French-made suspense thriller “The Pilot” will join the slate of Hong Kong-, Paris- and Los Angeles-based sales agent All Rights Entertainment at the upcoming film markets.
The story follows a drone pilot in Mali whose wife and daughter are kidnapped by terrorists. They will be executed if he doesn’t derail the capture by his team of the head of a jihadist network. Soon to wrap in Almeria, Spain, “The Pilot” will be ready for delivery by the end of this year and released in the first quarter of 2022.
The film is the latest example in the screenlife genre, in which everything the viewer sees happens on a computer screen, a smartphone or a tablet and the entire film plays out on screens. Other recent successful examples include “Searching,” “Unfriended” and “Profile.”
“The Pilot” is the feature debut of Paul Doucet, following his string of award-winning shorts. It is produced by OCS and Fulltime Studio, one of the top purveyors of French genre cinema, whose sci-fi-horror hybrids “Hostile” and “Meander” both directed by Mathieu Turi, were widely sold internationally.
The film stars Hugo Becker (“The Last Journey of Paul W.R.,” “The Assault,” TV’s “Baron Noir”), Gregory Fitoussi (“Emperor,” “Hostile,” TV’s “Spiral”) and Eye Haidara (“C’est La Vie,” “The Lost Prince,” Amazon Prime’s “Patriot”).
All Rights will start selling the film at this year’s pre-Cannes screenings and at the Cannes Market.
The company also announced the high-profile casting of Mickey Rourke, Mark Dacascos and Shaina West in “Jade,” another new project that it will launch at Cannes. The film is the feature debut of stuntman-turned producer and director James Bamford.