06/02/2025 - The French sales agent will be heading to Berlin with a slate made up of one new title, two upcoming productions, five films on release and two catalogue highlights

French sales agent MPM Premium has unveiled its slate of films set to be presented at this year’s European Film Market, unspooling in Berlin from 13-19 February.

The line-up is spearheaded by the Sundance-winning (see the news) and Göteborg-screened LGBTQ+ romance drama Cactus Pears [+see also:
film review
interview: Rohan Parashuram Kanawade
film profile] (India/UK/Canada), directed by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade. The story follows Anand, a thirty-something city dweller compelled to spend a ten-day mourning period for his late father in the rugged countryside of Western India, where he tenderly bonds with a local farmer who is struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress. World rights are currently available for the movie.

Two upcoming projects will also be showcased. The first is Jean-Luc Gaget’s comedy-romance This Charming Girl (France), starring Pauline Clément, Emilie Caen, Arthur Dupont and Karine Viard (see the news). The plot begins on the day Clémence realises that no one has ever admired her – and then, poof, her father dies. Cradled by the illusions left over from a complicated childhood, she has no choice but to climb back up from her low self-esteem. When fate places Paul in her path – a man everyone calls Paul Pot because of his pronounced tendency towards tyranny – Clémence asks herself the only question that matters: could he be the one? Nour Films will be releasing the pic nationwide this year, while the rest of the world rights are available.

The second is Marie Rémond’s drama Vanishing Goats (France), toplined by José Garcia, Rémond herself, Olivia Côte, Gustave Kervern and Lolita Chammah (see the news). In the film, we find out that nothing in Élise’s life is going well: stuck in a toxic romantic relationship, she finds herself thrust into the role of theatre director following the sudden death of the famous Groutchov, whom she was the assistant to. A strange symptom called panic disorder takes hold of her. Élise tries not to show it, but her relationship with the world is totally changed as a result. Could this be an occasion for her to start looking at life differently? KMBO will release the movie in French theatres this year, whilst the remainder of the international rights remain available.

The company’s slate also includes five titles on release that are all festival favourites, with world rights available for each. These are Rusudan Glurijdze’s social drama The Antique [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rusudan Glurjidze
film profile] (Georgia/Switzerland/Germany Finland, premiered in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori), Merzak Allouache’s family flick Front Row [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Algeria/Saudi Arabia/France, premiered at Toronto), Marcia Romano and Benoît Sabatier’s French dark comedy Fotogenico [+see also:
film review
film profile] (selected for Cannes’ ACID and already released in France on 24 December 2024 by JHR), Diego Figueroa’s Chilean crime-thriller A Yard of Jackals (premiered at Tallinn and released in its home country via Storyboard Media on 23 January), and Lotfi Achour’s drama Red Path [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Tunisia/France/Belgium/Poland, premiered at Locarno and released in France, Benelux, the UK and the MENA region).

Finally, MPM Premium’s two catalogue highlights are Caye Casas’ Spanish horror The Coffee Table (already sold to a number of territories, including the UK, Australia, North America, Spain, Germany, Japan and Latin America; its remake rights remain available) and Hernán Rosselli’s crime-drama Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed [+see also:
film review
film profile] (a co-production between Argentina, Spain and Portugal, slated for a release in France via Les Alchimistes and in the USA via Outsider Pictures by the end of Q1 2025).