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CANNES 2017 Market / France

Memento prepares to head for the Croisette

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- The company’s stellar line-up includes Good Time in competition, The Nothing Factory in the Directors’ Fortnight and the upcoming film by Julie Bertuccelli

Memento prepares to head for the Croisette
The Nothing Factory by Pedro Pinho

French international sales agent Memento Films International will certainly not be changing its good habits when it rocks up at the Film Market of the 70th Cannes Film Festival (17-28 May), as it once again has a contender for the Palme d'Or among the titles on its slate: the US film Good Time by brothers Ben and Joshua Safdie, starring such names as Robert Pattinson, which will be world-premiered on Thursday 25 May. As a reminder, the Paris-based company was previously in charge of selling the winners of the 2008 and 2014 Palmes d'Or, The Class [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carole Scotta
interview: Laurent Cantet
film profile
]
and Winter Sleep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
film profile
]
, as well as two titles in competition last year, and one in 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013 and 2015.

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The team managed by Emilie Georges and headed up by Tanja Meissner will also be negotiating deals for The Nothing Factory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Pinho
film profile
]
by Portugal’s Pedro Pinho, which will be unveiled in the Directors’ Fortnight and which filled General Delegate Edouard Waintrop with genuine enthusiasm: “This is a film that talks about a group of workers as they fight against relocation, using several cinematic layers and an incredible palette. It starts off almost like a crime film, and then employs several tones, from the intimate, through the political, to the social, and there’s even a musical-comedy moment.”

Another title recently added to the line-up is Claire Darling [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Julie Bertuccelli, the shoot for which is about to get under way, featuring Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni in the lead roles. This will be the third fiction feature by the filmmaker, following Since Otar Left (Grand Prize in the Cannes Critics’ Week in 2003 and the winner of the César Award for Best First Feature Film) and The Tree [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julie Bertuccelli
film profile
]
(which closed Cannes out of competition in 2010). Interestingly, the director was also nominated for the César Award for Best Documentary in 2015 and 2017 with School of Babel [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Latest News from the Cosmos [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. Written by Julie Bertuccelli together with Sophie Fillières and Mariette Désert, the story of her new opus begins on the beautiful, bright first day of summer, when Claire Darling has decided to get rid of her entire estate. She’s laid down all of her favourite objects on her front lawn for one splendid garage sale. As a horde of curious bystanders and neighbours fights over the ridiculously underpriced antiques, each object resurrects flashes of Claire Darling’s tragic and flamboyant life. Alerted by her childhood friends, Marie Darling, Claire’s estranged daughter, is forced to come back to the family mansion to stop this sale and unveil the reasons behind her mother’s eccentric decision. Produced by Les Films du Poisson, Claire Darling will be co-produced by France 2 Cinéma, has also been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+ and has been supported by CNC's advance on receipts, the Ile-de-France region as well as Pictanovo.

At Cannes, Memento will be screening the Chinese animated movie Have a Nice Day by Liu Jian (revealed in competition at Berlin) at the Film Market and will continue pre-selling The Apparition [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile
]
by Xavier Giannoli in addition to three films in post-production: Thelma [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eili Harboe
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile
]
by Norway’s Joachim Trier, Sweet Country by Australia’s Warwick Thornton and Piercing by US director Nicolas Pesce (based on the novel by Japan’s Ryu Murakami – starring Mia Wasikowska and Chris Abbot).

Lastly, we should point out that Memento has also acquired the French distribution rights for BPM (Beats Per Minute) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Valois
interview: Robin Campillo
film profile
]
by Robin Campillo, which will be presented in competition, The Summit [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Santiago Mitre
film profile
]
by Santiago Mitre, which will be premiered in Un Certain Regard, and Jeannette, the Childhood of Joan of Arc [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bruno Dumont
film profile
]
by Bruno Dumont, which has been selected in the Directors’ Fortnight.

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(Translated from French)

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