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MARKET France

San Sebastián smiles on Films Distribution

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- The Paris-based company co-produced and is selling Magical Girl, which has just won the Golden Shell for Best Film and the Best Director Award

San Sebastián smiles on Films Distribution
Magical Girl by Carlos Vermut

French firm Films Distribution has managed to pull off something rather special: it co-produced and is handling world sales for Magical Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile
]
by Spaniard Carlos Vermut, the big winner at the 62nd San Sebastián Film Festival, taking home the Golden Shell for Best Film and the Best Director Award. “We came on board the film last June, mainly because of Carlos Vermut’s reputation – he set a lot of tongues wagging with his underground movie Diamond Flash [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, which was a very promising toe in the water,” Nicolas Brigaud-Robert (who manages Films Distribution together with François Yon) explained to Cineuropa. “That’s also what our work is all about: spotting directors who bring something new to the table and then increasing their visibility abroad. Carlos Vermut is a filmmaker who shakes things up in a country like Spain, where, even though the budgets have shrunk dramatically, cinema has never been as creative as it is now. As he wasn’t that well known before, we just started off with a few sales at Toronto, but since yesterday, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

San Sebastián also bestowed awards upon three other films from Films Distribution’s line-up: Girlhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile
]
by Céline Sciamma took home the TVE-Another Look Award, given to a work that deals with female-related themes, and a Special Mention went to the Franco-Israeli-German co-production Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz. Lastly, François Ozon’s The New Girlfriend [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: François Ozon
film profile
]
, which was presented in competition, won the Sebastiane Award, the equivalent of the Cannes Queer Palm or the Berlinale Teddy, after it received a very enthusiastic welcome during its official screening.

Two other French international sales agents played their cards beautifully when it came to the San Sebastián awards list: Le Pacte is selling Wild Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Cédric Kahn (Special Jury Prize) and the documentary The Salt of the Earth [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado (Audience Award), while Wide Management is negotiating for Bulgarian feature The Lesson [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
interview: Margita Gosheva
film profile
]
by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, which was the winner of the New Directors section.

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(Translated from French)

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