Some juicy deals are virtually guaranteed at the Film Market of the 71st Cannes Film Festival (8-19 May) for French sales agent Pyramide International (headed up by Eric Lagesse), which has been immensely successful thanks to its having five titles spread across the line-ups of the various selections on the Croisette.

Agathe Valentin’s team will be negotiating deals for Donbass [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sergei Loznitsa
scheda film] by Ukraine’s Sergei Loznitsa, which will be the opening film of the Un Certain Regard selection. The movie is set in the Donbass, a region of Eastern Ukraine, where a hybrid war is taking place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by criminal gangs. In the Donbass, war is called love, propaganda is uttered as truth, and hatred is declared to be love. The feature, which boasts cinematography by talented DoP Oleg Mutu, was produced by Germany’s Ma.ja.de. Fiction, Ukraine’s Arthouse Traffic, France’s JBA Production, the Netherlands’ Graniet Film and Wild at Art, and Romania’s Digital Cube, and was co-produced by Atoms & Void (Netherlands).

In Un Certain Regard, Pyramide will also be pinning its hopes on The Harvesters [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Etienne Kallos
scheda film], the feature debut by Etienne Kallos (a Greek-South African filmmaker), which unfolds in South Africa, in the Free State region, an isolated stronghold to the Afrikaans white ethnic minority culture. In this conservative farming territory obsessed with strength and masculinity, Janno is different, secretive and emotionally frail. One day, his fiercely religious mother brings home Pieter, a hardened street orphan she wants to save, and she asks Janno to make this stranger into his brother. The two boys start a struggle for power, heritage and parental love. The film was produced by Paris-based outfit Cinéma Defacto together with South Africa’s Spier Films, Poland’s Lava Films and Greece’s Heretic.

Two trump cards that are to be showcased in the Directors’ Fortnight also feature on Pyramide’s slate. The first is Amin [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Philippe Faucon
scheda film] by France’s Philippe Faucon (toplined by Emmanuelle Devos and produced by Istiqlal Films), which depicts the misfortunes of a Senegalese man who has come to France to work and earn money for his wife and three children, who remain back in his home country. He lives a life entirely devoted to duty until he meets Gabrielle, with whom he strikes up a relationship.

Another world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight will be that of Los Silencios [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Beatriz Seigner, which tells the story of 12-year-old Nuria, nine-year-old Fabio and their mother, Amparo, who arrive on a small island in the middle of Amazonia, on the border between Brazil, Colombia and Peru. They ran away from the Colombian armed conflict, in which their father disappeared. One day, he reappears in their new house. The family is haunted by this strange secret and discovers that the island is populated by ghosts. Production duties were entrusted to Brazil’s Miriade Filmes, France’s Ciné-sud Promotion and Colombia’s Diafragma.

Pyramide’s line-up also includes a feature debut that is screening in competition in the Critics’ Week: Sauvage [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Camille Vidal-Naquet
scheda film] by France’s Camille Vidal-Naquet. Staged by Les Films de la Croisade and La Voie Lactée and starring Félix Maritaud in the lead role, the film revolves around Leo, who is 22 and sells his body on the street for a bit of cash. The men come and go, and he stays right there... longing for love. He doesn't know what the future will bring. 

Interestingly, there will be a market premiere for the documentary Le Grand Bal [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Laetitia Carton and a market screening of Virgins [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Keren Ben Rafael (which has just world-premiered at Tribeca, winning the Best Actress Award for Joy Rieger to boot). And at Cannes, Pyramide International will also be pursuing pre-sales for titles such as Breath of Life [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by David Roux (starring Jérémie Renier, Zita Hanrot and Marthe Keller).