11/05/2023 - Stealing focus in their line-up are Four Daughters by Kaouther Ben Hania in the competition, Mambar Pierrette in the Directors’ Fortnight, and The Milky Way

For the first time in its existence, French international sales agent The Party Film Sales (directed by Sarah Chazelle and Etienne Ollagnier) can boast a Palme d’Or contender within its line-up, which should bode well for sales at the Marché du Film, running 16 – 24 May within the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

The team steered by Samuel Blanc will be negotiating on behalf of Kaouther Ben Hania’s afore-mentioned Four Daughters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile], which is world premiering in competition. The director’s 5th feature film sees her acceding to this level for the very first time, at the end of an ascent which started off on the Croisette within the 2014 ACID line-up by way of Challat of Tunis [+see also:
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile], and which continued out of competition in Locarno in 2016 with the documentary Zaineb Hates the Snow [+see also:
trailer
film profile], within Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2017 via Beauty and the Dogs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile], and in Venice’s Orizzonti line-up in 2020 with The Man Who Sold His Skin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] (nominated for the Best International Film Oscar in 2021).

Four Daughters is the result of a markedly unique approach. Its documentarian heart beats for Olfa Hamrouni, a Tunisian mother to four daughters whose life oscillates between shadow and light. One day, her two eldest daughters disappear. Kaouther Ben Hania turns to professional actresses to fill their absence and adopts an unusual film approach to lift the veil on this family of five. It’s an intimate journey full of hope, rebellion, violence, transmission and sorority which questions the very foundations of our societies… Professional actors in the cast include Nour Karoui, Ichraq Matar, Majd Mastoura and Hend Sabri. Production comes courtesy of France’s Tanit Films, Tunisia’s Cinétéléfilms, Germany’s Twenty Twenty Vision, and Red Sea (Saudi Arabia) together with Arte and ZDF.

The Party Film Sales will also be pinning their hopes on another title in the Cannes showcase, selected for the Directors’ Fortnight: Mambar Pierrette by Cameroon director Rosine Mbakam. A fiction film based mostly on documentary-style material, the story revolves around Pierrette, a seamstress in Douala, who’s raising her children alone while looking after her mother. She’s used to living hand-to-mouth but she still has to negotiate the odd pickpocket, not to mention the flooding of her house and workshop. Pierrette continues, as ever, to stitch pieces of cloth, holding together the film and the fabric of her life, while her clients offload their problems onto her… The movie marks a first foray into fiction for the director behind Delphine’s Prayers and is produced by Belgium’s Tândor Productions.

Presales on the Israeli-French film in post-production The Milky Way [+see also:
film review
film profile], by Israel’s Maya Kenig (discovered at the 2012 Berlinale via Off-White Lies [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) are also kicking off. The story revolves around 33-year-old offbeat Israeli musician Tala who has just had her first child. Eager to make a living and to meet the needs of her baby in the absence of its father, she accepts a job at the "Milky Way". This human-milk dairy sells the very best of what new mums have to offer: high-protein vegan milk packed full of essential, premium quality nutrients… This dystopic black comedy is produced by Green Productions and Les Films du Poisson.

Also worth a mention, among other news, is the market premiere on the agenda for the documentary We Have a Dream [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by French director Pascal Plisson (On the Way to School [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), who went out and about (in France, Kenya, Nepal, Brazil and Rwanda) to talk to disabled children, the ever-mysterious Morrison by Thailand’s Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, which is currently in post-production, and Berlin-award-winner Orlando, My Political Biography [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paul B Preciado
film profile] by Spanish director Paul B. Preciado, on which The Party Film Sales are due to wrap sales.

(Translated from French)