31/10/2006

French outfit MK2 will continue its sales on Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant’s new title, at the American Film Market, opening this Wednesday in Los Angeles. The French majority production kicked off shooting this week in Portland, in the US.

Presented at the RomeFilmFest Business Street, where it was acquired for Italy by Lucky Red, negotiations are well underway for the UK and Japan and deals with further territories are expected.

Adapted from a novel by Tim Blake Nelson, the film – defined by the 2003 Palme d’Or winning director as “Crime and Punishment at high school” – will be shot by DoP virtuoso Christopher Doyle and will centre on a young skater who accidentally kills a security guard.

MK2’s decision to produce Paranoid Park is part of a recent trend of French production outfits backing projects by US filmmakers, such as David Lynch’s INLAND EMPIRE, which was financed by StudioCanal and which will be screened at the AFI Fest in the Gala Presentations section.

Headed by Mathilde Henrot, the MK2 sales team will also take advantage of the AFM, which ends on November 8, to sell A casa nostra (lit. “At Our House”) by Italian director Francesca Comencini (see article - October 20, 2006), as well as French production The Legacy by Georgian directing duo Gela and Temur Babluani (see news - October 18), two features recently in competition at Rome.

(Translated from French)