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CANNES 2021 Marché du Film

Totem Films to brandish three aces in Cannes

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- The French agent sells Compartment No 6, which is gracing the competition, Moneyboys in the Un Certain Regard section and Softie, set for a screening in Critics’ Week

Totem Films to brandish three aces in Cannes
Compartment No 6 by Juho Kuosmanen

It’s been a rapid ascent for French international sales firm Totem Films, launched two years ago by Agathe Valentin, Laure Parleani and Bérénice Vincent, who have seen one of their titles selected in competition at the 74th Cannes Film Festival (running 6 to 17 July): Compartment No 6 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juho Kuosmanen
film profile
]
by Juho Kuosmanen. Added to this are two further films in the Totem Films line-up set to be showcased on the Croisette: Moneyboys [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: CB Yi
film profile
]
by C.B Yi in the Un Certain Regard section, and Softie [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Samuel Theis
film profile
]
by Samuel Theis in Critics’ Week, without forgetting three feature films in post-production and six recently unveiled works, which is more than enough to keep them going at the 2021 Marché du Film, whether at the Pre-Cannes Screenings (unfolding online this week) or its physical counterpart (running 6 to 15 July).

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Thus, having scooped the Un Certain Regard Prize in Cannes back in 2016 with his first feature film The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juho Kuosmanen
film profile
]
, Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen will be battling it out for the 2021 Palme d’Or 2021 armed with his new opus, Compartment No 6. Produced by Finland in league with Germany, Estonia and Russia (Aamu Film Company, Actung Panda!, Amrion Productions and CTB Film Company), the film revolves around a young Finnish woman who escapes an enigmatic love affair in Moscow by boarding a train to the arctic port of Murmansk. Forced to share the long ride and a tiny sleeping car with a Russian miner, the unexpected encounter leads the occupants of compartment n°6 to face the truth about their own loneliness and yearning for human connection.

The Un Certain Regard section will see Totem Films wagering on another first film: Moneyboys by Austrian-Chinese director C.B. Yi (produced by Austria’s KGP alongside French firm Zorba, Taiwan’s Flash Forward Entertainment and Belgium’s Panache Productions).

Likewise dazzling in the Cannes-based line-up is French director Samuel Theis’ Softie (the second feature to come courtesy of the co-director of 2014’s Caméra d’Or-winning work Party Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marie Amachoukeli, Claire B…
film profile
]
), an Avenue B production which will be treated to a Special Screening during Critics’ Week and will be distributed in France from February 2022 by Ad Vitam.

Totem Films are also selling the animated film My Maad Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michaela Pavlátová
film profile
]
by Czech director Michaela Pavlatova (who just walked away with Annecy’s Jury Prize) and will similarly launch pre-sales on two debut feature films currently in post-production: Erasing Frank [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gábor Fabricius
film profile
]
by Hungary’s Gábor Fabricius and Miss Viborg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marianne Blicher
film profile
]
by Denmark’s Marianne Blicher (a Snowglobe and Rei Cine production).

Pre-sales are likewise set to continue on Lovisa Sirén’s road-movie in post-production Maya Nilo (Laura) [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, uniting the likes of Sweden, Finland and Belgium ([sic] film, Way Creative, Tuffi Films and Umedia), and, last but certainly not least, the French sales agent will also make the most of the Marché du Film to wrap sales on its many finished titles, notably We [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alice Diop
film profile
]
by Alice Diop (the winner of the Berlinale’s Encounters competition and the same festival’s Best Documentary award) and Ballad of the White Cow [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Iranian directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha (the star attraction of the Berlin-based competition).

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(Translated from French)

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