The Brussels-based firm Best Friend Forever will be playing it big at the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film (running 16 – 24 May) this year, wielding a wonderful pair of films split between the Official Selection and the Directors’ Fortnight.

In competition, we’ll find Banel & Adama [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
scheda film] by Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, a rare and precious effort for a first film (the most recent first feature films selected in competition in Cannes were Son of Saul [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: László Nemes
intervista: László Rajk
scheda film], Atlantics [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mati Diop
scheda film] and Les Misérables [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ladj Ly
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The other flagship film in Best Friend Forever’s Marché du Film catalogue is The Other Laurens [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Claude Schmitz
scheda film], which is the second feature film by Belgian director, theatre director and playwright Claude Schmitz, who previously turned heads with his unique medium-length movies (notably Le film de l’été and Carwash [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], awarded the Jean Vigo Award) and with his playful hybrid debut feature Lucie Loses Her Horse [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Claude Schmitz
scheda film]. The Other Laurens is a detective story, a genuine film noir with meta overtones. It revolves around private detective Gabriel Laurens who specialises in marital matters and whose life is turned upside down when his niece Jade turns up on his doorstep. The young woman has her doubts over her father’s accidental death and asks Gabriel to lead the investigation. The cast stars Olivier Rabourdin and a young newcomer with the potential to cause a stir on the Croisette, Louise Leroy. The movie is produced by Belgium’s Wrong Men - who will also be presenting Omen [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Baloji
scheda film] by Baloji in the Un Certain Regard section - alongside Chevaldeuxtrois (France). Distribution in France is entrusted to Arizona.

Best Friend Forever are also organising a market screening for Mutt by Vuk Lungolov-Klotz - an American movie which won awards in Sundance and Berlin - and will be pressing on with sales on three films which are currently being shot: Mihai Mincan’s Romanian title To the North [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mihai Mincan
scheda film], Laura Baumeister’s Nicaraguan offering Daughter of Rage [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Laura Baumeister
scheda film], and Andrea Bagney’s Spanish romantic comedy Ramona [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Andrea Bagney
scheda film].

The firm are likewise set to present three French films which are soon to appear on the market: family film The Fantastic Three by Michaël Dichter, which is a kind of French Stand by Me, Nicolas Silhol’s Anti-Squat [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], starring Louise Bourgoin, and Angela Ottobah’s genre film Rapture [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], starring Finnegan Oldfield.