03/02/2023 - Armed with Nicolas Philibert’s On the Adamant in competition and Patric Chiha’s The Beast in the Jungle in the Panorama section, the EFM looks promising for the French sales agent

Faithful to its focused strategy, Films du Losange’s international sales division (steered by Alice Lesort) is set to land at the European Film Market - unspooling within the 73rd Berlinale (running 16-26 February) - with a first rate line-up spearheaded by a contender for the Golden Bear: On the Adamant [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Philibert
film profile] by Nicolas Philibert.

Previously selected for the Berlinale (via Nenette [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in the Forum line-up in 2010 and La Maison de la radio [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2013’s Panorama section), but also Cannes (via To Be and To Have, screened out of competition in 2002, and Back To Normandie [+see also:
trailer
film profile], shown in a Special Screening in 2007) and Locarno (via In the Land of the Deaf in 1992 and Every Little Thing in 1996), the famous French documentary-maker is gearing up to compete in a major international festival for the very first time. This time round, he fixes his lens on a unique drop-in centre: the Adamant. A floating building built on the Seine in the heart of Paris, the Adamant welcomes adults suffering with mental health issues, offering them a care setting which grounds them in time and space, helping them to reconnect with the world and keep their spirits up. The team running the centre try to fight the deterioration and dehumanisation of psychiatry as best they can. The film invites us to come on board and meet the patients and carers who make up daily life on the Adamant. The movie is produced by Milena Poylo and Gilles Sacuto on behalf of TS Productions, in co-production with France 3 Cinéma and Japan’s Long Ride. Its release in French cinemas is entrusted to Les Films du Losange as of 22 March.

Another ace in Les Films du Losange’s Berlinale showcase is Patric Chiha’s French-Belgian-Austrian fiction feature film The Beast in the Jungle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Patric Chiha
film profile] (starring Anaïs Demoustier, Tom Mercier and Béatrice Dalle), which will enjoy its world premiere in the Panorama line-up. For the record, the Austrian filmmaker of Hungarian and Lebanese origin, revealed in Venice’s Critics’ Week in 2009 by way of Domaine [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], is a regular in the Panorama section which he was previously selected for in 2016 and 2020 via the documentaries Brothers of the Night [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and If It Were Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Patric Chiha
film profile].

In post-production terms, Les Films du Losange will be wagering on A Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] by Belgium’s Joachim Lafosse (starring Emmanuelle Devos and Daniel Auteuil in lead roles) and the animated movie Nina and the Tales of the Hedgehog by French directors Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli (nominated for the 2012 Oscar thanks to A Cat in Paris [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and selected in Toronto 2015 by way of Phantom Boy [+see also:
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film profile]).

Worth a final mention is the market screening of Norwegian director Kajsa Naess’ animated feature film Titina [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (listen to our podcast), which has already won over buyers from 35 countries, and Benoît Jacquot’s French documentary By Heart, which follows in the wake of Isabelle Huppert and Fabrice Luchini at work, in the days leading up to the Avignon Festival’s theatre premieres).

(Translated from French)