“Peaceful,” Emmanuelle Bercot’s Cesar-winning melodrama which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, has landed domestic distribution with New York-based banner Distrib US.
Sold by Studiocanal, the movie is headlined by Benoit Magimel and Catherine Deneuve (pictured). Magimel, who won the Cesar Award for best actor — beating fellow nominee Adam Driver — stars as a man dying of cancer. “Peaceful” world premiered out of competition at Cannes where it earn warm reviews.
Distrib US has also acquired “A Tale of Love and Desire” and “Les Inde Galantes,” which are both screening this week at the Film at Lincoln Center as part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York. The event is being co-organized by Unifrance, the French film and TV advocacy org.
“Les Inde Galantes,” directed by Philippe Béziat, is a documentary following 30 dancers reprising Jean-Philippe Rameau’s baroque masterpiece on the stage of Paris’s legendary Opéra Bastille. The film, which features Clément Cogitore, earned a best documentary nomination at the Cesar Awards. Pyramide International handles sales.
“A Tale of Love and Desire,” directed by Leyla Bouzid, follows Ahmed, an 18-year old French-Algerian man who is brought up in the suburbs of Paris and meets Farah, a young Tunisian girl, at the university. While discovering a trove of sensual and erotic Arabic literature he never imagined existed, Ahmed falls deeply in love with Farah, but tries to resist his feelings.
The movie world premiered on closing night of Cannes’ Critics Week and played at a flurry of festivals, including Toronto and the BFI London. “A Tale of Love and Desire” also earned its leading actor, Sami Outalbali, a best male newcomer nomination at the Cesar Awards.
Recent Distrib US acquisitions also include “Amira,” Mohamed Diab’s drama about paternity, patriarchy and Palestinian identity starring Ali Suliman and Saleh Bakri; and Nicolas Benamou’s comedy “Mysteries in Saint Tropez,” which is headlined by popular French and Belgian actors including Christian Clavier, Benoit Poelvoorde, Thierry Lhermitte and Jerome Commandeur. The film is sold by Studiocanal.
“Amira” is represented by Pyramide International and opened at the Venice Film Festival. It was produced by Film Clinic, Agora Audiovisuals, Acamedia Pictures and Al Taher production.