French international sales agent The Party Film Sales (headed up by Sarah Chazelle and Etienne Ollagnier) will land at the European Film Market (running 12 - 18 February) - unspooling within the 76th Berlinale - with a major ace up its sleeve: namely Alain Gomis’ Golden Bear contender Dao.

This will be the third time the French-Senegalese filmmaker has taken part in the Berlin-based competition after Today [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] in 2012 and Félicité [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alain Gomis
scheda film] (awarded the Grand Jury Prize) in 2017. He also visited the German festival’s Forum sidebar in 2022 with the documentary Rewind & Play [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alain Gomis
scheda film] and has further appeared in Locarno (scooping the 2001 Silver Leopard via As A Man) and Venice (gracing the 2007 Giornate degli Autori line-up with Andalucia [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]). Notably starring Katy Correa, D’Johé Kouadio, Samir Guesmi, Mike Etienne, Nicolas Gomis, Fara Baco Gomis and Poundo Gomis, Gomis’ new opus (which he wrote) centres on a family weaving together the threads of their legacy while travelling between two worlds. Amidst joy and pain, memory and transmission, we witness a wedding in France and a commemorative ceremony in Guinea-Bissau: two celebrations intimately linked through bodies and time which result in a rebirth… Production was spearheaded by French outfits Les Films du Worso and SRAB Films, with Yennenga Productions (Senegal), Nafi Productions (Senegal) and Telecine Bissau Producoes (Guinea-Bissau) co-producing the work. Jour2Fête will release the film in France on 29 April.

The Party Film Sales team led by Estelle de Araujo and Samuel Blanc will also be backing the documentaries Everybody to Kenmure Street [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Belgian-Chilean director Felipe Bustos Sierra (a UK production which very recently won a Special Jury Award in Sundance), Mailin by Argentina’s María Silvia Esteve (unveiled in competition in IDFA) and A Very Good Boy by France’s Sébastien Lifshitz (a TV production by Agat Films - Ex Nihilo for Arte France). But Cannes is also in the sales agent’s sights, with pre-sales on Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s You Shall Not Make an Image (currently in post-production – article) also jostling on the agenda.