'Ali & Ava’

Source: Altitude Film Sales

’Ali & Ava’

Rezo Films has acquired French distribution rights to Clio Barnard’s UK drama Ali & Ava, which is set to world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday (July 11).

UK-based Altitude Film Sales closed the deal and is selling the feature in Cannes, where it has not yet screened to international buyers.

The film is a love story about two people, lonely for different reasons, who meet and feel a deep connection over the course of a lunar month, despite the legacies of their past relationships. 

The film shot in Bradford, UK in late 2019, produced by Tracy O’Riordan for Moonspun Films. BBC Film and the BFI backed the production. Altitude Film Distribution will distribute in the UK and Ireland.

Barnard is now shooting Apple TV series The Essex Serpent in the UK, which has made her attendance at the Cannes premiere unlikely due to the minimum five-day quarantine she would have to observe upon return. However, lead cast member Adeel Akhtar will attend with work ongoing to confirm co-star Claire Rushbrook.

Barnard was previously at Cannes with her debut fiction feature The Selfish Giant, which played in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar in 2013 and won the Label Europa Cinemas award.