The Marché du Film (12–20 May) at the 79th Cannes Film Festival looks set to be a success for the French sales company Pyramide International (headed by Éric Lagesse and managed by Agathe Mauruc), which is confident of securing some good deals thanks to a strong line-up featuring four titles selected for various sections of the festival.

The Official Selection at Cannes Première will feature Orange-Flavoured Wedding by French director Christophe Honoré and Mary Magdalene by Haitian director Gessica Généus. Having made her debut in Un Certain Regard in 2021 with her first feature film Freda, the filmmaker has this time written a screenplay set in Jacmel, on Haiti’s southern coast, where the sea, churches and spirits shape daily life. Mary Magdalene (played by the director herself) is a free woman. She makes a living as a sex worker and spends her nights defying the rules of those who claim to save souls. When her path crosses Joseph’s (Béonard Monteau), a young believer involved in an evangelical community, a relationship blossoms between these two people who are polar opposites. As Joseph’s faith begins to waver, Mary Magdalene draws him into a world where desire, belief and the quest for freedom open up a space where everything can be reinvented… A film produced by the French company SaNoSi Productions in collaboration with the Haitian company Ayizan Productions, the Belgian company Stenola Productions, the Luxembourgish company Bidibul and the Canadian company Metafilms.

Pyramide International will also be showcasing two debut feature films at Critics’ Week. A Girl Unknown by Chinese director Zou Jing (winner of the Next Sep Award in 2024 – news), which will have its world premiere in competition, centres on a young Chinese girl growing up from the age of 6 to 18 amongst three families, each of whom gives her a new name and a new life. As she searches for belonging and the possibility of love, she must face the weight of her past and the uncertainty of her future - until she finds her own path. A film produced by the Chinese company Pure Light Films and co-produced by France via Maneki Films, Memoria Films and Arte France Cinéma.

Also on the programme for the parallel section, in a special screening, is another highlight from Pyramide International: the Franco-Polish production Flesh and Fuel by Pierre Le Gall (starring Alexis Manenti).

At the Marché du Film, Pyramide will be selling four appealing titles currently in post-production: One Minute To Midnight by Nicolas Pariser, Dr Albertini’s Office by Emmanuel Mouret (article – featuring Laure Calamy and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi in the cast), the Belgian-French production Diane in the Loop by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni and That’s All Folks by Gustave Kervern (article).

And let’s not forget, among the films that have been completed, Maigret and the Dead Lover by Pascal Bonitzer, the documentary Nous, l’Orchestre de Paris by Philippe Béziat, Behind the Palm Trees by Meryem Benm’Barek, and the documentary All My Sisters by the Iranian director Massoud Bakhshi.