07/05/2025 - With films by Erige Sehiri and Simón Mesa Soto in Un Certain Regard, Lav Diaz in Cannes Première and Yuiga Danzuka in the Directors’ Fortnight, the French seller is on a roll

A year after creating a stir at Cannes with All We Imagine as Light [+see also:
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The Official Selection includes Erige Sehiri's Promised Sky, which will open the Un Certain Regard programme. The French-Tunisian filmmaker's second feature film, following Under the Fig Trees [+see also:
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film profile] (which won acclaim at the Directors' Fortnight in 2022), stars Aïssa Maïga, Déborah Christelle Naney and Laetitia Ky. Written by the director with Anna Ciennik and Malika Cécile Louati, the script centres on Marie, an Ivorian pastor and former journalist, who has been living in Tunisia for ten years. Her home becomes a refuge for Naney, a young mother in search of a better future, and Jolie, a strong-willed student who carries her family's hopes. The arrival of a little orphan challenges their sense of solidarity in a tense social climate, revealing both their fragility and their strength... The film was produced by French company Maneki Films and Tunisian company Henia Production. Distribution in France will be handled by Jour2Fête.

Jennyfer Gautier's Luxbox team will also be selling a second film making its world premiere at Un Certain Regard: A Poet by Colombian director Simón Mesa Soto. Winner of the 2021 Critics' Week award for his first feature, Amparo [+see also:
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The line-up also includes the shining Magellan by veteran Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (who won the Golden Lion at Venice in 2016 for The Woman Who Left, and who appeared at Cannes in 2013 at Un Certain Regard and in 2019 at the Fortnight), which will be unveiled at Cannes Première. Headlining the cast is Mexican Gael García Bernal in the title role of a young and ambitious Portuguese navigator who rebels in the 16th century against the power of the king, who does not support his dreams of discovering the world. He persuades the Spanish Crown to support his daring expedition to the legendary lands of the East. His dreams came first. The voyage was exhausting beyond belief, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to the limit. By the time he reached the islands of the Malay Archipelago, Magellan had changed his mind. He becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, provoking violent uprisings that get out of hand... A film with production partners in Portugal (Rosa Filmes), Spain (Andergraun Films, El Viaje Films), France (Lib Films), the Philippines (Black Cap Pictures, Ten17P) and Taiwan (Volos Films), benefiting from Artur Tort’s talent as director of photography.

Lastly, Luxbox will be focusing on Brand New Landscape by the young Japanese director Yuiga Danzuka (born in 1998), which will be unveiled at the Directors' Fortnight. This debut feature plunges us into the ever-changing landscape of Shibuya, Tokyo, where Ren works as a butterfly orchid delivery boy. Haunted by the loss of his mother, Yumiko, who committed suicide when he was a child, he has long been at odds with his father, Hajime, a landscape architect. One day, on a routine delivery, Ren comes face to face with Hajime…

Luxbox presents a strong quartet at the Marché du Film, where it will also be completing the sales of its two Berlin competitors: Kontinental ’25 [+see also:
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interview: Iván Fund
film profile] by Argentinian Ivan Fund (Silver Bear Jury Prize).

(Translated from French)