LES-HENNEDRICKS-© Julien Panié - The Film, Bonnes Soeurs Productions, Gaumont, France 2 Cinéma

Source: Julien Panié - The Film, Bonnes Soeurs Productions, Gaumont, France 2 Cinéma

Give A Little Beat

Gaumont has packed its diverse Paris Rendez-Vous line-up with Laurence Arné’s family road trip comedy Give A Little Beat starring the director-actress alongside Dany Boon.

The duo play a remarried couple who take their blended family on a road trip in an old Jeep Cherokee bound for the French Atlantic coast. The scenic journey quickly turns to disaster as antics ensue.

Titled Les Hennedricks in France, Give A Little Beat is produced by Michael Gentile’s The Film, Bonnes Soeurs Production and Gaumont. Gaumont will release the film in France on June 26. Arné makes her directorial debut after starring in a slew of hit French films including Boon’s Netflix pandemic comedy Locked In.

The company is also unveiingl Max Mauroux’s Almost Legal (Presque Légal), the filmmaker’s first feature geared toward a young adult audience, at the Rendez-Vous. Marie-Anne Chazel and Jérôme Niel are among the young ensemble cast, described by Gaumont’s head of international sales and distribution Alexis Cassanet as “the next generation of French comedians.”

The film follows two slackers struggling to find their place in the professional world who turn a local grocery store into a booming night business devoted to partying. Gaumont produced the film and will release it in France in July after it premieres in January at the Alpe d’Huez Film Festival.

Highlights

Gaumont’s slate also includes Abderrahmane Sissako’s Black Tea, set between China, the Ivory Coast and Cape Verde and about a woman who discovers the ancient ritual of tea. Produced by Cinefrance Studios, Archipel 35 and the filmmaker’s Dune Vision, Gaumont will spill Black Tea into cinemas in France on February 28.

Also on Gaumont’s busy Rendez-Vous slate is a sizzle reel for its anticipated animated feature adaptation of Paul McCartney’s children’s novel High In The Clouds and a promo for Michiel Blanchart’s action-packed survival thriller Night Call starring Jonathan Feltre, Romain Duris and Jonas Bloquet. Night Call is produced by Quad and is a genre-hopping race against time about a night shift that turns into a brutal descent into violence.

Blanchart’s short film You’re Dead Hélène was shortlisted for live action short film Oscar in 2022 and is set for a US feature adaptation produced by Sam Raimi.

Gaumont is also bringing Gilles de Maistre’s English-language animal adventure tale Moon The Panda about the friendship between a boy and a panda set in China’s Sichuan mountains and Lucas Bernard’s screwball comedy In The Sub For Love, now in post-production, about an airline steward and a submarine officer whose one-night stand turns into a global adventure. It stars The Three Musketeers’ Pio Marmaï and Eye Haïdara and is produced by Gaumont with Les Grandes Espaces.

Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema takes place from January 16-25 in Paris.