EXCLUSIVE: Motel has launched into France’s distribution sector, hoping to fill a vacancy geared towards international films targeted at younger audiences.
The company quietly launched earlier this year and is having its official coming out in Cannes with four films already locked into its 2026 slate. It is headlined by Anders Thomas Jensen’s dark comedy-drama The Last Viking, starring Mads Mikkelsen, which world premiered in Venice 2025 and has been a box office hit in Denmark with more than 700,000 admissions to date.
Motel has also acquired Colombian director Tomas Corredor’s politically-charged Toronto title November and will release the film in August, as well as Christian Swegal’s US crime
thriller Sovereign starring Nick Offerman, Jacob Tremblay and Dennis Quaid. A September release is planned for the latter, followed by Luc Picard’s Canadian hitman drama Redemptions in December.
Motel founders Simon Robert and Guillaume De Castro have worked in indie French distribution for the past decade, at Bac Films, Le Pacte, Zinc and The Jokers Films. They plan to release some 10 titles a year.
“We’re building Motel as an agile, filmmaker-driven company, with a strong focus on international indie films, and particularly from the US and the UK,” Robert reveals.
Acquiring US and UK independent films for France is especially a gamble since local distributors do not receive any CNC support for those films as they do for French and European titles. Robert says the company is out in Cannes full speed ahead and is specifically looking to acquire “international films that have a unique perspective on the world”.
The challenges facing the film industry are only fuel for Motel’s fire. “The industry needs a new jolt, a new wave of a more flexible approach to reaching audiences, particularly the younger generation, namely Gen Alpha and Gen Z,” says Robert.
De Castro adds: “It is this younger generation that can make all the difference to a film’s success. We work closely with cinemas, media partners and international distributors to bring audiences films that will entertain them and transport them to new worlds.”
Motel will release The Last Viking in both English and French, aiming at a crossover arthouse audience. It plans to accompany its releases with premieres, special screenings, director Q&As and panels.
The company is also planning to release French productions with a focus on debut features, “so audiences can discover new talent,” says Robert, in addition to documentaries and heritage films. Looking ahead, Motel is looking to jump into co-producing French and European features.
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