Memento to surf in on The Pirogue

by Fabien Lemercier

04/05/2012 - After very good results in Berlin (news) with both an award and excellent sales for Sister [trailer, film focus] by Ursula Meier, Memento Films International is set to attend the Film Market at the 65th Cannes Film Festival (May 16 to 27) with a diverse line-up of ten titles.

Its line-up will be headed by the much-awaited French-Senegalese co-production The Pirogue [trailer] (read more) by Moussa Touré to be unveiled in Cannes’ official selection at the Certain Regard.

The team, managed by Emilie Georges with Tanja Meissner leading international sales, win also count on the market premier of Bad Seeds (article) by Safy Nebbou, a co-production bringing together France, Belgium, and Luxembourg to be released in French cinemas by Diaphana on August 15.

In Cannes, Memento will continue with yet more sales for Under The Rainbow by Agnès Jaoui (news), and will seek to sell Foxfire by Laurent Cantet to the rare territories that have not yet acquired it. The director is currently refining his final cut of the film for an international premiere at the end of the summer. Among the line-up's titles in post-production, German-Australian-British feature Lore by Cate Shortland also stands out.

Memento will also screen Compliance by Craig Zobel and Me @ The Zoo by the duo Chris Moukarbel - Valerie Veatch, both American productions discovered at Sundance, and pre-sell American film We Are What We Are by Jim Mickle, a reinterpretation of the Mexican horror movie Somos Lo Que Hay that is currently in pre-production.

Finally, it is very likely that, within the first few days of the Cannes market, Memento will make a detailed announcement and launch pre-sales for the new film by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, who won this year’s Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language with A Separation. The director should start shooting this summer in Paris with Memento as his producer.

(Translated from French)