IFC Films Buys Cristian Mungiu’s ‘R.M.N.’ Ahead of Cannes Debut (EXCLUSIVE)

Chloe Okuno’s feature debut Watcher recorded the biggest opening weekend grosses ever for IFC Films and its IFC Midnight/Shudder label on 764 U.S. screens — also one of the distributor’s widest ever releases.

Clayton Davis The best movie involving a boat since “Titanic” with the best vomiting sequence since “Team America: World Police,”  Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness” is an energetic and wacky examination of class, gender norms and culture, woven into a dynamite script. After debuting at Cannes, Östlund’s English-language debut will finally introduce the Swedish writer and director to more mainstream American audiences, and possibly even Oscar voters.The film tells the story of Carl (Harris Dickenson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), two fashion models and a celebrity couple who in three narrative chapters explore their roles in each other’s lives — following a dinner date, a luxury cruise and a shocking x-factor that presents an interesting turn of events.

review, Nicholas Barber wrote that “Corsage” stylistically resembles the dreamy Kristen Stewart film “Spencer.” “Whenever the film seems to be settling into an atmospheric but conventionally good-looking period piece, Kreutzer throws in an amusing and jarring reminder of the modern world, as if Elisabeth were breaking out of her allotted role by time-traveling, momentarily, to the present day,” Barber wrote. “Corsage” follows Elisabeth around her 40th birthday at a time when her role in the empire is slowly becoming more performative and has to fight to maintain her public image by lacing her corset ever tighter and tighter.

CANNES, France -- Cristian Mungiu's Cannes Film Festival entry “R.M.N.” is set in an unnamed mountainous Transylvanian village in Romania, but the conflicts of ethnocentricity, racism and nationalism that permeate the multi-ethnic town could take place almost anywhere.Of all the films competing for the top Palme d'Or prize at Cannes, none may be quite as of the moment as “R.M.N." The movie, using a Romanian microcosm, captures the us-vs-them battles that have played out across Europe and beyond, wherever immigration and national identities have collided.Mungiu, the celebrated Romanian filmmaker of the landmark 2007 abortion drama “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," has long been accustomed to his films being written off as grim portraits of a faraway Eastern Europe. It's a caricature he rejects, especially when it comes to “R.M.N.”“Whenever journalists interpret that it’s yet again another somber painting of this country, well, it’s not about that country — or not only about that country,” Mungiu told reporters Sunday.

IFC Films has nabbed North American rights to “Corsage,” Marie Kreutzer’s bold costume drama starring Vicky Krieps as the Empress Elisabeth of Austria known as Sissi. Represented in international markets by MK2 Films, the movie world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and earned unanimous praises.

CANNES – We are living in yet another era of European history where old battles over the borders of nation-states are being disputed. Russia has invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine after already annexing the province of Crimea less than a decade ago.

Longtime Cannes Film Festival favorite Cristian Mungiu has returned to the competition once again with a potent look at multi-ethnic strains and divides in a small Transylvanian town in R.M.N. As ever, the writer-director works intimately and close to the ground with his handful of characters who struggle to keep themselves and their barely-getting-by community afloat in changing times. It’s a kind of close-up-and-personal look at contemporary issues in an area not often dramatized or in the news, which adds to the film’s fresh and urgent feel.

Jessica Kiang The title is not, in the end, some kind of code for “Romania.” But if it were, it would be appropriate: The enormous, troubling, intricately pessimistic “R.M.N.” from director Cristian Mungiu, probably the pre-eminent filmmaker of the Romanian New Wave, is little less than a pared-back state of the nation, a microcosmic analogy for an entire shattered society boiled dry of its softening vowels, in which only the harder elements — the bigotries, the betrayals, and a surprising number of bears — remain.Laid out in discrete scenes of astonishing clarity and density, with the rigor of their construction belied by the spontaneity of their presentation, the connections between the various strands are initially difficult to discern. Rudi (Mark Blenyesi), a little boy walking to school, comes across a sight in the woods that is kept offscreen, but that instills in him such terror he runs home and ceases speaking.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNetflix is wrapping up a deal for “Pain Hustlers,” a conspiracy film from David Yates that is set to star Emily Blunt.The pact, which is for global rights to the package, is said to be in the $50 million range, according to a knowledgable insider. The sale is the biggest one so far out of Cannes, where dealmaking has been slow going.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaScoot McNairy, Kit Harington and Josh Lucas are set to star in “Blood for Dust,” an upcoming action thriller that will be directed by Rod Blackhurst.Former friends Cliff (McNairy), a traveling salesman struggling to make a living, and Ricky (Harington), an illegal-weapons dealer making serious money, reconnect one fateful day. Hoping to make some quick cash, Cliff agrees to partner with the violent Ricky, who is expanding his business to include cross-state drug and gun deliveries for John, a mid-level American cartel boss (Lucas).

