Actualités

WaZabi Films, the Montreal-based sales agent launched by Anick Poirier and Lorne Price, has boarded horror comedy “Red Wings,” one of buzziest and most singular titles at early August’s Frontières Co-Production Market.

Created by executive producer Rhiannon Aarons, a publisher/co-editor on Bob Flanagan’s book “The Book of Medicine,” and Dana Hammer, author of novels such as “Rosemary’s Baby Daddy” and “Dead Viking Rehab,” “Red Wings” turns on Audrina, who gets bitten by a bat and gains an unnatural gift: Killer red bats that fly out of her vagina when she menstruates.

Learning to accept and master her superpower, she gains control of her life and fights evil in the process. Audrina starts the film being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. She now embraces her new bat-friends and sets out for retribution.

Kate Kroll will direct “Red Wings,” which is produced by Anne-Marie Gélinas at EMAfilms.

Aarons,...

Platt and Jon Schumacher producing coming-of-age tale through Indivisible Productions.

Jurassic World and Guardians Of The Galaxy star Chris Pratt will star in comedy The Black Belt, which UTA Independent Film Group represents for sales.

Randall Green wrote the spec script about a shy teen who wants to become a karate expert and the unorthodox uncle who guides him.

Platt and Jon Schumacher are producing through their Indivisible Productions alongside Monarch Media and principals Steve Barnett and Alan Powell. Monarch principal Vicky Patel is executive producer.

Indivisible Productions has a first-look deal with Universal Pictures and has assembled a slate that includes Saigon Bodyguards,...

Directed by former competitive swimmer Pascal Plante and featuring a two-time Olympic athlete in the title role, “Nadia, Butterfly” qualifies as both a sports movie and not-a-sports movie — which is to say, Plante’s aloof, intermittently engaging second feature takes a backstage look at a defining moment in a swimmer’s career, but it does so in a way that violates nearly all the rules of the game.

For starters, the film opens with the final race of Canadian swimmer Nadia Beaudry (Katerine Savard), at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, rather than building up to the big event and hitching drama on the question of whether she wins or loses. The genre has trained audiences to watch sports movies the way they do the events themselves, driven by the suspense of the outcome. Here, we know relatively early on that Nadia will go home with a medal, but not the best one,...

With “Nadia, Butterfly,” a Cannes-selected character study that follows a young swimmer in the immediate aftermath of her final race, Quebecois director Pascal Plante looked to explore the often-unseen side of the Olympic dream.

Building on his own experiences as a competitive swimmer as well as those of lead actress Katerine Savard – a real-life Olympian who competed in both London and Rio and who marks her acting debut with this film – Plante set his sophomore feature at the then-anticipated 2020 Tokyo games, even shooting large parts of the film in Japan.

While the games’ postponement until 2021 – coupled with ongoing uncertainty as to whether they will even take place at all – now lends that context a slightly counterfactual aspect, the narrative’s tight focus on an athlete’s inner life make the film feel evergreen.

“The film is a microscopic study of a woman at a certain point,” Plante explains. “I thought...

The Cannes Marché du Film, along with a sales initiative led by Hollywood agencies, is hosting the first major virtual market since the start of pandemic, starting on June 23. Distributors and sales agents are looking forward to it: the turn-up for the online Cannes Marché du Film is significant with more than 7,000 accredited participants as of mid-June.

“As nobody can leave their house, a virtual market is the next best thing. It’s a valid and worthwhile effort … people need something to initiate interactions. If this virtual market can help in some way to stimulate business that’s a great thing,” says Dylan Leiner at Sony Pictures Classics.

Here’s a look at some key titles for sale:

“Balestra”

Director: Nicole Dorsey

Producers: Pierre Even

A disgraced competitive fencer (Tessa Thompson) is aiming for her Olympic comeback. She receives a prototype device allowing her to extend her training into her...