mk2 takes on sales for buzzy manhunt thriller ‘Ghost Trail’, feminist comedy ‘Who Let The Dog Bite?’ (exclusive)

mk2 films, the sales outfit behind Anatomy Of A Fall and How To Have Sex, has acquired Jonathan Millet’s thriller Ghost Trail and Laetitia Dosch’s high-concept comedy Who Let the Dog Bite? ahead of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema that opens tomorrow in Paris.

Inspired by real-life events, Ghost Trail is about a Syrian man pursuing some of the people who perpetrated horrors in the name of the regime during the civil war. His mission takes him to France on the trail of his former torturer but as his hunt turns to an obsession, his judgement is clouded by pressure, doubt and revenge.

Ghost Trail stars Adam Bessa, who starred in 2022 Un Certain Regard title Harka for which he won the section’s best actor prize, and Tawfeek Barhom of Sweden’s 2022 Oscar entry Cairo Conspiracy. It is the debut feature of documentary and short film director Millet whose credits include 2018 Cesar-nominated short Et Toujours Nous Marcherons.

The French-English-Arabic language film is produced by rising French production house Films Grand Huit, whose credits include Rabia and Mikado). Memento Distribution will release Ghost Trail in France later in the year.

Mk2 films managing director Fionnuala Jamison said the film blends “the tense investigation of Cairo Conspiracy and the chilling/visceral surveillance of The Lives Of Others”.

Meanwhile, Dosch writes, directs and stars in Who Let The Dog Bite? as an idealistic lawyer dedicated to lost causes who agrees to defend a dog that has bitten three people, leading to the first canine trial in history.

The courtroom comedy has a cast including Francois Damiens, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Anne Dorval and Pierre Deladonchamps and aims to raises questions about human-animal relationships and the role of women in society.

Who Let The Dog Bite? is produced by L’Atelier de Production, which is behind Quentin Dupieux’s films, and Switzerland’s Bande à Part Films. Currently in post-production, The Jokers will release the film in France.

Dosch, known on screen for Cannes Camera d’Or-winning Jeune Femme and 2023 Cannes selection Just Philippot’s Acid, said she aimed to give the film “a tone of Anglo-Saxon humour that is politically incorrect, deep and offbeat.”

mk2’s Jamison called it “a sharp original comedy with an intriguing concept” with “an irreverent and whimsical sense of humour.”

mk2 Films is also bringing a promo reel for Bernhard Wenger’s comedy Peacock starring All Quiet On The Western Front’s Albrecht Schuch and is hosting market screenings for Xavier Legrand’s Venice Silver Lion winner The Successor starring Marc-André Grondin, Robert Guédiguian’s Marseille-set  And The Party Goes On, a portrait of a woman in the midst of change starring Ariane Ascaride and artist JR’s Tehachapi, a documentary about how art can be a means to reintegration and rehabilitation.

• The Bureau Sales to showcase ‘Animal Tales Of Christmas Magic’ at Paris Rendez-Vous (exclusive)