‘Alpha’: ‘Titane’ Director Julia Docournau’s Next Film To Hit Cannes Market, Stars Tahar Rahim & Golshifteh Farahani

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Pathé has unveiled a trailer for “Monsieur Aznavour,” showing the Golden-Globe nominated actor Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian,” “Napoleon”) transformed as Charles Aznavour, the French-Armenian singer, songwriter and actor who sold more than 180 million records around the world. The movie charts Aznavour’s rise to stardom in the 1950s and his friendships with many artists, including Edith Piaf, who took him with her on a tour of France and the U.S.

Paul Schrader revealed first details about his next feature project entitled Non Compos Mentis, at the press conference for his Cannes Competition title Oh, Canada on Saturday.

The anarchic spirit of Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane lives on in Emma Benestan’s Critics Week closer Animale, the genre-busting debut of a director who cites Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, and the naturalist films of Chloé Zhao as influences. More surprisingly, she also credits Abdellatif Kechiche, since her first break was as assistant editor on his 2013 Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Colour. 

Neon has picked up North American rights to The Unknown, the next feature from Anatomy of a Fall writer Arthur Harari. 

EXCLUSIVE: Duke Nicholson (Us), William H. Macy (Fargo), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip), Stephen Dorff (Blade), Jake Weary (Oh, Canada) and Julia Fox (Uncut Gems) are set to star in action-Thriller The Deputy, which Highland Film Group is launching for the Cannes market.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Cinema has closed a slew of international territory sales on its resistance epic “William Tell,” Nick Hamm’s adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s play. WME Independent represents domestic rights.

In 2020, Magnus von Horn was excited to find that his film Sweat had been accepted into the Official Selection at Cannes, a big step up from his debut, The Here After, which made Directors’ Fortnight in 2015. The pandemic put an end to that, but his disappointment was short-lived; this year, his dark atmospheric follow-up, The Girl With the Needle, sees him joining the big league. “This is huge to me,” he beams. “The main competition!”

Keanu Reeves (John Wick) is now confirmed for Ruben Östlund’s anticipated upcoming film The Entertainment System Is Down and we can reveal that he’ll be joined in the cast by Kirsten Dunst (Civil War) and Daniel Brühl (Rush).

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Neon, the Oscar-winning distributor of “Parasite,” is getting back in business with “Titane” director Julia Ducournau. In one of the first big rights deals of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the studio announced it has acquired North American territories for Ducournau’s “Alpha.” Plot details were not immediately disclosed, except that the film will be “genre-defying.” Neon previously released Ducournau’s acclaimed “Titane,” which won Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, in 2021. She is only the second woman director to do so, following Jane Campion for “The Piano.” “Alpha” will star Golshifteh Farahani (“The Patience Stone,” “Paterson”) and Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian,” “A Prophet”).

After serving as the U.S. distributor for Julia Ducournau‘s Palme d’Or-winning 2021 body horror Titane, Neon is getting back into business with the filmmaker as the North American distributor for her next genre-bending feature, Alpha.

EXCLUSIVE: Thriving U.S. indie producer-distributor Neon is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival with the Tom Quinn-founded banner having acquired a historic four consecutive Palme d’Or wins (last year’s Anatomy of a Fall, 2022’s Triangle of Sadness, 2021’s Titane and 2019’s Parasite), thus earning them the nickname “the Palme d’Or whisperers”. This year, while the company has Sean Baker’s new rom-com Anora playing in Competition, it’s also descending upon the Croisette in a new capacity with its recently-launched international sales strand, led by seasoned sales exec and Sierra/Affinity veteran Kristen Figeroid.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Asterix,” the popular French comics franchise, is set for a new animated journey. Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere, whose latest film “The Count of Monte-Cristo” is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, have penned “Asterix, the Kingdom of Nubia.” SND, the commercial arm of French network M6, has boarded the film and will kick off international sales at the Cannes Film Market, where they will present a sizzle reel to buyers.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Pinnacle Peak Pictures is bringing a slate of faith-based films to the Cannes market, including a new installment in the “God’s Not Dead” franchise. Entitled “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust,” the film will be released theatrically in the U.S. this fall, but, like the rest of Pinnacle’s slate, foreign territories are available to buyers.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of the Cannes market, Lionsgate has taken North American rights off the table on one of the bigger-budget new packages that’ll be on sale next week: that’s action-thriller Mutiny, which will star action evergreen Jason Statham (Fast & Furious) and be directed by Jean-François Richet (Plane).

A five-part doc series exploring the life of late South African President and freedom fighter Nelson Mandela is being readied with his personal archivists providing material. Dogwoof has boarded Mandela: Life (working title) and will launch it the Cannes Market this month.

EXCLUSIVE: In a pre-emptive deal, Neon has acquired rights to Osgood Perkins’ (Longlegs) next genre movie Keeper, which will star Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) and Rossif Sutherland (Possessor).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean sales firm Finecut has inked multiple deals for horror thriller “Noise” and for “A Traveler’s Needs,” the recent Berlin prize-winner directed by Hong Sangsoo.“Noise” is a “multi-sensory and realistic horror” film that intertwines societal motifs of “floor noise” with suspenseful elements. Directed by Kim Soo-jin, the film centers around a woman with a hearing aid haunted by inexplicable sounds linked to her sister’s disappearance in her own apartment and attracting a malevolent presence.

EXCLUSIVE: The in-demand Sydney Sweeney, coming off hit rom-com Anyone But You and horror pic Immaculate, is shifting gears again as she is set to portray trailblazing boxer Christy Martin in a new biopic which could be a knockout for buyers at the Cannes market where Black Bear will be launching.

EXCLUSIVE: We understand Dwayne Johnson is due to be at the Cannes market next week to discuss upcoming A24 wrestling pic The Smashing Machine with potential buyers.

Naman Ramachandran Raven Banner Entertainment will launch international sales at the Cannes Film Market for Steven Kostanski‘s latest feature “Frankie Freako.” Kostanski’s previous feature “Psycho Goreman” premiered at SXSW in 2020 and gathered a cult following worldwide. Reviewing the film for Variety, critic Owen Gleiberman described the film as “‘The Toxic Avenger’ remade by the Robert Rodriguez of ‘Spy Kids.'” “Frankie Freako” is described by Raven Banner as Kostanki’s homage to the practical-FX-driven monster horror-comedies of the 1980s like “Gremlins 2” and “Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College.” It tells the story of workaholic yuppie Conor Sweeney (“The Editor,” “Father’s Day”) whose perfect life is turned upside down when he accidentally unleashes a trio of tiny trouble-makers into his home, led by the maniacal rock-n-roll party monster Frankie Freako.