16/09/2008 - Even before the film screened in official competition, Laurent Cantet’s feature had already sold to 43 countries at the Cannes Festival Film Market

Managed by Paris-based Memento Films (see interview with Émilie Georges), international sales for The Class [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carole Scotta
interview: Laurent Cantet
film profile] were remarkably successful at the Cannes Festival Film Market. Even before the film screened in official competition, Laurent Cantet’s feature had already sold to 43 countries. This number increased to over 60 territories after the film was crowned Palme d’Or and was acquired, among others, for the US, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico (by Sony Pictures Classics).

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

In Europe, the film will be released in the UK (Curzon Artificial Eye), Italy (Mikado - release date: October 10), Spain (Golem Distribución, December 12), in Germany (Concorde, January 15, 2009), Scandinavia (NonStop Entertainment), Portugal (Midas Filmes - October 30), Switzerland (Filmcoopi Zürich AG, September 24), Austria (Polyfilm), Greece (Ama Films, Romania (Independenta Film ), Poland (SPI), Czech Republic (Artcam) and in Benelux countries (Cineart), including in Belgium on October 1.

Jakob Abrahamsson, head of distribution at Sweden’s NonStop told Cineuropa why he was totally won over by Cantet’s film: “We saw The Class in an early screening at the market and were most of all struck by how different it was from any other film in the competition. The actors, especially the kids, were so incredibly real that I had to double-check the programme to see if it really was a fiction film. Ultimately, we bought it because it was such a touching, thought-provoking and at the same time entertaining film experience, something unlike anything else we've seen in a long time."