07/06/2007

French international sales agent Wild Bunch –who snapped up the Romanian Palme d’Or winner (see news) at the recent Cannes Film Festival Market – also inked a number of pre-sales deals on features in production and in planning. We take a look at some of the outfit’s best deals, communicated to Cineuropa by Vincent Maraval.Marina de Van’s Cannes discovery Ne te retourne pas (“Don’t Go Back”), starring Monica Bellucci, Sophie Marceau and Pierfrancesco Favino was an immediate hit among buyers. Set to enter into production at the end of 2007, the Ex Nihilo/Samsa Film/Urania Pictures production about a women who changes her physical appearance to become another person has been picked up by Germany (Concorde), Portugal (Lusomundo), Greece (Spentzos, Romania, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Baltic countries (Acme), Poland, Hungary, Iceland, the Middle East, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia.

Wild Bunch also started sales on Jaco van Dormael’s Mr Nobody, featuring Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Eva Green and Linh Dan Pham. Back on set nine years after The Eighth Day, the Belgian director is making a €32m film, produced by Philippe Godeau for Somebody Production in association with Integral Film, Lago Film, Toro&Co Films and Christal Films. The large-scale project has just begun lensing and is being sold at very high prices according to Wild Bunch.

Territories to have already snapped up the title include Germany (through co-production), Benelux, France (Pathé), Portugal, Greece, Scandinavia, the Baltic countries, Romania, Turkey, Korea and Canada.

One of the films in production to sell well included Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs (see article), which will be distributed in France by Wild Bunch and was sold to German-speaking Europe, Switzerland, Benelux, Greece, Italy, Romania, Scandinavia, the former Yugoslavia, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Thailand.

Another popular hit was Vera Belmont’s Survivre avec les loups (see news), acquired by France (Bac Films), Germany and other German-speaking European territories, Benelux, Portugal, Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Italy, Hungary, the former Yugoslavia, Russia, Turkey, the Middle East, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and India.

Rights were also sold on Gilles de Maistre’s documentary The First Cry (sold worldwide) and Alain Corneau’s Second Wind (French release October 24, ARP).

Other successful titles were Luc Jacquet’s The Fox and the Child (French release by BVI in December 2007) and two films on Che Guevara, by Steven Soderbergh (The Argentine and Guerilla), starring Benicio del Toro, German actress Franka Potente and Britain’s Julia Ormond (a WB/Estudios Picasso co-production).

Jérôme Salle’s Largo Winch and Scottish helmer Peter Mullan’s Neds (a Wild Bunch production), whose shoot is scheduled to begin soon, round up the outfit’s extensive list of Cannes deals.

(Translated from French)