02/05/2023 - The Belgian sales agent scores a double hit on the Croisette by way of Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s movie, competing for the Palme d’Or, and Claude Schmitz’s The Other Laurens in the Directors’ Fortnight

The Brussels-based firm Best Friend Forever will be playing it big at the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film (running 16 – 24 May) this year, wielding a wonderful pair of films split between the Official Selection and the Directors’ Fortnight.

In competition, we’ll find Banel & Adama [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
film profile] by Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, a rare and precious effort for a first film (the most recent first feature films selected in competition in Cannes were Son of Saul [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: László Nemes
interview: László Rajk
film profile], Atlantics [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mati Diop
film profile] and Les Misérables [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ladj Ly
film profile]), and proof, if ever we needed any, of the great creativity of African filmmakers who are enjoying historic levels of representation at this year’s festival. This tragic love story revolves around the quest for freedom of two young lovers thwarted by traditions and by the weight of patriarchal society. When Adama refuses the powers bestowed upon him by virtue of his lineage, everything spirals out of control in this community, where there’s limited room for love and emancipation. The film is produced by La Chauve-Souris (France), Take Shelter (France) and Astou Productions (Senegal), with distribution in France entrusted to Tandem. Pathé BC Afrique are already looking into distribution, in French-speaking Africa in particular.

The other flagship film in Best Friend Forever’s Marché du Film catalogue is The Other Laurens [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Schmitz
film profile], which is the second feature film by Belgian director, theatre director and playwright Claude Schmitz, who previously turned heads with his unique medium-length movies (notably Le film de l’été and Carwash [+see also:
trailer
film profile], awarded the Jean Vigo Award) and with his playful hybrid debut feature Lucie Loses Her Horse [+see also:
film review
interview: Claude Schmitz
film profile]. The Other Laurens is a detective story, a genuine film noir with meta overtones. It revolves around private detective Gabriel Laurens who specialises in marital matters and whose life is turned upside down when his niece Jade turns up on his doorstep. The young woman has her doubts over her father’s accidental death and asks Gabriel to lead the investigation. The cast stars Olivier Rabourdin and a young newcomer with the potential to cause a stir on the Croisette, Louise Leroy. The movie is produced by Belgium’s Wrong Men - who will also be presenting Omen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Baloji
film profile] by Baloji in the Un Certain Regard section - alongside Chevaldeuxtrois (France). Distribution in France is entrusted to Arizona.

Best Friend Forever are also organising a market screening for Mutt by Vuk Lungolov-Klotz - an American movie which won awards in Sundance and Berlin - and will be pressing on with sales on three films which are currently being shot: Mihai Mincan’s Romanian title To the North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mihai Mincan
film profile], Laura Baumeister’s Nicaraguan offering Daughter of Rage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Baumeister
film profile], and Andrea Bagney’s Spanish romantic comedy Ramona [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Bagney
film profile].

The firm are likewise set to present three French films which are soon to appear on the market: family film The Fantastic Three by Michaël Dichter, which is a kind of French Stand by Me, Nicolas Silhol’s Anti-Squat [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], starring Louise Bourgoin, and Angela Ottobah’s genre film Rapture [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring Finnegan Oldfield.

(Translated from French)