12/02/2016 - Two productions by Petr Václav and Ognjen Glavonić are in the Forum, while an animated project adapted from Haruki Murakami features in the Co-Production Market

Having regularly made a splash over the last few years on the line-ups of the major festivals through its co-productions, such as The Here After [+see also:
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interview: Magnus von Horn
film profile] by Magnus von Horn, The Way Out [+see also:
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interview: Petr Václav
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film profile] by Marcela Said, As We Were Dreaming [+see also:
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Q&A: Andreas Dresen
film profile] by Andreas Dresen, Layla Fourie [+see also:
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interview: Agnes Kocsis, director of P…
film profile] by Ágnes Kocsis, Paris-based outfit Cinéma Defacto, headed by Tom Dercourt (supported by Sophie Erbs), once again towers above the rest at the 66th Berlin Film Festival (11-21 February 2016).

Indeed, Cinéma Defacto has two minority co-productions that will be having their world premieres in the Forum section of the Berlinale: We Are Never Alone [+see also:
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interview: Petr Vaclav
film profile] by Czech director Petr Václav (read the article – which benefited from post-production support from the Ile-de-France region and is being sold abroad by Wide Management) and the documentary Depth Two [+see also:
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film profile] by Serbian filmmaker Ognjen Glavonić. “We love Petr Václav’s films, and we wanted to build up a long-term relationship with him by accompanying him as a co-producer on his trilogy project, which kicked off with The Way Out, is now continuing with We Are Never Alone and will conclude with Skoran; the latter is currently in post-production, was supported by the CNC’s World Cinema Support and will be ready in the spring,” states Tom Dercourt. “As for Ognjen Glavonić, we are also partners on his fiction feature debut, The Load, which is in pre-production and is also backed by the CNC’s World Cinema Support.”

At Berlin, Cinéma Defacto also stands out at the 13th Co-Production Market (14-16 February 2016), where the project Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman has been selected; director Pierre Földes is already attached to the film, as are Hungarian outfit Proton Cinema (which has staged all of Kornél Mundruczó’s movies, among others) and Dutch firm Lemming Film, as co-producers. “It’s an adaptation of six short stories by famous Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, gathered together to span a single timescale in 2011 and revolving around the impact of the tsunami on three characters,” explains Dercourt. “Murakami is very demanding, and rightly so; he hardly ever gives away the rights to his works, and he’s not at all a fan of animated films, but he liked Pierre’s adaptation, which managed to convince him, and so he gave us his blessing. It’s a very exciting project when you’re familiar with the magical realism of Murakami’s works. Now, we’re looking for an international sales agent, distributors and equity partners in the United States and Japan, two countries where Murakami is very well known. The production should get under way next winter, and we will be presenting a pilot at Cannes.”

Among Cinéma Defacto’s other projects are two shoots that will get going next September for its executive production Territory of Love [+see also:
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film profile] (working title: Love Wall) by Romain Cogitore (toplined by Déborah François) and its co-production Après la guerre by Annarita Zambrano (a project being staged by Paris-based outfit Sensito Films and also co-produced by Italy’s Movimento Film). Los Perros [+see also:
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film profile] by Chilean director Marcela Said should also enter production very soon, and Cinéma Defacto also has What Will People Say [+see also:
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interview: Iram Haq
film profile] by Norway’s Iram Haq (who turned a lot of heads with her feature debut, I Am Yours [+see also:
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film profile]) in development; it will be executive-produced by Mer Film.

(Translated from French)