of theatrical to Little Pink House from Film Mode.

Grindstone acquired No. American rights to Ederlezi Rising from Arclight to be released on the Lionsgate Home Entertainment label.

Icarus acquired No. American rights to The Widowed Witch aka Mirrors and Feathers from China’s Rediance.

IFC has acquired U.S. rights to Elizabeth Harves from Paradigm. Voltage Pictures reps internationally.

KimStim acquired An Elephant Sitting Still from Chinese sales agent Rediance.

Kino Lorber acquired No. American rights to Special Palme d’Or winner, Jean Luc Godard’s The Image Book. Kino is planning a 2019 theatrical release for the essay film, which is in Arabic, English, French and Italian.

Kino Lorber also acquired No. American rights to A Paris Education which premiered at the Berlinale from Les Films du Losange.

Magnolia acquired U.S. rights to Shoplifters of Kore-Eda which won the Palme d’Or in Competition from Wild Bunch and CAA.

It also acquired The Quake from TrustNordisk.

Magnolia Pictures has also acquired the North American rights to writer-director Benedikt Erlingsson’s buzzy Cannes dramatic comedy Woman at War from Beta.

Neon acquired No. American rights to Un Certain Regard winner, Border, directed by Danish-Iranian Ali Abbasi and written by the writer of Let The Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist from Films Boutique.

Netflix acquired world wide rights to Next Gen for $30 million the highest price paid for any picture in Cannes.

It also acquired Chinese blockbuster Us and Them / Hou lai de wo men.

Netflix acquired two Cannes winners after they played at the festival: Alices Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro was acquired on the same day the awards were announced. The second was Girl by Lukas Dhont for which Victor Polster won Best Performance Prize and which won the Queer Palm as well.

Pantelion acquired U.S. rights to horror film The Inhabitant from FilmSharks.

RLJE Films will release Mandy in the U.S., acquired from XYZ.

Saban acquired No American rights to Siberia. Produced by Hamel and Reeves of Company Films, Dave Hansen and Braden Aftergood and Gabriela Bacher of Summerstorm Entertainment and exec produced by Cassien Elwes, it was sold by Film and TV House.

It also acquired No American rights to Keepers from CAA and Protagonist.

The third film it has picked up thus far is Vicking Destiny from Film Mode.

Screen Media acquired No. American rights to Paul Weitz’ Bel Canto from Bloom.

Shudder, the AMC backed genre streaming service acquired many territories including No. America for The Witch in the Window from Film Seekers.

Shudder also pre-bought Monstrum from Finecut for No. America and other territories.

Sony Pictures Classics acquired No American and Latin American rights to Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum, Jury Prize winner in Cannes Competition from Wild Bunch. SPC plans to open the film in December qualifying the movie for year-end awards consideration.

SPC is said to be pre-buying The Fall of the American Empire by Denys Arcand from Seville International. Look for it in Toronto!

Strand acquired No American rights to Postcards from London from The Bureau Sales.

Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Camille Vidal-Naquet’s feature debut Savage which world premiered at Cannes’s Critics Week.

Trafalgar Square acquired No. American rights to Living in the Future’s Past a doc from Vision Films starring its producer Jeff Bridges.

The Orchard acquired No. American rights to Birds of Passage after its Directors’ Fortnight premiere. It is his third film after The Wind Journeys, Embrace of the Serpent which was nominated for the foreign language Oscar.

Uncork’d acquired No. American rights to Mads Brugger’s Tiribeca prize winner The Saint Bernard Syndicate from LevelK.

Vertical acquired U.S. rights to The Hollow Child from Devilworks.

It acquired No. American rights to Astral from Film Seekers.

Vertical also acquired No. American rights to The Pagan King from Canoe Film.

Well Go USA acquired No. American rights to So. Korea’s Believer, a remake of Hong Kong Johnny To’s Drug War

Wolf acquired U.S. rights to Anchor and Hope from Visit.

XYZ acquired No. American rights to Turkish director Can Evrenol’s Girl with No Mouth.

Unclaimed Winners Still Available for U.S.

Best Actress award winning Competition title Ayka won Best Actress Award for Samal Yeslyamova but Sergei Dvortsevoy’s Kazakh drama has not yet been picked up for North American distribution from The Match Factory.

Best Actor in Competition went to Marcello Fonte for Dogman. Matteo Garrone’s revenge drama has not yet been picked up for North American distribution, though it was picked up for international distribution by Le Pacte before the festival who made deals for Germany, Austria, Spain, Russia, and China.

Best Screenplay Prize in Competition tied between Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro and Nader Saeivar’s Three Faces. Saeivar’s film, which was co-written with Iranian director Jafar Panahi, has not yet been picked up for North American distribution from Celluloid Dreams. Kino Lorber perviously released Panahi’s “Taxi.”

Short Film Palme d’Or: All These Creatures, Charles Williams. The Australian short, the fifth from director Williams, has not yet been picked up for North American distribution.

Short Film Queer Palm went to The Orphan by Carolina Markowicz. Markowicz’s fact-based short has not yet been picked up for North American distribution.

Un Certain Regard Prize winner for Best Screenplay, Sofia by Moroccan director Meryem Benm’barek, sold by Be for Films has not yet been picked up for North American distribution.

Un Certain Regard Prize for Best Director went to Sergei Loznitsa for Donbass a Ukrainian war film which opened the section and has not yet signed for North American distribution. ISA: Pyramide.

Un Certain Regard Jury Special Prize went to The Dead and the Others by Joao Salaviza and Renee Nader Messorad. The film was inspired by the directors’ own time living in Pedra Branca, a village of the Krahô people in North Brazil centers on a Krahô teen torn between two different worlds. This Brazilian documentary about indigenous culture explores how ancient traditions have been destroyed by the government due to their lack of public policy for the indigenous lands. It has not yet been picked up for North American distribution.

SACD Prize for Directors’ Fortnight film went to The Trouble With You by Pierre Salvadori. The French caper comedy has not yet been picked up for North American distribution from Memento.

Europa Cinemas Prize went to Lucia’s Grace by Gianni Zanasi. The Italian comedy — starring Alba Rohrwacher, sister of Alice — has not yet been picked up for North American distribution.

Best Short Film in Directors’ Fortnight went to Skip Day by Patrick Bresnan and Ivete Lucas about a group of friends breaking loose the day after prom has not yet been picked up for North American distribution, though it will be available for viewing at The Guardian later this year.

Sydney Levine, SydneysBuzz, 22 травня 2018 року