Princes of the Desert

Source: SND

‘Princes of the Desert’

SND, the feature film arm of France’s M6 broadcasting group, has sold Lisa Azuelos’ globe-trotting drama The Book Of Wonders and Eric Barbier’s adventure Princes Of The Desert to a slew of territories worldwide ahead of the titles’ world premieres at the upcoming Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris (Jan 10-17).

SND will also market premiere Eric Besnard’s A Great Friend, Cécilia Rouard’s Killing Blue and Pierre-François Martin-Laval’s Jeff & Jean-Marc’s Adventures at the Rendez-Vous, and unveil first footage of Guillaume Nicloux’s The Baby.

SND has sold The Book Of Wonders to Cineart for Benelux, Ascot Elite in Switzerland, Notorious Pictures for Italy and Spain, Nos Lusomundo in Portugal, BF Distribution for Latin America, Blitz for the Balkans, Vertigo in Hungary, Bohemia for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Capella for CIS, Nachshon in Israel and PT Falcon in Indonesia.

Starring Alexandra Lamy (The Test, Family Swap), The Book Of Wonders is produced by Oscar-winning Coda producer Philippe Rousselet and Jerico Films’ Eric Jehelmann who previously joined forces for La Famille Belier and Two Is A Family. Based on a best-selling novel, the adventure tale from director Lisa Azuelos (Sweetheart, Dalida) tells the story of a woman who finds her 12-year-old son’s ’end-of-the-world bucket list’ after he falls into a coma and sets off to make his wishes come true. SND will release The Book Of Wonders in France in March 2023.

Lamy also stars in Princes Of The Desert that SND has sold to Athena for Benelux, Ascot Elite in Switzerland, Sphere in Canada, Nos Lusomundo in Portugal, Grand Entertainment for the Middle East, ADS for Hungary and Romania, ACME in the Baltics, Foxx Media in Czech Republic and Slovakia, Blitz in the Balkans, ATV in Turkey and Mauris for CIS.

Directed by Eric Barbier (An African Childhood, Promise At Dawn) and produced by SND alongside Vertigo Productions, Princes Of The Desert follows a young Berber boy who bonds with a camel as they cross the Sahara on an epic journey. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Mika is behind the soundtrack for the title that SND will release in France on February 8, 2023.

SND previously showed promo reels of both films at the November 2022 AFM and will screen the films for the first time for buyers at the Rendez-Vous market.

SND will also show first footage of Guillaume Nicloux’s The Baby (French title: La Petite) to buyers. It stars Fabrice Luchini (My Crime) and Mara Taquin (Zero Fucks Given) as a father mourning his son who forms an unlikely bond with his late son’s would-be baby’s surrogate mother. The title is produced by Les Films du Kiosque, François Kraus and Denis Pineau-Valencienne’s Paris-based production company and SND will release the film in France in September 2023.