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MARKET USA / France

French sellers in action at the AFM

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- 22 French companies are attending the last major international film market of the year, which kicks off today in Santa Monica

French sellers in action at the AFM
The Young Karl Marx by Raoul Peck

Supported by the public authorities, which have decided to put a mechanism in place in 2017 to provide automatic support for the exportation of films, the dynamism of French international sales companies is no longer in question, and can once again be proven at the American Film Market, which kicks off today in California. Between now and 9 November, 23 French companies will be selling the plethora films in their very diverse line-ups, and 11 of them will showcase their wares in a dedicated section under the umbrella of UniFrance

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Films Distribution stands out most notably, with a very broad line-up including six films that will be screened at the market: Heal the Living [+see also:
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interview: Katell Quillévéré
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by Katell Quillévéré, The Stopover [+see also:
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interview: Delphine and Muriel Coulin
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by sisters Dephine Muriel Coulin, Brotherhood, a Life with Saint Francis [+see also:
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by duo Renaud Fély - Arnaud Louvet, animated film Louise by the Shore [+see also:
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by Jean-François Laguionie, the Austrian candidate for the Oscars Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe [+see also:
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interview: Maria Schrader
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by Maria Schrader, and documentary Casablancas: The Man Who Loved Women by Hubert Woroniecki. The company’s line-up of titles currently in post-production is also very impressive, with, among others, The Young Karl Marx [+see also:
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by Raoul Peck, Abracadabra by Spaniard Pablo Berger (see article), Eye on Juliet by Canadian director Kim N'Guyen, Fleuve noir by Eric Zonca (see article), Handle With Care by Norwegian filmmaker Arild Andersen, and Some Like It Veiled [+see also:
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by Sou Abadi, without forgetting American film 68 Kill by Trent Haaga.

MK2 also hits the AFM well-armed. Its line-up features The Trouble With You by Pierre Salvadori (see article), filming on which is set to begin, just as it is on A Season in France by Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (see article), The House of the Sea by Robert Guédiguian and The Nature of Time by Karim Moussaoui. Also featuring in the line-up of films currently being filmed are Radiance by Japanese director Naomi Kawase (co-produced by French company Comme des Cinémas) and Mrs Hyde by Serge Bozon (see article). And the post-production selection most notably includes Look Up by Italian director Fulvio Risuleo (see news item),If You Saw His Heart [+see also:
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by Joan Chemla (starring Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal and Marine Vacth), and Château by duo Modi Barry - Cédric Ido (see article). Last but not least, in pre-production are French-Swiss co-production P.E.A.R.L [+see also:
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interview: Elsa Amiel
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]
by Elsa Amiel (starring Mathieu Amalric and Peter Mullan) and documentary Faithfull by Sandrine Bonnaire, all without forgetting completed features Lost in Paris [+see also:
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interview: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon
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]
by duo Dominique Abel - Fiona Gordon, The Fabulous Patars [+see also:
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by Sophie Reine, and M [+see also:
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interview: Sara Forestier
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by and starring Sara Forestier.

In Santa Monica, Bac Films will top up its already huge pre-sale figures for The Leisure Seeker by Italian director Paolo Virzi (see article) and Let the Corpses Tan by duo Hélène Cattet - Bruno Forzani (currently in post-production - see article). Also worth mentioning are zombie film The Third Wave by Irishman David Freyne, currently in production (starring Ellen Page), and a screening of A Bun in the Oven [+see also:
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by Nadège Loiseau.

Le Pacte will be pre-selling This Is Our Land by Belgian director Lucas Belvaux (see article) and Mr & Mrs Adelman [+see also:
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by Nicolas Bedos, along with completed features The Poisoning Angel [+see also:
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by Stéphanie Pillonca, Open at Night [+see also:
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by Edouard Baer, Orphan [+see also:
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interview: Arnaud des Pallières
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by Arnaud des Pallières, and A Kid [+see also:
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interview: Philippe Lioret
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]
by Philippe Lioret

Memento Films International also has a number of trump cards, with the market premiere of The Darkness [+see also:
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by Daniel Castro Zimbron and the addition of Good Time by Ben and Joshua Safdie (in post-production) and Sweet Country by Australian director Warwick Thornton to its line-up. It will also continue with pre-sales using promo reels for the following films currently in post-production: Call Me By Your Name [+see also:
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Q&A: Luca Guadagnino
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by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Mr Stein Goes Online by Stéphane Robelin (see article), The Midwife by Martin Provost (starring Catherine Deneuve, Catherine Frot and Olivier Gourmet), and Berlin Syndrome by Cate Shortland. Its pre-production selection most notably features Dias by British director Jonathan English, and the company will also be championing the highly anticipated Thelma [+see also:
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interview: Eili Harboe
interview: Joachim Trier
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]
by Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier (see article), which is currently in production.

