Paris-based Pyramide International has closed deals in key territories for Catherine Breillat’s erotic thriller Last Summer ahead of the film’s world premiere in Competition at Cannes later this month.
Pyramide has sold the film to September Films in Benelux, Potential Films in Australia and New Zealand, NK Contents in South Korea, Xenix Film in Switzerland, Hooray Films in Taiwan, Estinfilm in the Baltics and Nashe Kino in Russia.
Last Summer stars Léa Drucker as a lawyer who develops a relationship with her 17-year-old stepson played by breakout star Samuel Kircher. Veteran actors Olivier Rabourdin and Clotilde Courau also star in the film produced by Said Ben Said of SBS Productions, the prolific production powerhouse behind such titles as Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta and Ira Sachs’ Frankie. Last Summer is a remake of May el-Toukhy’s Queen Of Hearts, which was Denmark’s Oscar entry in 2019.
Pyramide Distribution is releasing the film in France on September 20.
The sales arm is also handling Wang Bing’s Competition title Youth (Spring). The Chinese filmmaker’s documentary is about a group of 20-something textile workers in the city of Zhili outside of Shanghai and is the first in what will be a trilogy that follows the same characters over a long period of time.
Pyramide International’s head of sales Agathe Mauruc called the film “an immersive experience and a powerful documentary that captures the loves stories, family dynamics and the dreams of this group of Chinese youths.”
The company will sell the two forthcoming parts of the trilogy at festivals in 2023 and 2024 and Les Acacias will release Youth in France.
Cannes will be busy for Pyramide as it lines up a slew of festival titles for buyers. Also on its slate is Anna Novion’s Special Screening Marguerite’s Theorem staring Ella Rumpf as a brilliant mathematics student, with veteran actor Jean-Pierre Darroussin. The film is produced by France’s TS Productions whose On the Adamant won the 2023 Golden Bear in Berlin.
The company is also showcasing Critics’ Week opener Marie Amachoukeli’s Ama Gloria, about a six-year-old girl’s deep attachment to her nanny which blends live action and animation. Pyramide’s Mauruc said the film is “a universal story with a lot of emotion, yet at the same time innovative with surprises in its form.”
Amachoukeli won the Camera d’Or in 2014 for Party Girl that she co-directed with Claire Burger and Samuel Theis.
Pyramide is also handling Inshallah A Boy from first-time director Amjad Al Rasheed, the first Jordanian feature to play in Critics’ Week. Palestinian actress Mouna Hawa plays a woman fighting to save her home and her daughter after the sudden death of her husband.
Market titles on the slate include Marie Garel-Weiss’s A Wonderful Girl, about a young woman hitting a rough patch in life who ends up helping a lawyer threatened with disbarment. Pyramide will release the film starring Daphné Patakia, Benoit Poelvoorde and Agnès Jaoui in France.
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