Cannes 2017 Deals: The Complete List of Festival Purchases
For domestic buyers looking to snag a hot title, the Cannes Film Festival isn’t exactly the most hospitable environment — all told and including festival sidebars like Critics’ Week and Director’s Fortnight, there are more than 75 films at this year’s festival, and while the fest offers up plenty in the way of foreign-language titles, most of the heavy-hitting English-language features landed on the Croissette with distribution deals already in place.
READ MORE: The Cannes Film Festival Buyers Guide: Who’s Buying the Movies You’ll Watch
Netflix arrived with both Noah Baumbach’s family drama “The Meyerowitz Stories” and Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja,” while Amazon has Todd Haynes’ “Wonderstruck” and Focus Features has Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled.” And while A24 has never bought a completed film at Cannes, the company launched four titles at the fest, including Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and the Safdie brothers’ “Good Time.”
But for distributors looking to snap up the next big thing, this year’s festival has contained plenty of gems for purchase. Here’s a complete list of everything that’s been bought so far, updating as the festival wraps up this weekend.
Cohen Media Group
Cohen Media Group has acquired the North American rights to Francois Ozon’s erotic mystery “L’Amant Double” (“Double Lover”), which screened in Competition.
The film follows Chloé (Marine Vatch), a fragile young woman who falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul (Jérémie Renier). Chloé eventually moves in with Paul, but later discovers he is concealing a part of his identity. The film co-stars legendary French artist Jacqueline Bisset.
You can watch the film’s first teaser right here.
Cohen Media Group also acquired the North American rights to Michel Hazanavicius’ free-wheeling Jean-Luc Godard biopic “Redoubtable.”
Set in Paris 1967, “Redoubtable” follows Godard as he’s forced to re-examine himself after the reception of “La Chinoise,” his political film about young revolutionaries. Seeming to foreshadow France’s civil unrest in May of 1968, the director is shaken by the crisis and irrevocably changed by his own deep-rooted conflicts and misunderstandings. It is set for a North American release in early 2018.
Louis Garrel stars as Godard, with Stacy Martin as Anne Wiazemsky and Bérénice Bejo in a supporting role.
You can read our review right here.
The Orchard
The Orchard has acquired the U.S. rights to Robin Campillo’s AIDS drama “BPM (Beats Per Minute).” The film is one of the best-reviewed titles at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered in Competition.
Set in the early 1990s, the film follows members of the ACT UP movement in Paris who work to spread awareness about AIDS. One newcomer to the group, Nathan (Arnaud Valois) has his world shaken up when a radical militant named Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) throws his last bits of energy into the struggle.
You can read our review right here.
Oscilloscope
Oscilloscope has obtained U.S. rights to Kaouther Ben Hania’s Cannes Un Certain Regard entry “Beauty and the Dogs.” O-Scope plans a theatrical release for the film later in the year.
Per the film’s official synopsis: “When Mariam, a young Tunisian woman, is raped by police officers after leaving a party, she is propelled into a harrowing night in which she must fight for her rights even though justice lies on the side of her tormentors. Employing impressive cinematic techniques, Kaouther Ben Hania’s ‘Beauty and the Dogs’ tells an urgent, unapologetic, and important story head-on.”
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics acquired all North and Latin American rights to Russian-language drama “Loveless,” one day before the film’s premiere. This deal reteams SPC and helmer Andrey Zvyagintsev, as the specialty Sony arm previously release his 2014 film “Leviathan.” The film is Zvyagintsev’s third Cannes Competition entry and his third partnership with producer Alexander Rodnyansky.
The family drama follows Boris and Zhenya, a couple in Russia who are going through a divorce and selling their apartment. Constantly arguing, the pair seem to be uninterested in their 12-year-old son Alyosha, until he goes missing and they have to come together again to find him.
You can read our review right here.
Sony Pictures Classics has also announced that they have acquired all rights in North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Eastern Europe to Chloé Zhao’s “The Rider.” The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight section to stellar reviews over the weekend.
It’s the second project from writer-director Chloe Zhao, who previously made the 2015 Sundance drama “Songs My Brothers Taught Me.” That film also screened at Directors’ Fortnight. “The Rider” is a drama about a young cowboy who suffers a near fatal head injury and embarks on a search for a new identity.
Sundance Selects
Sundance Selects, the division of IFC Films known for distributing critically acclaimed foreign-language films, has acquired Italian filmmaker Jonas Carpignano’s drama “A Ciambra.” The film premiered last week in the Cannes Film Festival’s Director’s Fortnight section, and marks the first film to be produced under Martin Scorsese’s new fund to help emerging filmmakers.
“A Ciambra” is set in a small Romani community in Calabria, Italy, where 14-year-old Pio Amato is desperate to grow up fast. He follows his older brother Cosimo everywhere, learning the necessary skills for life on the streets, but when Cosimo disappears and things start to go wrong, Pio sets out to prove he’s ready to step into his big brother’s shoes.
You can read our review right here and check out the film’s official poster, too.
Sundance Selects also snapped up the North American rights to Claire Denis’ “Let the Sunshine In.” The dramedy screened in the Cannes Film Festival’s Director’s Fortnight sidebar and follows a single mom and divorced artist named Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) who is looking for love.
Written by Denis and Christine Angot, “Let the Sunshine In” co-stars Gérard Depardieu, Xavier Beauvois, Josiane Balasko, Philippe Katerine and Nicolas Duvauchelle.
You can read our review right here.
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