‘One Fine Morning’ Producer Les Films Pelleas Sets Next Project by Guillaume Senez, Anne-Sophie Bailly (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Danes may have surpassed the French in clashing with streamers. The Danish Producers’ Association and Create Denmark, the guild representing writers, actors and directors, among others, have been involved in a bitter dispute over fees and rights with local and global streaming services including Netflix and Viaplay since January. While Viaplay signed a temporary agreement over the summer which is valid through December, other services, including Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+ and Amazon Prime have fully stopped the development or production of Danish content since January. The estimated loss of revenue for the country is approximately $200 million, according to Lene Børglum, a leading producer in Denmark whose credits includes Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Only God Forgives” and “Copenhagen Cowboy” which Netflix had ordered way before the start of the dispute. The series world premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

Liza Foreman Boutique distributor Juno Films has picked up North American distribution rights to the Irish-language feature “Róise and Frank,” (“Mo Ghrá Buan”), the company confirmed on Friday. Written and directed by Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy, the drama tells the story of an imaginative widow, played by Irish actress Bríd Ní Neachtain, who decides that a stray dog she befriends is the reincarnation of her deceased husband Frank. As time passes, Róise slowly begins to open herself back up to the outside world and reconnect to friends and family. Her canine companion starts to coach the local junior high school’s hurling team with great success for the team and its players, under Frank’s guidance. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Les Films du Losange has closed a raft of major deals on Kasja Naess’s animated feature “Titina” which is produced by the teams behind the Oscar-nominated film “The Triplets of Belleville” and Oscar-winning short “The Danish Poet.” “Titina” will world premiere at Animation Is Film Festival, which takes place Oct. 21-23, and is produced by GKids, in collaboration with Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Variety. Budgeted at $8.5 million, the Norwegian animated movie was produced by Mikrofilm (“The Danish Poet”) and Vivi Film (“The Triplets of Belleville”). The film tells the real-life story of a fox terrier that accompanied her master on an expedition to the North Pole in an air balloon in the 1920’s. It will be released in Norway by Norsk Film Distribusjon, and in France by Les Films du Losange.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Music Box Films has acquired U.S. rights to “Full Time,” Eric Gravel’s visceral social thriller which is one of the five finalists for France’s official submission to the 95th Academy Awards. Represented in international markets by Be For Films, “Full Time” world premiered at last year’s Venice festival in the Horizons sections and won a pair of awards for Laure Calamy (“Call My Agent!”) and Gravel. The critically acclaimed film went on to made its U.S. debut at New Directors/New Films. Music Box Films will release “Full Time” in cinemas and on home entertainment platforms in 2023.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen will return to the French capital for his 50th movie which he’s described as a “poisonous romantic thriller” with a pair of French stars, Valerie Lemercier (“Aline”) and Niels Schneider (“Love Affair(s))”. The untitled film, the plot of which is being kept under wraps, will start filming next month and will be entirely in French with a budget in the $10-million range. Allen has described the film to be similar to “Match Point,” in that it would be “exciting, dramatic and also very sinister.”  Allen sparked headlines earlier this week after Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia ran a story reporting that the New York-based filmmaker had told them he was planning on retiring. Allen’s representative then issued a statement saying that the director had “no intention of retiring.”

