EXCLUSIVE: Father and son drama set against backdrop of contemporary Romania to premiere at San Sebastian.
Paris-based Les Films du Losange has taken on international sales and French distribution of Romanian Marian Crisan’s Rocker [pictured]ahead of its premiere in San Sebastian’s New Directors sidebar.
“I’m very happy to be working with this young, talented director again,” commented head of international sales Agathe Valentin who also handled Crisan’s debut feature Morgen.
Crisan won the Palme d’Or for his short film Megatron in 2008. Morgen premiered in competition at Locarno where it won the Special Jury Prize before touring numerous festivals.
Rocker is set in contemporary Romania and revolves around the relationship between a 40-year-old rocker and his drug-addicted son.
This year, San Sebastian’s New Directors, which was previously part of the festival’s Zabaltegui section, is being re-launched as a separate competitive section aimed at first and second-time directors.
Crisan will compete for the neo Kutxa-Nuevos Directors Award of $118,000 alongside 16 other directors including Scotland’s Scott Graham and Danish Katrina Wiedeman.
In the meantime, the Losange team will be in Toronto with Michael Haneke’s Palme D’Or-winning picture Amour, which is screening in the Masters section. The film has practically sold out bar in Africa and the Middle East.
The company will also market screen Belgian director Joachim Lafosse’s Un Certain Regard entry Our Children (A Perdre La Raison) for which Emilie Dequenne won best actress.
The picture has been one of the indie buzz titles of the late summer in France, attracting more than 100,000 spectators since its release on Aug 22 and prompting rave reviews from local critics.
It has already sold in a slew of territories including most recently to Canada (Axia Films), Spain (Karma), Russia (Cinema Prestige), Portugal (Clap Filmes), Hungary (Angou Lafayette and Romania (Asociatia Culturala Macondo).
The film, which will get its US premiere at the New York Film Festival on Oct 12 in the Main Slate programme, has yet to close the US.
Other titles on the Losange slate include Arnaud Des Palliere’s Michael Kohlhaas, starring Mads Mikkelsen and Bruno Ganz.
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