Cannes Market Buzz Titles: Actioners, Sci-Fi Thrillers and Historical Dramas Up for Sale On the Croisette

Naman Ramachandran Deaf Crocodile Films and Gratitude Films have acquired Indian films “Lalanna’s Song” and “Dhuin” for North American distribution. The deals were completed during the Cannes Market.“Dhuin” is one of six Indian titles selected by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for a market screening.

Naman Ramachandran Indian documentary “From the Shadows,” by Miriam Chandy Menacherry (“Lyari Notes”), has been selected for the Breaking Through the Lens initiative at the Cannes Film Market.The initiative connects female and non-binary directors to finance at top-tier film markets.In the documentary, artist Leena Kejriwal relentlessly sprays silhouettes on public walls tagged #missing, activist Hasina Kharbhih accompanies girls rescued from child sex trafficking across international borders, and survivor Samina fights a long and arduous legal battle against her traffickers. Parallel narratives intersect to reveal a sliver of hope when women challenge a powerful trafficking nexus operating in a country where every eight minutes a child goes missing.

EXCLUSIVE: NewFilmmakers Los Angeles today announced the winners of its 10th annual Best of NFMLA Awards.

EXCLUSIVE: Here is the first trailer for movie Peter Five Eight, marking the first footage released at a market for a Kevin Spacey project in almost five years.

Audrey Diwan’s planned English language directing debut, the erotic tale Emmanuelle starring Lea Seydoux, has buyers buzzing as much as any Cannes Market package being shopped this week on the Croisette. But her last film Happening (which didn’t make the cut as France’s choice for Best Foreign Language Film, though many felt it would have won) might have the most lasting impact. The film is just released in the U.S. smack in the middle of revelations that the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe V Wade.

Naman Ramachandran For acclaimed Indian actor R. Madhavan ( (“Alai Payuthey,” “Tanu Weds Manu”), making his directorial debut, “Rocketry: The Nambi Effect,” literally required an understanding of rocket science.In addition to directing, Madhavan plays the role of Indian scientist, Nambi Narayanan, a former Indian Space Research Organization scientist and aerospace engineer known for developing efficient liquid fuel engines and who became embroiled in a spy scandal.The director attached to the project had to drop out at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts and Madhavan who had a deep understanding of the script having written it himself after conversations with Narayanan had to take up the mantle.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefOdin’s Eye Entertainment has boarded “In Vitro,” an elevated sci-fi thriller starring “Succession” star Ashley Zukerman (“The Lost Symbol,” “Fear Street”) and Talia Zucker (“Lake Mungo”). It is co-directed by Tom McKeith and Will Howarth whose debut feature “Beast” was nominated for best first feature at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015.

EXCLUSIVE: A feature about legendary Hollywood director Sam Peckinpah’s wild plan to finance his final film with backing from Colombia’s Cali Cartel is being sold in Cannes.

EXCLUSIVE: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry is readying his next project, which will be on sale in the Cannes market with French seller Kinology.

EXCLUSIVE: The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman star Jake Hoffman, whose father is Dustin Hoffman, is creating and directing coming-of-age romcom The Problem With Poets.

EXCLUSIVE: Ian McKellen is among the stars of Ken McMullen’s Hamlet Within, a part-documentary feature investigating the mythology around the Shakespeare play, which is headed to the Cannes Market.

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award-winning writer and director Emerald Fennell has lined up her cast for her next film, Saltburn with Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan attached to star in the project from MRC Film. Deadline recently broke that Rosamund Pike will also co-star with  principal photography set to begin this summer in the UK. The pic will be produced by Fennell and LuckyChap Entertainment’s Josey McNamara, Tom Ackerley and Margot Robbie.

The Hating Game star Lucy Hale is to reunite with director Peter Hutchings in rom-com Which Brings Me To You.

Another hot project is hitting the Cannes market as Emily Blunt is attached to star Pain Hustlers with David Yates directing. Wells Tower penned the script with Lawrence Grey producing through his Grey Matter Productions banner along with Wychwood Pictures

EXCLUSIVE: Here is the hot project for international buyers for next week’s Cannes Market. Sony Pictures has preemptively acquired US rights to Miramax’s Here, a film adaptation of the celebrated Richard McGuire graphic novel that will reunite the Forrest Gump team: Academy Award-winners director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Eric Roth and star Tom Hanks, with Robin Wright also starring. It’s the quartet’s first time back together since the 1994 film classic, which won six Oscars including Best Picture.

EXCLUSIVE: Galway Film Festival winners Andy & Ryan Tohill (The Dig) are set to direct up and comers Levi Miller (Kraven the Hunter), Solly McLeod (star of upcoming ITV series Tom Jones), Isabella Pappas (Finding Alice), Lou Llobell (Foundation), and Izuka Hoyle (Mary Queen of Scots) in Beach Boys. Scripted by Malachi Smyth, the film will be repped at the Cannes Market by Hyde Park International.

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy winner Sarah Paulson (12 Years A Slave), Gotham Awards winner Anthony Mackie (Captain America), BAFTA winner Martin Freeman (The Hobbit), and triple Emmy winner Uzo Aduba (Orange Is The New Black) will star in feature Clybourne Park, which is a hot package launching for the Cannes market.

Jacob Tremblay (Room) and Woody Norman (C’mon C’mon) are starring in The Skeleton Tree, which Sierra/Affinity is selling at the Cannes Market.

David Cronenberg has found his next movie: thriller The Shrouds, which will star his Eastern Promises and Dangerous Method collaborator Vincent Cassel.