Celebrating their mom! While being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Kelly Clarkson had the support of daughter River, 8, and son Remington, 6.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winning film “Triangle of Sadness” has been sold by Coproduction Office to major distributors around the world. “Triangle of Sadness,” which was acquired by Neon for North America at the Cannes Film Festival, just had its North American premiere at Toronto and is playing at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Coproduction Office has now sold the movie worldwide to major distributors. Recent deals have been closed with Stay Golden (China), Edko (Hong Kong), Impact (India), Gaga (Japan), Green Narae (South Korea), Catchplay (Taiwan), TBA Studios (Philippines), Sun (Latin America), Frontrow (Middle East), Forefont (South Africa) and Les Films 26 (French-speaking Africa). 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Antonin Baudry, who made his feature debut with Netflix’s submarine thriller “The Wolf’s Call,” is set to adapt Homer’s epic war tales of “The Iliad and The Odyssey” into a science fiction series titled “Ulysse.” Pathé has recently boarded the series project which is being co-developed by Axelle Boucai (The Mad’s Women Ball”) and Alain Goldman (“La Vie en Rose,” “The Mad’s Women Ball”) at Paris-based Ness Films. “Antonin Baudry is writing the adaptation and had the idea of transposing these mythological tales in space and in the future,” said Boucai, who cited “Dune” as inspiration.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Canal+, France’s leading pay TV group, has signed distribution deals with Universal and Sony to ramp up its programming of U.S. movies. Under the pact, Canal+ now has access to the studios’ new films six months after their releases. Sony’s “Spiderman : No Way Home” is currently being broadcast on Canal+’s linear pay TV channels, along with its transactional VOD platform, My Canal. The news was half-revealed by Maxime Saada, Canal+ Group’s chair and CEO, during the company’s upbeat press conference on Sept. 14, which was held at their posh headquarters in Paris. Saada, who recently joined the management board of Vivendi, Canal Plus Group’s parent company, said the outfit already boasts partnerships with Fox, Disney and Warner, as well as Paramount.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Loco Films has boarded international sales rights to actor-turned-helmer Dinara Droukarova’s feature debut “Woman at Sea” which will world premiere in the New Directors section at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Produced by Marianne Slot and Carine LeBlanc at Paris-based Slot Machine (“Melancholia”), “Woman at Sea” stars Droukarova as Lili, who has left everything behind to travel to the end of the earth to fulfil her dream of fishing in the northern seas, in Iceland. She convinces Ian, a fishing boat skipper, to give her a chance and embarks on the Rebel. She is the only woman in the crew but she will win everybody’s respect thanks to her determination and courage. “We are proud of this first film, shot on the harsh northern seas about a young woman seeking the fresh air of freedom. A beautiful and free film and the birth of a new director,” said Laurent Danielou, founder and president of Loco Films.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Pathé, which operates France’s leading cinema circuit, is planning to enter the Paris stock exchange in 2024, Variety has confirmed. The company’s president, Jérôme Seydoux, revealed the group’s long-gestated listing project in an interview with the French publication Les Echos. Seydoux said the company suffered a loss of approximately €100 million during the financial years 2020 and 2021, mainly due to the fact that theaters in France were shut down for a total of 300 days during the pandemic. While it ruffled feathers by selling “Coda” to Apple at Sundance in 2021 in a splashy $25 million deal, the company was one of the rare French studios which maintained its release plans for major local productions during the health crisis, for instance Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel” with Romain Duris and Emma Mackey, and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Notre Dame on Fire.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Playwright-turned-filmmaker Florian Zeller (“The Father”), who is at Venice with “The Son,” is joining forces with the European group Mediawan (“Call My Agent!”) and former CAA executive Federica Sainte-Rose to launch Blue Morning Pictures, a new production company. The multi-year deal will see Mediawan finance and produce with Blue Morning Pictures programming across an array of platforms. Zeller recently relocated in Los Angeles to accompany the release of “The Son” in the U.S., and promote the film during the awards season. Operating from both Paris and L.A., Zeller will now be working hand-in-hand with Sainte-Rose to develop a slate of premium films and television series.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent   Eight years after delivering his Oscar-nominated film “Timbuktu,” Abderrahmane Sissako is set to make his anticipated directorial comeback with “The Perfumed Hill.” Gaumont is representing in international markets and will introduce it to buyers at at Toronto. The French studio will also distribute the film in France, while Cohen Media Group will release it in the U.S. Re-teaming Sissako with his “Timbuktu” co-writer Kessen Tall, “The Perfumed Hill” is a romance drama set between China’s tea hills, the Ivory Coast and Cape Verde. It stars Nina Melo (“Girlhood”), Han Chang (“Little Big Women”) and Ke-Xi Wu (“Nina Wu”).