Turning to Celluloid Dreams, the company will be pre-selling romantic thriller Andorra by Australian director Fred Schepisi (currently in pre-production with a cast featuring Clive Owen, Toni Collette, Gillian Anderson, Vanessa Redgrave, Joanna Lumley and Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio) based on the screenplay, along with (together with The Bureau Sales) Lean on Pete by British director Andrew Haigh, currently in post-production (see article) and, armed with a teaser, French-Luxembourgish animated co-production The Swallows of Kabul by Zabou Breitman and Eléa Gobbe-Mévellec. Among the completed films it has to offer are Saint George [+see also:
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Q&A: Marco Martins
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]
by Portuguese director Marco Martins, Daguerrotype [+see also:
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by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and documentary Mifune; The Last Samurai by Steven Okazaki.

Gaumont, which will be holding the world premiere of Un sac de Billes [+see also:
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by Christian Duguay, will also be selling, among others, Ares [+see also:
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by Jean-Patrick Benes, animated film  Ballerina by Eric Sumer et Eric Warin, and comedy Brice from Nice [+see also:
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by James Huth (which is currently going down a storm at the French box-office).

StudioCanal also as a few world premieres up its sleeve with Elementary [+see also:
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by Hélène Angel and My Blind Date with Life [+see also:
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by German director Marc Rothemund. New additions to its line-up include animated film Shaun the Sheep 2 by Richard Starzak, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society [+see also:
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by Mike Newell, Madame [+see also:
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by Amanda Sthers (starring Toni Collette, Harvey Keitel, Rossy de Palma and Michael Smiley), The Climb by Ludovic Bernard (see article), and Alone [+see also:
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by David Moreau. That’s all without forgetting features that were already in the line-up, such as Paddington 2 by Paul King (see news item), The Commuter by Jaume Collet-Serra, Early Man [+see also:
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by Nick Park, Back to Burgundy [+see also:
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by Cédric Klapisch (see article), The Mercy [+see also:
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 by James Marsh (starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz), and The Son of Bigfoot by Ben Stassen and Jérémie Degruson.

We will also be seeing premieres from SND, with Two is a Family by Hugo Gélin (see news item) and What Happened to Monday by Finnish director Tommy Wirkola (starring Noomi Rapace, Glenn Close and Willem Dafoe - see article), with a new addition to the line-up in the form of The Jungle Bunch 3D [+see also:
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by David Alaux, and without forgetting films currently in post-production The Confession [+see also:
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by Nicolas Boukhrief (starring Romain Duris and Marina Vacth - see article), and Just To Be Sure [+see also:
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by Carine Tardieu (see article).

There’s also been a flurry of new additions to TF1 Studio’s line-up, with, most notably, Bonne pomme [+see also:
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by Florence Quentin (starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu), Alibi.com [+see also:
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 by Philippe Lacheau, Rudolf Nureyev by Rodophe Marconi (starring Diane Kruger), Knock [+see also:
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by Lorraine Lévy (see article), All That Divides Us [+see also:
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by Thierry Klifa (see article), and Back in Business [+see also:
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by Gérard Pautonnier. Then there’s The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir by Marjane Satrapi, and Iris [+see also:
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by Jalil Lespert among the titles currently in post-production. 

Also attending the AFM are Wild Bunch, Indie Sales, The Bureau Sales, Kinology, Wide, Capricci Films (which will present the premiere of French-Spanish co-production Belle Dormant by Adolfo Arrieta), Other Angle Pictures, Alfama Films, WTFilms, EuropaCorp and Pathé International (which will most notably be pre-selling Django [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Etienne Comar
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]
 by Etienne Comar, currently in post-production).

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(Translated from French)

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