06/05/2024 - The French company is selling the first feature by Somalian filmmaker Mo Harawe and is launching the sales of a film bringing together three short films by Juho Kuosmanen

Using the momentum of a very active European Film Market at the Berlinale, with nominee My Favourite Cake [+see also:
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film profile] by Levan Akin, the French international sales outfit Totem Films is preparing to head for the Marché du Film of the 77th Cannes Film Festival (from 14 to 25 May) with Mo Harawe’s The Village Next to Paradise headlining its line-up, and which will have its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard competition.

Born in Somalia in 1992 and living in Austria since 2009, Mo Harawe wanted his first feature to “serve as a metaphor for a country that has the potential to be paradise, were it not for circumstances that make such a reality impossible.” Written by the director, the script dives into a windy and hot Somali village in the desert. Mamargade, a single father, accumulates odd jobs in order to offer his son Cigaal a better life. After her divorce, his sister Araweelo comes back to live with them. Despite the changing winds of a country in the throes of civil war and natural disasters, love, trust and resilience will allow them to take hold of their destinies… The Village Next to Paradise was produced by Austrian outfit FreibeuterFilm together with French company Kazak Productions, German producers NiKo Film and Somalian outfit Maanmaal ACC. French theatrical distribution will be handled by Jour2Fête.

At the Marché du Film, the Totem team of Bérénice Vincent and Laure Parleani will also launch sales for The Silent Trilogy, a film bringing together three short films written and directed by Finnish filmmaker Juho Kuosmanen (Un Certain Regard winner on the Croisette in 2016 with The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki [+see also:
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film profile] and Grand Prix winner in 2021 with Compartment No. 6 [+see also:
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film profile]): Romu-Mattila and a Beautiful Woman (2012), The Moonshiners (2017) and A Planet Far Away (2023). A tribute to silent cinema, its playful nature and its live experience, the film addresses the end of everything and some extraordinary attempts to survive it.

Finally, presales will continue for Queen Mom by Manele Labidi (read the article), currently in post-production.

(Translated from French)