27/08/2024 - The French sales company intends to do very good business on the Lido with Emmanuel Mouret's Three Friends and Wang Bing's Youth (Homecoming)

After a very beneficial Marché du Film in Cannes, French sales company Pyramide International (directed by Éric Lagesse and led by Agathe Mauruc) will go into action with a lot of optimism at the 81st Venice Film Festival. Indeed, two titles of the lineup will have their world premieres in competition on the Lido.

With Three Friends [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], his 12th feature, French filmmaker Emmanuel Mouret gains access for the first time to the top level of one of the three major world festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin) after multiple very notable appearances (including in Official selection in Cannes 2020 and in Cannes Première in 2022). Produced by Moby Dick Films (loyal accomplice on all of the director’s films) with Arte France Cinéma and by Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, his new opus (already pre-bought by more than a dozen territories) explores once again the complexities of love, this time starring Camille Cottin, Sara Forestier, India Hair, Grégoire Ludig, Damien Bonnard, Vincent Macaigne and Éric Caravaca. The world premiere on the Lido will take place on 30 August and the French release is planned for 6 November.

The second asset in Pyramide International’s lineup in the race for the 2024 Golden Lion, the documentary Youth (Homecoming) [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Wang Bing, will mark the Chinese filmmaker’s second participation in the Venice competition after 2012 (The Ditch). The last chapter in a trilogy that started in competition in Cannes in 2023 with Youth (Spring) [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and continued with Youth (Hard Times) [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] which just won a special mention in Locarno, Youth (Homecoming) was produced by French companies Gladys Glover Films, House On Fire and CS Production, and co-produced by Arte France Cinéma, Le Fresnoy, Les Films Fauves (Luxembourg), Volya Films (Netherlands) and China. The Venice world premiere will take place on 6 September and the film (just like the second part of the trilogy) will also screen at the Toronto Film Festival (from 5 to 15 September) in the Wavelengths section.

In Toronto, Pyramide International will also count on the world premier of Shepherds by Canadian filmmaker Sophie Derasme in Special Presentations (starring Solène Rigot in the lead role - a film co-produced by French outfit Avenue B) and on two of its Cannes films: The Story of Souleymane [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Boris Lojkine
film profile] by French director Boris Lojkine (Un Certain Regard Jury prize and a Best actor award as well) in the Centrepiece programmes and Viet and Nam [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Trương Minh Quý (also appreciated in Un Certain Regard) in the Wavelengths section. Their other Cannes titles are still waiting to get sold: Wild Diamond [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agathe Riedinger
film profile] by Agathe Riedinger, Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile] by Louise Courvoisier, Jim’s Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu
film profile] by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, The Belle from Gaza [+see also:
film review
interview: Yolande Zauberman
film profile] by Yolande Zauberman and In His Own Image [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thierry de Peretti
film profile] by Thierry de Peretti.

(Translated from French)