EXCLUSIVE: Montreal-based producer micro_scope has reported a strong response from buyers to its 15th anniversary 4k restoration of Oscar-nominated Denis Villeneuve’s early-career dramatic thriller Incendies as it mulls further sales through its young international division.
The 2010 Venice selection and Middle East-set story about twins who discover the devastating truth about their late mother has been re-licenced in: Scandinavia (Scanbox), South Korea (Tcast), Taiwan (Hooray Films), Switzerland (Film Coopi), Brazil (Imovision), and Latin America (Sofa Digital).
New deals have closed with Bir Film in Turkey, Feelgood Entertainment in Greece, and Outsiders in Portugal. Immina Films released Incendies in Canada this year where it has earned more than $65,000, while New Select distributed the film in Japan in 2024. Incendies, the breakout film from Villeneuve, whose credits include the Dune franchise and Arrival, originally opened in 2010 and grossed more than $12m worldwide.
“The film has not aged at all, and its subject matter is, sadly, still timely,” said Luc Déry, who along with business partner Kim McCraw ventured into international sales about a year ago when rights to older films Incendies and Philippe Falardeau’s Congorama reverted to the company.
They also took back Viking and Drunken Birds after Anick Poirier’s Sphere Films International closed. Poirier originally sold Incendies and is overseeing licensing on the remaster. micro_scope received support for the restoration from Telefilm Canada, and the producers recently remastered Falardeau’s Oscar-nominated 2011 comedy drama Monsieur Lazhar, which Playtime still controls.
The producers are in post on Falardeau’s new film Lovely Day based on Alain Farah’s book Milles Secrets, Mille Dangers about a man’s anxiety as his wedding day approaches. “It is a big movie, with good international potential, and we are eager to bring on the market,” said Déry.
For now micro_scope only intends to licence films from its catalogue that it produced. “We will continue working with sales agents for most of our future productions,” Déry said, “but it is not impossible that we keep smaller movies and try to sell them ourselves.”
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