13/02/2020 - The sales agent’s line-up features films in post-production signed by Mia Hansen-Løve, Leos Carax, Nadav Lapid, Bertrand Mandico, Peter Dourountzis, Mathias Malzieu, Romain Quirot and Douglas Attal

French international sales agent Kinology will be prepping for the future at the European Film Market, held within the 70th Berlinale (running 20 February to 1 March), touting a highly attractive line-up of eight films in post-production, several of which are supposedly set to be showcased in big festivals unfolding later in the year. Stealing the spotlight amongst these is Bergman Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mia Hansen-Løve
film profile] by French director Mia Hansen-Løve, which boasts a high-end cast graced by the likes of Luxembourg’s Vicky Krieps, English actor Tim Roth, Australian Mia Wasikowska and Norway’s Anders Danielsen Lie. Steered by Charles Gillibert on behalf of Parisian group CG Cinéma, this English-language feature is partnered by firms such as France’s Arte France Cinéma and Dauphin Films, Belgian group Scope Pictures, German outfit Neue Bioskop, Swedish group Plattform Produktion (notably with the support of the Swedish Film Institute, Film Capital Stockholm and Gotlands Filmfond), Brazilian firm RT Features and Mexico’s Piano, among various others. Its release in French cinemas will be managed by Films du Losange.

The EFM will also see Kinology continue pre-sales on another French film in the English-language which is currently in post-production and very much anticipated: Annette [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Leos Carax, a musical orchestrated by Sparks and starring American and French stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard alongside the young Simon Helberg. Similarly produced by CG Cinéma, the film is backed by French firms Arte France Cinéma and Tribus P Films, Belgian groups Wrong Men and Scope Pictures, Germany’s Detailfilm and Japanese outfit Eurospace. Distribution in France is entrusted to UGC.

Another long-awaited work is Ahed’s Knee [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nadav Lapid
film profile] by Israeli director Nadav Lapid, who nabbed Berlin’s Golden Bear last year with Synonyms [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nadav Lapid
film profile]. Scheduled for completion in May, the film brings together Avshalom Pollak and Nur Fibak at the head of the cast. The story centres around a filmmaker alone in the desert who desperately throws himself into two battles doomed to failure: one against the death of freedom in his country, the other against the death of his mother. Production was manned by Judith-Lou Lévy and Ève Robin on behalf of Parisian firm Les Films du Bal, alongside Arte France Cinéma, Israeli group Pie Films and Germany’s Komplizen Film. Distribution rights in France have been acquired by Pyramide.

Now under the sole leadership of Grégoire Melin (Gaëlle Mareschi having left for Netflix), the Kinology team will also be wagering on two young, original and highly promising French filmmakers, in the form of Bertrand Mandico with After Blue [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Peter Dourountzis with Rascal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Dourountzis
film profile].

Likewise featuring in the line-up is the French-Belgian-Macedonian co-production A Mermaid in Paris [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Mathias Malzieu, the French-Belgian title How I Became A Superhero [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Douglas Attal (starring Pio Marmaï, Vimala Pons, Benoît Poelvoorde, Leïla Bekhti and Swann Arlaud - a Trésor Films production which will be distributed in France on 14 October 2020 courtesy of Warner).

Last but not least, and well worth a mention, is another French-Belgian work in post-production: Paul W.R.’s Last Journey [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Romain Quirot, a science-fiction feature film notably starring Hugo Becker, Jean Reno, Lya Oussadit-Lessert and Paul Hamy. Produced by Apaches, the film propels us into 2050. Temperatures have reached unbearable levels, most animal species have disappeared, hundreds of millions of people have become climatic refugees and petrol, coal and gas reserves are utterly exhausted: the sixth mass extinction is no longer mere hypothesis: it’s a reality. As the mysterious Red Moon moves dangerously closer to planet Earth, there is only one man who can save our world: his name is Paul W.R.

(Translated from French)