Versatile has boarded world sales of Swedish director Ninja Thyberg’s debut feature Jessica expanding on her previous award-winning shorts exploring sexuality and the adult film world such as Hingsten and Pleasure.
Erik Hemmendorff and Ruben Östlund’s Plattform Produktion, which is riding high on Oscar-nominated The Square, is lead producing with Netherlands-based Lemming Film and Sweden’s Film I Väst on board as co-producers, with the support of the Swedish Film Institute.
The story follows 20-year-old Jessica, an uninhibited young woman from a small town in Sweden who moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of making it as a professional porn star.
This quest pushes Jessica to her limits, sexually and personally, as she experiences how it feels to be wanted and desired and part of a special tribe. She learns quickly that pandering to the men in the industry helps advance her career.
But she starts to question the rules of this male-dominated scene, striking out for solidarity with her female colleagues instead.
In other pre-market acquisitions, the Paris-based company has also boarded Louis Wallecan’s documentary Lil’ Buck Renaissance, recounting the personal story of genius US street dancer Lil’ Buck.
First discovered by Spike Jonze, the self-taught dancer rose out of an impoverished upbringing in Memphis, Tennessee to become a renowned performer working with the likes Madonna, Benjamin Millepied and classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
The film follows Lil Buck as he returns to his home city on South Memphis to teach dance to youngsters in a bid to offer them a better future too.
It is produced by a trio of Paris-based producers: Victor Lech under his Lechinski production banner, Nadim Cheikhrouha at Tanit Films and Vincent Dupuis at French animation and VFX Studio Machine Molle. Lil Buck and his long-time music producer collaborator Jai Armmer also take producer credits.
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