Nothing seems to be able to slow the rise of French international sales agent Charades, which even took the liberty of launching an innovative alliance with US distributor NEON in the midst of the health crisis (see the news), and which is putting the finishing touches to its slate of 23 titles for the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film Online (22-26 June).

In particular, Yohann Comte, Carole Baraton, Pierre Mazars and Constantin Briest’s team will be pinning its hopes on two French films that have been granted Cannes labels. Bearing the Cannes 73 Official Selection stamp of approval, The Speech [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Laurent Tirard, a filmmaker who has always successfully combined artistic quality with mainstream pulling power, will enjoy an online market world premiere. The feature, starring Benjamin Lavernhe and Sara Giraudeau, will be distributed in France by Le Pacte.

Meanwhile, a movie blessed with the Critics’ Week label, Skies of Lebanon [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the feature debut by Chloé Mazlo, which is a Moby Dick Films production and has a cast including Italy’s Alba Rohrwacher and Lebanese-Quebecois thesp Wajdi Mouawad, will be pre-sold based on a promo-reel. Its French distribution will be handled by Ad Vitam.

A further seven market world premieres are on the menu, for The Rose Maker [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by France’s Pierre Pinaud, the French-Belgian thriller Hunted [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by his fellow countryman Vincent Paronnaud (starring Arieh Worthalter and Lucie Debay), the 3D animated flick Bigfoot Family [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ben Stassen
scheda film] by Belgium’s Ben Stassen and Jérémie Degruson (in competition next week at Annecy), the Norwegian documentary The Painter and the Thief [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Benjamin Ree
scheda film] by Benjamin Ree (Special Jury Award for Creative Storytelling at Sundance), the Canadian science-fiction comedy PG (Psycho Goreman) by Steven Kostanski (selected for Austin’s SXSW), the doc Spaceship Earth by US helmer Matt Wolf (in competition at Sundance), and the blend of thriller and black comedy She Dies Tomorrow by his fellow countrywoman Amy Seimetz (also selected for SXSW).

A recent addition to the line-up is the Danish thriller Shorta [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Anders Ølholm e Frederik L…
scheda film] by Anders Ølholm and Frederik Louis Hviid, which is in post-production and will be sold based on a new promo-reel.

The batch of titles in post-production are particularly tantalising, as Charades will be pre-selling (based on promo-reels) Petrov’s Flu [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov, Madeleine Collins [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Antoine Barraud
scheda film] by France’s Antoine Barraud, the animated stop-motion film Even Mice Belong in Heaven [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Czech duo Denisa Grimmová and Jan Bubenícek, The Macaluso Sister [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]s by Italy’s Emma Dante, and the political thriller The Translator [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rana Kazkaz e Anas Khalaf
scheda film] by duo of Syrian heritage Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf. And that’s not to mention the US historical drama The World to Come by Mona Fastvold (starring Katherine Waterston, Vanessa Kirby, Casey Affleck and Christopher Abbott), which will be pre-sold based on its screenplay.

Lastly of note are the online market screenings set to take place for the British films Mogul Mowgli [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Bassam Tariq
scheda film] by Bassam Tariq (popular in the Berlinale Panorama) and Lynn + Lucy [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Fyzal Boulifa
scheda film] by Fyzal Boulifa (unveiled in San Sebastián’s New Directors and awarded a prize at Les Arcs), as well as for The Girl With a Bracelet [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Stéphane Demoustier
scheda film] by Stéphane Demoustier (premiered at Locarno and racking up 320,000 admissions in France at the start of the year), the documentaries Forward [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Gilles de Maistre and Africa Mia [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Richard Minier and Édouard Salier, the Italian-Argentinian co-production Maternal [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Maura Delpero
scheda film] by Maura Delpero (in competition at Locarno – set to be released in France on 7 October) and Felicità [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Bruno Merle (out in France on 15 July).