22/02/2024 - BERLINALE 2024: Recent announcements include Bruno Dumont’s upcoming movie, a French remake of Locke, Luc Besson’s Dracula, the latest Jia Zhangke offering, and much, much more

Director Bruno Dumont, who is preparing his new film Red Rocks (© Dario Caruso/Cineuropa)

The curtain fell yesterday on the 74th Berlinale’s European Film Market, where French international sales agents certainly had their work cut out for them, notably vis-a-vis the ten competition titles they’re selling. A variety of announcements were also made during the market, as outlined herein.

For starters, Luxbox unveiled Bruno Dumont’s new project Red Rocks, which is due to be shot this year. The director will be abandoning the North of France (just this once) to make a Romeo and Juliette style story set in the summer on the Côte d'Azur. Production is steered by Tessalit Productions together with Italy’s Nightswim, Belgium’s Novak Prod and Portugal’s Rosa Filmes.

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Newen Connect kicked off sales on Cross Away by Gilles Bourdos (Renoir [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christa Théret
film profile], Endangered Species [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), which is a remake of English director Steven Knight’s Locke [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (discovered in Venice in 2013). Produced by Curiosa Film, this feature film is currently in post-production and stars Vincent Lindon in the lead role.

Loco Films launched presales on Close-up by Italian director Tonino de Bernardi, which stars Isabelle Huppert playing various roles in a story spanning the 17th century and the present day. Production is managed by French firms Rosebud Entertainment and Les Films du Camélia together with Italian outfit Enormous Films.

Le Pacte are co-producing and selling (alongside Canadian firm Les Film Opale) the biopic Villeneuve: Rise of a Champion by Canadian Daniel Roby, on which filming has just begun.

Urban Sales, who recorded sales in more than 50 countries on Mascha Halberstad’s Fox & Hare Save The Forest [+see also:
film review
interview: Mascha Halberstad
film profile] (presented in Berlin’s Generation Kplus section), have also added The Shameless by Bulgaria’s Konstantin Bojanov (discovered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week 2011 via Ave [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Konstantin Bojanov
film profile]) to their line-up, a love story which is currently in production in India, courtesy of Urban Factory (France), Akka Films (Switzerland) and Klas (Bulgaria) (read our news).

For their part, SND kicked off presales on Relapse, the first feature film by world-renowned American novelist Bret Easton Ellis (read our news).

Alpha Violet added the movie in post-production Don’t You Let Me Go to its books, by Uruguayan directors Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge (well-received in the 2013 Berlinale’s Panorama section via So Much Water [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]).

mk2 Films launched sales on Chinese master Jia Zhangke’s upcoming work (in post-production) We Shall Be All. For the record, the French firm are also sharing sales with American outfit Cinetic on Todd Haynes’ upcoming movie (as yet untitled), starring Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role.

Best Friend Forever (Indie Sales’ Belgian arm) started work on Dania Reymond-Boughenou’s debut feature film Silent Storms (read our article).

Last but not least and well worth a mention is Luc Besson’s Dracula project, which is produced by EuropaCorp and will star Caleb Landry-Jones and potentially Christoph Waltz in its cast, and Stronger Than The Devil by Graham Guit, which is produced by Belgium’s Rockstone Films, is about to begin filming and stars Melvil Poupaud, Asia Argento, Marine Vacth, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart and Raïka Hazanavicius among its actors.

(Translated from French)