27/04/2017 - The Parisian firm will be at the Film Market to press on with the sales of Anaïs Volpé’s and Katja Wik’s feature debuts

Heis by Anaïs Volpé and The Ex Wife by Katja Wik

Specialising in young European cinema, Paris-based international sales agent New Morning Films, managed by Germain Labeille, will certainly not be straying from its editorial policy at the Film Market of the 70^th Cannes Film Festival (17-28 May), where it will be counting on titles such as Heis (Chroniques) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by French director Anaïs Volpé and The Ex Wife [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Sweden’s Katja Wik.

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Released in France on 5 April, Volpé’s Heis (Chroniques) made a name for itself at several festivals, as the feature debut by the director (who also wrote the screenplay and handled the production side of things completely independently) was crowned Best Film at the Los Angeles Film Festival, was victorious in the Contrebandes programme at Bordeaux, and was screened out of competition in the Bright Future section of Rotterdam and at the Premiers Plans Festival in Angers. Starring Anaïs Volpé herself, plus Matthieu Longatte, Emilia Berou-Dernal, Akéla Sari and Alexandre Desane, the film revolves around 25-year-old Pia, who has resolved to succeed in life. Overcome with despair after a combination of various life issues, she is forced to go back and live with her family. Her ultimate goal is to return in order to leave a stronger person. Her twin brother, Sam, who still lives at their mother’s house, does not see life in the same way and cannot stand his sister’s outlook. Who is wrong, and who is right? The right to leave or the duty to stay? The director tackles this story of family and youth with fairly minimalistic methods, but in a very personal style, including through a hybrid format that generated a certain amount of buzz in the lead-up to its French release.

Also on the New Morning Films line-up is The Ex Wife by Sweden’s Katja Wik, who, not content with directing her first feature film, also wrote, edited and produced it (together with her partner Marie Kjellson). Unveiled at the Göteborg Film Festival, the movie breaks down the types of behaviour that no one wants to exhibit, but which are inevitable nonetheless, during either budding love or divorce. The subject is broached by examining three relationships, and at the heart of each we find a certain female role: the accommodating girlfriend, the restless wife and the broody ex-wife. Interestingly, Katja Wik previously worked as a casting director (most notably for Roy Andersson and Ruben Ostlund), and Marie Kjellson was the producer of Force Majeure [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile].

(Translated from French)