Directors and discoveries aplenty in Pyramide line-up

by Fabien Lemercier

14/05/2007 - With seven features in the running in the various sections of the Cannes Film Festival (May 16-27), Paris-based outfit Pyramide International will be one of the main sales agents at this year’s Film Market.

Valentina Merli’s team expects to sell official competition title Catherine Breillat’s An Old Mistress [trailer] (pre-sold to France, Italy, Benelux, Switzerland, Greece, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Central America and Mexico) and Jane Birkin’s Boxes [trailer], which will be screened as part of a tribute to the festival’s 60th anniversary. Most of Pyramide’s line-up, however, is made of up films by young directors.

The Directors’ Fortnight has selected two titles in its line-up: Serge Bozon’s France [trailer], starring Sylvie Testud and Pascal Greggory (see article), and Tout est pardonné [trailer, film focus] by French/Danish director Mia Hansen-Löve (see news).

The Critics’ Week programme has no less than three films in competition with the Pyramide hallmark: David Oelhoffen’s Nos retrouvailles [trailer] (see news), French majority production Jellyfish [trailer] by Israeli directing duo Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen and XXY [trailer] by Argentina’s Lucia Puenzo (a minority Pyramide production).

Pyramide has high hopes for Françoise Marie’s documentary On dirait que..., a film on children who play at imitating their parents’ jobs (a Films de la Boissière production pre-sold to Italy, Switzerland, Benelux and Israel).

Films in post-production on sale include Le chaos by Egypt’s Youssef Chahine, Jacques Doillon’s Le premier venu (see news), Philippe Faucon’s Dans la vie [trailer] (see news), Vincent Dietschy’s En visite and Thomas Lilti’s Les yeux bandés [trailer] (see article).

The outfit will start sales on pre-production titles, Catherine Castel’s 48 heures par jour (lit. “48 Hours a Day”) with Aure Atika, Antoine de Caunes, Victoria Abril and Catherine Jacob (a La Mouche du coche production) and Annemarie Jacir’s Sel de la mer (lit. “Salt from the Sea”) (JBA Production), currently filming.

Completed films that will have the chance to find further buyers at the Market include Sam Garbarski’s Berlinale hit Irina Palm [trailer, film focus] (see Focus), Jeanne Waltz’s Parting Shot [trailer, film focus], starring Isild Le Besco; Niels Arestrup’s The Candidate, featuring Yvan Attal and Stefania Rocca; Magaly Richard Serrano’s On the Ropes [trailer]; and Stéphane Brizé’s Among Adults [trailer].

(Translated from French)