11/05/2006

Wild Bunch’s spectacular line-up is expected to make the international sales company one of the big stars at the Film Market of the 59th Cannes Film Festival (May 17-28).

The team, headed by Vincent Maraval, will offer buyers no less than 14 titles from the various festival sections. These include seven features in official competition, including French film Charlie Said [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Nicole Garcia, which has already found distributors in France (Mars Distribution), Scandinavia, Benelux, Switzerland, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Italy and eight other territories worldwide.

Wild Bunch has also made several pre-sales agreements for The Caiman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Nanni Moretti
film profile] by Italy’s Nanni Moretti, which has found takers in 20 territories, including France (Bac Films), Italy, UK, the Benelux countries, Portugal, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece, Scandinavia, as well as Australia and Canada. As for the other Italian title in competition, L'amico di famiglia (lit. “The Family Friend”) by Paolo Sorrentino, it is expected to find more distributors since for the moment it has been sold only to Italy, Australia, New Zealand and France (Pyramide).

Also in the line-up for the Golden Palm is Spanish production Pan's Labyrinth by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. The title has already been sold to 18 territories, including North America, France, Benelux, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Portugal, countries of the former Yugoslavia and Romania.

Wild Bunch has also started looking for distributors for Buenos Aires 1977 by Israel Adrian Caetano (outside of France and in Latin America with Distributor Pan Européenne) and Southland Tales by US director Richard Kelly, which currently only has a pre-sales agreement for France (Pan Européenne), Spain, Bulgaria, Singapore and Israel. Meanwhile, Summer Palace by China’s Lou Ye, the latest title in the competition, has already been acquired for 13 territories.

The French sales company, which is experiencing rapid growth, also has two films in the Un Certain Regard selection: Ten Canoes by Australia’s Rolf De Heer and Murderers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Patrick Grandperret, which has already found a buyer for Europe’s German-speaking territories, as well as for France, Switzerland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Benelux, Greece and Portugal.

Lastly, in the Directors’ Fortnight, Wild Bunch will continue its search for distributors for Michel Ocelot’s animated film Azur et Asmar [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (which has a pre-sales agreement in Europe for France, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia, Benelux, Switzerland, Greece and Portugal) and will start sales on US production Daft Punk’s Electroma, scripted by France’s Guy-Manuel de Homen-Christo and Thomas Bangalter.

Wild Bunch’s line-up in other selections includes Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki, screening in Cannes Classics, as well as short films The Water Diary by Jane Campion and Sida by Gaspar Noé, screening out of competition.

(Translated from French)