EXCLUSIVE: French filmmaker Gilles de Maistre has set his next family adventure film Melody For A Bear, an English-language father-daughter story starring Lucas Bravo (Emily In Paris). Pathé produced the film with Paris-based Moana Films and will launch sales at EFM.
Newcomer Eva Cinq-Mars co-stars as a strong-willed teenager grieving the loss of her mother who heads to the remote Canadian wilderness to meet her father (Bravo) for the first time, where she bonds with a fragile bear cub. Together, the father and daughter join forces to save a group of orphaned bear cubs from hunters as they connect with each other and find a path to healing along the way.
The film shot on location in Canada and is now in post-production. Co-producers are Canada’s Forum Films, France’s Rêve Production and Belgium’s Beside Productions. Pathé will also release the film in France and Switzerland in Q1 2027.
The story’s non-human protagonist, a bear cub named Heaven, is inspired by the Kermode bear, a rare subspecies of the American black bear sometimes known as “the spirit bear” and rooted in the cultural heritage of Canada’s west coast.
Melody For A Bear echoes real-life citizen-led movements that contributed to protecting the Great Bear Rainforest wilderness sanctuary in British Columbia.
De Maistre has built a strong reputation as a director skilled at telling stories about young protagonists forming therapeutic connections with wild animals in films including Mia And The White Lion, The Wolf And The Lion and Autumn And The Black Jaguar, all box-office hits in France that also sold widely across the globe.
De Maistre said: “Melody For A Bear isn’t just another chapter in my filmography, it’s the culmination of a cinematic journey where heart, adventure and environmental commitment unite. This is not a film ‘about’ nature, but a film ‘with’ nature. The story delivers a deeply emotional journey, reminding us that empathy is the first step toward survival for both humans and animals.”
Pathe’s robust EFM sales slate also includes Guillaume Canet’s Karma starring Marion Cotillard, Arthur Harari’s The Unknown, Antonin Baudry’s two-part historical biopic De Gaulle, family-friendly feature Marsupilami and cop comedy Police Flash 80.
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