Mk2 adds Remi Chaye’s animation ‘Fleur’ and buzzy directorial debuts to Paris Rendez-Vous slate

Mk2 Films has added a trio of French films to its sales lineup at Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris next week.

Remi Chaye’s animation Fleur is set in Paris in 1910 and follows a teenage girl who dreams of the cabarets of the Belle Époque, but is instead forced to move to the outskirts of the city with her family. She ends up finding her way back to the French capital, where an unexpected encounter with her music-hall idol offers her the opportunity to fulfil her dreams.

Chayé is known for Long Way North, which won Annecy’s audience award in 2015, and Calamity, winner of Annecy’s best feature film prize in 2020. Fleur, now in pre-production, is produced by Maybe Movies. KMBO will release it in France.

Mk2 is also handling two directorial debuts from rising women filmmakers, both in post-production. Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva is about a group of French high schoolers on a trip to Pompeii, where intense emotions and unexpected events unfold against the charged backdrop of the ancient city.

The film is produced by Les Films du Poisson and co-produced by Italy’s Bibi Films, and was shot on location in Naples, Torre del Greco and Pompeii. Tandem will release it in France.

The company is reteaming with Anatomy Of A Fall producer Marie-Ange Luciani of Les Films de Pierre for Hélène Rosselet-Ruiz’s Madame, inspired by the director’s own experience working as a maid for a wealthy Saudi woman in Paris. It explores shifting power dynamics, hidden tensions and the opulence, private surveillance, and rigid social codes of an opulent Parisian neighbourhood. Wild Diamond’s Malou Khebizi stars alongside Soundos Mosbah.

First look

Mk2 has also unveiled a first look (see above) at Lea Mysius’ thriller The Birthday Party, starring Monica Bellucci and Hafsia Herzi. It marks Mysius’ anticipated return after Ava and The Five Devils, which both premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Set in an isolated hamlet, The Birthday Party follows a woman and her family as they prepare for her 40th birthday celebrations before the evening takes a darker turn. Bastien Bouillon co-stars.

Jean-Louis Livi of F Comme Film, known for Oscar-winning The Father, produced the film which is also in post-production. Le Pacte will release it in France.

Mk2 Films will also host a market premiere screening at Rendez-Vous of Zaven Najjar’s Allah Is Not Obliged, an odyssey of a 10-year-old orphan through West Africa that blends 2D and 3D animation.

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