25/08/2014 - The Paris-based sales agent will be pinning its hopes on These Are the Rules on the Lido and on four titles being showcased at the Canadian festival

Selected in the competitive Orizzonti section of the 71st Venice Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday, These Are the Rules (Takva Su Pravila) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Ognjen Svilicic is one of the aces that French sales agent Urban Distribution International (UDI) has up its sleeve as part of its very varied line-up. Produced by Croatia together with France, Serbia and Macedonia, the film, which will have its official world premiere next Friday on the Lido, revolves around a couple from Zagreb that is forced to call everything into question following a violent attack on their only son.

Represented at Venice by Dephyne Besse, the UDI team headed by Frédéric Corvez will then head for the 39th Toronto International Film Festival (4-14 September), where it will negotiate deals for four films being showcased. One of these movies, Canadian feature Felix et Meira, by Maxime Giroux, will have its world premiere on 7 September and will then go on to take part in the competition at the 62nd San Sebastian Festival (19-27 September).

At Toronto, UDI will also be selling the Franco-Greek-Iranian co-production Red Rose by Sepideh Farsi. The film, which recounts a love story in the middle of the 2009 Iranian “Green Revolution”, will have its world premiere in the World Contemporary Cinema section, which will also be presenting the Kazakh black comedy The Owners by Adilkhan Yerzhanov (revealed at an Official Selection Special Screening at the last Cannes Festival). Lastly, UDI will be concluding sales for Journey to the West [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang (included in the Panorama section of this year’s Berlinale) in Canada – the movie has been picked in the TIFF Wavelengths programme.

Also featuring on UDI’s line-up of titles in post-production are Kurai, Kurai: Tales on the Wind by Marjoleine Boonstra (a co-production involving the Netherlands and Kyrgyzstan) and the British feature Hec McAdam by Jake Gavin (starring Peter Mullan and Gina McKee in the leads), while among the firm’s movies that are currently in production we find French animated film Long Way North [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Rémi Chayé (read the article) and the crime drama The Endless River [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by promising South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus (starring French actor Nicolas Duvauchelle). For the record, among its finished films, UDI is selling Insecure [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marianne Tardieu
film profile] by Marianne Tardieu (read the article), a feature debut starring Adèle Exarchopoulos and Reda Kateb that premiered in the ACID selection at this year’s Cannes, and which will be released in French cinemas on 12 November.

(Translated from French)