Paris-based sales powerhouse Elle Driver has added Greek director Alexandros Avranas’ Apathy, now in pre-production, to its line-up heading into Cannes.
Apathy is a drama exploring the real-life phenomenon of ‘resignation syndrome’, a catatonic state that has affected around 700 refugee children in Sweden, sparking a wave of concern among doctors and politicians. Told from the perspective of a family, Apathy follows the parents as they struggle in their daily lives and gives a voice to the children. The multi-territory co-production is produced by France’s Les Films du Worso and Elle Driver, Germany’s Senator Film, Greece’s Playground-Asterisk, Estonia’s Amrion Production, Sweden’s Fox in the Snow Films and Finland’s Making Movies. Elle Driver will kick off sales in Cannes.
Avranas won the best director prize at Venice 2013 with Miss Violence and followed up with 2017’s Love Me Not that screened at San Sebastian. He described Apathy as “a universal story about the fragility of truth, about parents’ unconditional love and being a child in exile”.
Robot Dreams
Elle Driver also has international rights to Pablo Berger’s Spanish animation Robot Dreams, the filmmaker’s first foray into animation after his silent melodrama Blancanieves earned an Oscar nod for Spain in 2013 in addition to two prizes in San Sebastian and 10 Goyas. The film is a late addition to Cannes in Special Screenings.
Adapted from the popular 2007 graphic novel by US artist Sara Varon, the universal story about friendship is set in an imaginary 1980s New York and is the director’s own personal love letter to New York where he lived for a decade. Elle Driver’s director and co-founder Adeline Fontan Tessaur called the film “a true wonder that overflows with emotion. It’s a burst of colour and music juxtaposed against the nostalgia of NYC in the 1980s and a dog and a robot that will warm the hearts of audiences everywhere”.
The film is produced by Spain’s Arcadia Motion Pictures with France’s Les Films du Worso and Noodles Production.
Cannes slate
Elle Driver will be unveiling first images from Paul Goldman’s Kid Snow. The Australian-produced tale of sibling rivalry and redemption set in the 1970s world of tent boxing stars UK actors Billy Howle and Tom Bateman with Australia’s Phoebe Tonkin. The film is produced by Unicorn Films’ Lizzette Atkins, Immaculate Conception Film’s Bruno Charlesworth and Wynn Media’s Megan Wynn.
The company is also showing first footage from Arnaud des Pallières’ Party Of Fools, a story of female solidarity inspired by true events that stars Mélanie Thierry, Marina Fois and Carole Bouquet. The French period drama is set in 1884 Paris and tells the story of an infamous ball held at the Pitié Salpétrière, a psychiatric institution for women.
Also on the slate is animated feature The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol by four-time Oscar nominee Sylvain Chomet. The film brings to the screen the life of the eponymous legendary novelist and filmmaker, spanning landmark moments from silent films to the first talkies and the French New Wave. Producers are Onyx Films’ Aton Soumache, What the Prod’s Ashargin Poiré and Valérie Puech, Bidibul Productions’ Lilian Eche, Walking The Dog’s Eric Goossens and Anton Roebben. It is a co-production with Align and in collaboration with Pagnol’s estate.
The company will also show buyers first images from Cedric Kahn’s Making Of featuring Denis Podalydès, Jonathan Cohen and Emmanuelle Bercot, a film-within-a-film comedy that goes behind the scenes of a film set.
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