09/02/2024 - In addition to Meanwhile on Earth in the Panorama section, the French sales agent will be wagering on an armful of thrilling films in post-production and a bumper selection of animations

French international sales agent Charades will be tackling next week’s European Film Market – unspooling within the 74th Berlinale (running 15 – 25 February) - with a jam-packed line-up bursting with astonishing titles.

The team composed of Yohann Comte, Carole Baraton and Pierre Mazars will first and foremost be pinning their hopes on Meanwhile on Earth, which is screening in the Panorama section and which is French director Jérémy Clapin’s first fiction feature film, having bagged multiple awards for his animated movie I Lost My Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jérémy Clapin
film profile] (which earned itself an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film in 2020 and the Grand Prize in Cannes’ Critics’ Week 2019).

But it’s primarily in the post-production arena that Charades are set to stand out, notably thanks to a flurry of French films, namely And Their Children After Them by Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma (read our article), Meet The Barbarians by Julie Delpy (article), Les pistolets en plastique [+see also:
film review
interview: Jean-Christophe Meurisse
film profile] by Jean-Christophe Meurisse, Je ne me laisserai plus faire by Gustave Kerven (starring Yolande Moreau, Laure Calamy, Anna Mouglalis and Raphaël Quenard), Lucky Winners by Maxime Govare and Romain Choay (The Shiny Shrimps [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The Revenge of the Shiny Shrimps), Just a Couple of Days by Julie Navarro (starring Camille Cottin and Benjamin Biolay in lead roles) and Game Changers by Jérémie Sein. That’s without forgetting Une affaire de principe by Antoine Raimbault (article) and, new to the line-up, the highly anticipated movie which is Lawrence Valin’s debut feature film, Little Jaffna (article).

Likewise joining the line-up is another first feature film stealing all focus: Armand [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
film profile] by Norwegian director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (read our news). Starring Renate Reinsve (honoured in Cannes 2021 for The Worst Person in the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile]), Ellen Dorrit Petersen (Blind [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eskil Vogt
interview: Eskil Vogt
film profile]), Thea Lambrechts Vaulen, Endre Hellestveit, Øystein Røg and Vera Veljovic, the film begins on one of the last days in the run up to the school holidays. Something happens between Armand and Jon, who are six years old. Their parents are called in for a meeting, but the school leadership team don’t really know what’s gone on. Was it simply a game between children or something more serious? This incident sets off a series of events, forcing the parents and school staff into an engrossing battle for redemption where madness, desire and growing obsession abound… The film is currently in post-production.

Also gracing the post-production line-up is Heavier Trip by Finnish duo Juuso Laatio and Jukka Vidgren. Steered by Making Movies Oy, the film revolves around the most ferocious death metal band in the world, Impaled Rektum, who are incarcerated in a Norwegian prison when they learn that the guitarist's family are facing significant financial worries. In an effort to help them, the band break out of prison and embark on a journey through northern Europe to perform at the largest and wildest metal festival in the world: Wacken. Tricked by a dishonest record label legend and pursued by a murderous prison guard, numerous adventures await them; but their ultimate challenge is to keep the band together amidst all this chaos…

Last but not least, Charades will also be selling a tantalising selection of animated movies, including Ghost Cat Anzu [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita (a French production by Miyu Productions together with Japan’s Shin-Ei Animation), Japanese production Hypergalactic by David N. Weiss, the stop-motion title Memoir of a Snail by the Oscar-winning Australian director Adam Elliot, and musical comedy Spermageddon [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Norwegians Tommy Wirkola and Rasmus A. Sivertsen.

(Translated from French)