Neon Buys Horror Movie ‘Enys Men’ Ahead of Cannes Premiere

Austin Butler and Tom Hanks suit up sharp for the premiere of their new film, Elvis, held at BFI Southbank on Tuesday night (May 31) in London, England.

A24 has made another acquisition out of Cannes, acquiring the North American rights to “Close,” the next film from Lukas Dhont, which is set to debut tonight in the main competition at Cannes. Dhont is the director of 2018’s “Girl,” which won the Camera d’Or at Cannes, and the film stars Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele, and Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille.“Close” is described as a film about friendship and responsibility and follows two 13-year-old boys, Léo and Rémi, whose friendship suddenly gets disrupted.

Cannes Film Festival.Members of the production team for “Butterly Vision,” by Ukrainian director Maksym Nakonechni, protested the ongoing war in Ukraine while on the red carpet Wednesday.In front of Salle Debussy, the second-largest theater in Cannes, the team — including producers Darya Bassel and Yelizaveta Smit, plus actress Rita Burkovska — held a banner that read, “Russians kill Ukrainians. Do you find it offensive or disturbing to talk about this genocide?”The sirens heard on the red carpet stairs were meant to symbolize air raids in Ukraine, while the protestors held signs that read “sensitive content” over their faces.Not only were they demonstrating the ongoing devastation in Ukraine, but they were also attempting to show the extent of Russian censorship.The film “Butterfly Vision” explores a similar idea, albeit in a fictional world.

Neon has acquired North American rights to Ruben Östlund’s buzzy satire, Triangle of Sadness, following its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Square,” which won the Palme d’Or in 2017. This film marks his English-language debut.

Cannes does not disappoint. Over the last week we’ve seen a galaxy of stars hit the Croisette wearing the world’s most beautiful jewellery and household name designers. Last night was no different as we saw some of the world’s biggest style icons attend the screening of Crimes Of The Future.

Naomi Campbell looks amazing on the red carpet at the premiere of Decision To Leave during the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on Monday (May 23) in Cannes, France.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSony Pictures Classics has nabbed “One Fine Morning,” Mia Hansen-Love’s critically acclaimed drama starring Lea Seydoux at Cannes on the heels of its world premiere at Directors’ Fortnight. Les Films du Losange, the indie film powerhouse, has now sold the film in 50 territories.The deal is for North American, Latin American and Middle East rights to the film.

Thania Garcia Ahead of its Monday evening premiere at the Cannes Film Festival’s Midnight Screenings section, the first trailer for filmmaker Brett Morgen’s “Moonage Daydream” — a feature-length film dissecting David Bowie’s creative, musical and spiritual journey — has been released.Featuring never-before-seen footage, performances, and music, the documentary is piloted by Bowie’s own narration. It is the first film project officially sanctioned by Bowie’s estate.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterA group of women protestors staged a dramatic scene at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, releasing plumes of smoke from handheld devices and displaying a long banner for the global press.At the premiere of “Holy Spider,” director Ali Abbasi’s female-centered thriller, roughly 12 women in formalwear gathered on the famed stairs of the festival’s Grand Palais with raised fists — filling the space with thick black smoke and holding a long scroll of women’s names.Security seemed unfazed by the event, allowing the protestors to be filmed and photographed. One insider close to the production said the protest was not a coordinated stunt to promote the film, about a journalist who travels to the Iranian holy city of Mashhad to investigate a serial killer murdering sex workers.

“Bait,” British filmmaker Mark Jenkin’s breakout feature, could well be considered a horror movie. Set in a quaint little fishing enclave off the Cornish coast, where the ship decks are rickety and the townhouses’ whitewash ever-peeling, the knotty fear of loss is ever-present: of history, of possession, of tradition, of heritage, of liberty.

Manori Ravindran International EditorNeon has acquired the North American distribution rights to Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” starring Josh O’Connor and Isabella Rossellini.Written and directed by Rohrwacher, the film is set in the 1980s in the clandestine world of the tombaroli (tomb robbers) and tells the story of a young English archaeologist (O’Connor) who gets caught up in the illegal trafficking of ancient finds.The cast also includes Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher and Vincenzo Nemolato. The film has wrapped phase one of production in Tarquinia and southern Tuscany and will continue in August and September in central Italy and Switzerland.The film is produced, as all of Rohrwacher’s previous films, by Carlo Cresto-Dina with his company Tempesta and long-time backers Rai Cinema, in co-production with Neon, Amka Films (Switzerland) and Ad Vitam Production (France), and in partnership with Arte France Cinema, Canal+, Ciné+, RSI/SSR SRG (Switzerland) and French distributor Ad Vitam.

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.

EXCLUSIVE:  NEON has taken the North American distribution rights to Mark Jenkin’s horror feature Enys Men, starring Mary Woodvine and Edward Rowe. The deal was hatched before Cannes, ahead of the pic’s world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section.

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.

K.J. Yossman Andy Armstrong’s directorial feature debut, “Squealer,” is set to launch sales in Cannes.VMI Worldwide are handling international rights on the feature, which was produced by Walk Like A Duck Entertainment’s Jason Armstrong and Rob Goodrich, Shaun Sanghani of SSS Entertainment and Walk Like a Duck’s Cameron Goodrich.Paradigm are repping North American sales.As well as directing “Squealer,” Andy Armstrong co-wrote the screenplay with Danielle Burgio.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaIFC Films has acquired North American rights to “R.M.N.,” the new film from acclaimed writer, director and producer Cristian Mungiu, ahead of its world premiere in Cannes this week.It’s a grand reunion for the indie studio and the director, marking their fifth distribution collaboration. IFC Films will release “R.M.N.” theatrically in 2022.