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TORONTO 2021 TIFF Industry

Elle Driver hits Toronto with Saloum leading its film slate

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- The French international sales agent is notably pinning its hopes on Jean-Luc Herbulot’s fantastical thriller, which is world premiering in the Midnight Madness section

Elle Driver hits Toronto with Saloum leading its film slate
Saloum by Jean-Luc Herbulot

As the 46th Toronto Film Festival opens today (running until 18 September), the Parisian international sales agent Elle Driver has every intention of capitalising on the various deal concluded in Venice, vis-a-vis Promises [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Kruithof
film profile
]
by France’s Thomas Kruithof (which opened the Orizzonti line-up on the Lido) and the Argentine-Chilean-Spanish co-production Dusk Stone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iván Fund
film profile
]
by Argentina’s Iván Fund (in competition in the Giornate degli Autori line-up). Over the course of the Canadian event, the team steered by Adeline Fontan Tessaur will notably be wagering on Saloum [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by the French-Congolese filmmaker Jean-Luc Herbulot, which is set to enjoy its world premiere on Tuesday in the Midnight Madness section.

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The director’s second feature film after Dealer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(2014), Saloum’s cast includes Yann Gael (well-received in the mini-series The French Dream), Evelyne Ily Juhen, Roger Sallah and Mentor Ba. Written by Jean-Luc Herbulot and Pamela Diop, the story revolves around Chaka, Rafa and Midnight, legendary mercenaries who are known as the Hyenas of Bangui. Downcast after escaping a coup d'état and extracting a drugs baron from Guinea-Bissau, they must hide the golden bounty they stole and keep their heads down long enough to repair and refuel their plane before travelling back to their base in Dakar, Senegal. When they take refuge in a holiday camp in the coastal region of Sine-Saloum, they do their best to blend into the mass of tourists, which includes a mute girl called Awa who has some secrets of her own, and a police officer who might be on their trail. But Chaka turns out to be the one who’s hiding the darkest secret of them all. Unbeknownst to the other Hyenas, he has led them there for a very specific reason and when his past catches up with him, his decisions have devastating consequences which threaten to unleash hell on them all… Saloum is produced by Senegal’s Lacme Studios and is co-produced by French firm Rumble Fish Productions (Alexis Perrin).

Another film stealing focus in Elle Driver’s Toronto line-up is Blaine Thurier’s Canadian feature Kicking Blood, which is due to be presented in the Contemporary World Cinema section.

Stand-out post-production titles include The Lockdown Tower [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Guillaume Nicloux, Freestyle [+see also:
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trailer
film profile
]
by Didier Barcelo, The Companions by François Favrat and Everybody Loves Jeanne [+see also:
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trailer
film profile
]
by Céline Devaux.

Other aces set to be wielded by Elle Driver include Beautiful Minds [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Bernard Campan and Alexandre Jollien (which has just premiered at the Angoulême Film Festival and will be released in France on 19 January 2022) and The Alleys by Jordan’s Bassel Ghandour (which was unveiled last month on Locarno’s Piazza Grande), not to mention, in pre-production, the animated film Robot Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Spain’s Pablo Berger, and Party of Fools by Arnaud des Pallières, toplined by Léa Seydoux, Cécile de France and Charlotte Rampling.

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(Translated from French)

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