19/06/2020 - Endowed with the Official Selection label, the films by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar and Danielle Arbid spearhead a slate that also includes the upcoming Philippe Béziat documentary

With a line-up of nine titles, including two features stamped with the Official Selection label, French international sales agent Pyramide International (headed up by Eric Lagesse) will be springing into action at the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film Online (22-26 June).

The first film endowed with the label is A Good Man [+see also:
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film profile], the sixth feature by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar (who turned heads on the Piazza Grande at Locarno in 2016 with Heaven Will Wait [+see also:
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film profile] as well as with the box-office smash Once in a Lifetime [+see also:
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film profile] in 2014). The cast includes Noémie Merlant, Soko, Vincent Dedienne, Gabriel Almer, Alysson Paradis, Anne Loiret, Geneviève Mnich and Jonas Ben Ahmed.

Written by the director together with Christian Sonderegger (Coby [+see also:
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The Pyramide sales team, overseen by Agathe Mauruc, will be negotiating deals for another title bearing the Cannes 73 Official Selection label: the French-Belgian co-production Simple Passion [+see also:
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interview: Danielle Arbid
film profile] by Lebanese helmer Danielle Arbid. Laetitia Dosch and Ukraine’s Sergueï Polunin play the main roles in this adaptation of the Annie Ernaux novel, which is centred on a romantic obsession that is summed up fairly well by the synopsis: “Since last September, I have done nothing but wait for a man: for him to call me and come to my place... Everything about him was so precious to me, his eyes, his mouth, his penis, his childhood memories, his voice…” Production duties were entrusted to Les Films Pelléas, with Belgium’s Versus on board as a co-producer.

Recent additions to the line-up include a documentary in post-production, Gallant Indies [+see also:
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film profile] by Philippe Béziat (Becoming Traviata [+see also:
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film profile], Noces, Pelléas et Mélisande, le chant des aveugles), based on the opera ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1735), staged by Clément Cogitore at the Paris Opera, with choreography by Bintou Dembélé, and featuring dancers trained in krump, popping, voguing and even experimental hip hop. It is being produced by Les Films Pelléas, with Arte France Cinéma on board as a co-producer.

Pyramide International will also be pressing on with pre-sales for another documentary in post-production, on the topic of adoption: I Have Been Waiting for You [+see also:
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film profile] by Stéphanie Pillonca.

It is also worth highlighting the market screening of Sow the Wind [+see also:
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interview: Danilo Caputo
film profile] by Italy’s Danilo Caputo (first unveiled in the Berlinale Panorama), and the ongoing sales for Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness [+see also:
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interview: Massoud Bakhshi
film profile] by Iran’s Massoud Bakhshi (which scooped the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival) and Perfumes [+see also:
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interview: Grégory Magne
film profile] by Grégory Magne (set to be released in France on 1 July, toplined by Emmanuelle Devos).

Lastly of note on the distribution side are some forthcoming French releases. Pyramide will be bringing out two other films endowed with the Cannes 73 Official Selection label: Love Affair(s) [+see also:
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interview: Emmanuel Mouret
film profile] by Emmanuel Mouret (sold by Elle Driver) on 16 September, and Ammonite [+see also:
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film profile] by Brit Francis Lee (sold by Cross City Films) in 2021.

(Translated from French)