31/01/2012

Armed with a line-up of 51 titles, French international seller Wild Bunch is getting ready to make a splash at the European Film Market at the 62nd Berlinale(February 9-19, 2012), in particular with two films in the official selection: UK director James Marsh’s Shadow Dancer, starring Clive Owen (out of competition) and Spanish helmer Alvaro Longoria’s Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony, starring Javier Bardem (special screening).

Six films have joined Wild Bunch’s line-up, in particular the new, as-yet-untitled feature by Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Oleg Mutu
film profile]), which is currently shooting and is co-produced by Romania, France and Belgium. The story is set in a secluded Orthodox convent and centres on two young women who have been close since their childhood in an orphanage. But one wants to leave and the other not, and the former’s state of mind deteriorates to the point where an exorcism is envisaged.

At Berlin, Vincent Maraval’s team will also start sales for White Elephant by Argentina’s Pablo Trapero (in post-production – see news - starring Ricardo Darin, Jérémie Renier and Martina Gusman); UK production Broken by well-known British theatre director Rufus Norris (featuring Tim Roth, Cillian Murphy and Rory Kinnear – in post-production); and Ziad Doueiri’s French feature The Attack (adapted from Yasmina Khadra’s bestseller about a Palestinian doctor living in Israel whose wife dies as a suicide bomber – in post production - 3 B Productions). Also among the new titles in post-production are Mishima, A Life in Four Chapters by Japan’s Koji Wakamatsu and The Last Supper by China’s Lu Chuan.

Wild Bunch will also continue pre-sales for Guillaume Canet’s first English-language film with a screenplay by James Gray based on Blood Ties. In pre-production, the project piloted by Les Films du Trésor has already been pre-bought for about 15 territories.

Also standing out in the line-up are four films that are currently shooting: the next (untitled) feature by James Gray, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Marion Cotillard; NicolasWinding Refn’s Danish production Only God Forgives, featuring Ryan Gosling and Kristin Scott-Thomas (sales shared with Gaumont); Hand in Hand by Valérie Donzelli (see news); and Pascal Plisson’s documentary On the Way to School.

Sixteen features, and prestigious ones at that, are crammed into the post-production line-up, including many French films like Régis Roinsard’s Populaire, starring Romain Duris and Déborah François (see news); Christian Vincent’s Haute Cuisine, featuring Catherine Frot (see news); Xavier Giannoli’s Superstar, starring Kad Merad and Cécile de France (see news); Gilles Bourdos’s Renoir, featuring Michel Bouquet, Vincent Rottiers and Christa Theret (see news); Hélène Fillières’s Tied, starring Benoît Poelvoorde and Laetitia Casta (see news); Bruno Podalydès’s Granny’s Funeral; François Ozon’s In The House (see news); Leos Carax’s Holly Motors; Laurent Tirard’s Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia 3D; directorial duo Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougaret’s Journal de France; and Sylvie Verheyde’s Confession of a Child of the Century (starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Peter Doherty – see news).

At the EFM, Wild Bunch will also sell Twice Born by Italy’s Sergio Castellitto and starring Penélope Cruz; The Angel’s Share by Brit director Ken Loach; The Grandmasters by Wong Kar Wai; and collective film 7 Days in Havana (with segments directed by Laurent Cantet, Elia Suleiman, Benicio del Toro, Pablo Trapero and Gaspard Noé), all in post-production.

Finally, among the 17 titles presented at Berlin as market screenings are the collective film The Players directed, among others, by Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardin, Fred Cavayé and Eric Lartigau; Blood from a Stone by Jacques Maillot (see news); Kathmandu Lullaby by Spain’s Iciar Bollain (see interview ); and Bye Bye Blondie by Virginie Despentes (see news).

(Translated from French)