Protagonist Pictures has closed a French distribution deal with Les Films du Losange on Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s Cannes Camera d’Or winning directorial debut War Pony.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent MK2 Films has scored key territory deals on Japanese director Koji Fukada’s “Love Life,” which makes its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Set in contemporary Japan, “Love Life” is a character-driven film revolving around Taeko and her husband, Jiro, who are living a peaceful existence with her young son, Keita. When a tragic accident brings the boy’s long-lost father, Park, back into her life, Taeko throws herself into helping this deaf and homeless man to cope with the pain and guilt. Popular Japanese actress Fumino Kimura (“The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill”) headlines the film. MK2 Films has now sold the movie to Teodora (Italy), Imagine (Benelux), Leopardo (Portugal), Demiurg (Ex Yugoslavia), New Cinema (Israel), Swallow Wings (Taiwan), Edko (Hong Kong), Impact Films (India) and Encore Inflight (Airlines).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After taking a break from his filmmaking career to preside over the French film promotion org Unifrance, Jean-Paul Salomé has made a big comeback with a pair of films with Oscar-nominated French actor Isabelle Huppert. The latest one, “The Sitting Duck,” is world premiering at Venice in the Horizons section. Adapted from Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s book “La Syndicaliste,” “The Sitting Duck” tells the true story of Maureen Kearney, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse who becomes a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. One day, Kearney is found in her home, tied to a chair, the letter “A” carved into her abdomen, and a knife handle inserted into her vagina. Traumatized, she has no memory of the assault. However, after an investigation, the police accused her of staging the attack herself.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Iconoclast, the international production group behind Romain Gavras’ Venice competition film “Athena,” is setting a wide-ranging slate of projects with emerging filmmakers from different audiovisual fields, including Leo Berne from the artists collective Megaforce, and Elias Belkeddar and Said Belktibia from the collective Kourtrajmé. The company is also producing the next projects of Harmony Korine and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, among others. In a rare interview, Nicolas Lhermitte, who co-founded Iconoclast with Mourad Belkeddar, says the company has emerged from the pandemic with a record number of developed projects. “We took the opportunity during the pandemic to develop a lot of projects, and today we have around 30 projects in the pipeline, spanning films and series that are set up at our studios in France, the U.S. and Germany,” says Lhermitte, who adds that Iconoclast aspired to “accompany multi-disciplinary artists to venture from one field to another, films, TV series, branded content, and music videos.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent MK2 Films, which is at Venice with “Love Life” playing in competition, is reteaming with Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel on “The Falling Star,” a darkly comic mystery thriller. The directing duo is rolling off “Lost in Paris,” their international breakout film, which had a buzzy premiere at Telluride in 2016. The film was also a commercial success, grossing nearly $3 million outside of France, with strong performances in the U.S., Italy, Germany, Brazil and Australia/New Zealand. “The Falling Star” tells the story of Boris, a former activist who’s been a fugitive for 35 years, and works as a bartender. Boris’ past finally catches up with him when a mysterious stranger appears at the bar, armed and wanting revenge. The appearance of a double, the depressed and solitary Dom, provides Boris’ cunning partner Kayoko and their faithful friend Tim with the perfect escape plan, but they haven’t accounted for Dom’s ex-wife, Fiona, a detective on their trail.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After the edgy crime comedy “The World Is Yours,” Romain Gavras is back with thriller “Athena.” Produced by Paris-based Iconoclast for Netflix, the ambitious, €15 million film ($15 million) unfolds in the aftermath of the tragic killing of a young boy. A leaked video showing the boy as a victim of police brutality goes viral and ignites an all-out war in an imaginary community called Athena. It’s the first French movie that Netflix is presenting in competition at the Venice Film Festival. “Athena” tells the story of the boy’s three siblings, who are responding to the tragedy in different ways. French star Dali Benssalah (“Les Sauvages,” “No Time to Die”) plays the older brother, Abdel, a French soldier. Faced with an impossible moral dilemma, Abdel is called back from the frontline to help diffuse the all-out war that has been sparked by his younger brother Karim (Sami Slimane), who wants revenge. Athena becomes the backdrop of a tragedy for both the family and its entire community. The film’s stellar cast also includes Ouassini Embarek, Anthony Bajon and Alexis Manenti.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cécile Gaget, a former senior executive at Anton Capital and Gaumont, is set to join Wild Bunch as head of film. It’s a new era for Wild Bunch, which was previously co-headed by Vincent Maraval, Vincent Grimond and Brahim Chioua. It’s now led by Ron Meyer, a veteran studio chief and CAA co-founder, and Sophie Jordan, a former beIN Media Group executive. Gaget will lead the film group reporting to Meyer and Jordan. Gaget, who is well-regarded in the industry and enjoys close relationships with talent, will be overseeing French acquisitions, distribution and local production. She’ll also be ramping up an international production slate, including English-speaking projects for Wild Bunch AG, who will act as producer and financier.