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films is shooting “Curiosity Room,” a remake of Wim Wenders’s cult 1982 documentary “Room 666,” during the Cannes Film Festival. Produced by MK Prods.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaScreen Media has acquired all North American rights to “The Locksmith,” an upcoming action-thriller starring Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth and Ving Rhames.The film was directed by Nicolas Harvard, a veteran first assistant director whose credits include “Hell or High Water” and “Whiplash.” It marks his feature directorial debut. Screen Media is planning a day-and-date, theatrical and on-demand release later this year.In “The Locksmith,” Miller (Phillippe), an ex-con recently released from prison for a bungled robbery, tries to walk a straight line and work his way back into the lives of his ex, Beth (Bosworth), a police detective, and their young daughter.

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.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNeon has purchased North American distribution rights to Mark Jenkin’s “Enys Men,” ahead of the horror film’s premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.The film, which sounds very shades of “The Wicker Man,” stars Mary Woodvine and Edward Rowe. Jenkin wore a lot of hats on this one.

Holly Jones Encapsulating humanity’s weighty history and paths toward healing, director Véra Belmont (“Red Kiss”) takes a leap from live-action cinema to animated feature with her latest project, “My Father’s Secrets,” a Holocaust story that tackles generational familial trauma and redemption.Based on the graphic novel “Second Generation” by Israeli illustrator Michel Kichka, the film is set for its market premiere at the Cannes Marché du Film, with the incentive for international markets of Elliott Gould leading the English voice cast.“My Father’s Secrets,” set in Belgium, introduces two young brothers, Michel and Charly, who struggle with their father Henri’s reclusive nature surrounding his time at Auschwitz. Their imaginations get the better of them as their father retreats inward on a personal journey to recoup his life after surviving the tragedies of internment.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Top Gun: Maverick,” Tom Cruise’s long-awaited return to the danger zone, had to take a few detours due to COVID-19.When the pandemic hit, the sequel to 1986’s “Top Gun” was supposed to open on June 24, 2020. Those plans had to be rearranged when theaters shuttered and moviegoing struggled to return. Now, at long last, Cruise was on hand in the South of France on Wednesday for the Cannes premiere of “Top Gun: Maverick,” a film that has earned critical raves and seems primed for box office riches.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaScreen Media has acquired North American rights to “Code Name Banshee,” an upcoming action-thriller with Antonio Banderas and Jamie King. The film will receive a day-and-date theatrical and on-demand release in July.Directed by Jon Keeyes and written by Matthew Rogers, the duo behind “The Survivalist,” the film follows Caleb (Banderas), a former government assassin in hiding, who resurfaces when his protégé, the equally deadly killer known as Banshee (King), discovers a bounty has been placed on Caleb’s head.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIFC Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights from HanWay Films on Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s “Hot Milk,” starring Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps.Streaming service MUBI has also agreed a multi-territory deal for the film in the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Latin America and Turkey.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaWestEnd Films has closed a series of new deals on “Out of the Blue,” an upcoming thriller that brings together Neil LaBute and Diane Kruger.Rights for the film, which LaBute writes and directs, have gone to Australia and New Zealand (Kismet Movies), France (Metropolitan Filmexport), Germany (Koch Films), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Italy (Eagle Pictures), Middle East (Phoenicia Pictures) Israel (Forum Film), Poland (Galapagos Films), Greece (Spentzos Film), former Yugoslavia (Investacommerce) and Portugal (Nos Lusomundo). WestEnd is also sharing a moody first-look image.Kruger, best known for her performances in “Inglourious Basterds” and “Troy,” leads an ensemble that also includes Ray Nicholson (“Promising Young Woman”), Hank Azaria (“Love & Other Drugs”) and Chase Sui Wonders (“Genera+ion”).