10/05/2024 - The Brussels-based sales agent is presenting Canadian director Matthew Rankin’s new movie in the Directors’ Fortnight, and selling three films in post-production

Best Friend Forever is building on its momentum at Cannes’ Marché du Film this year (running 14 - 22 May), after putting forth an excellent pair of works in the Berlinale (the first ever Nepalese feature film selected in competition, Shambhala [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Min Bahadur Bham, and Bruce LaBruce’s new movie The Visitor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bruce LaBruce
film profile], in the Panorama section).

The Brussels-based sales agent will be presenting another Canadian filmmaker known for his audacity at the Directors’ Fortnight, Matthew Rankin. Universal Language follows in the wake of Nazgol and Hossein, two young men who try to help a classmate retrieve an Iranian banknote in Winnipeg. Meanwhile, a character called Matthew Rankin resigns from his job in Montreal in order to be closer to his loved ones who are also in Winnipeg. It’s here that he meets Massoud, a tour guide who also cares for Rankin’s mother. But appearances can be deceiving… Universal Language promises to be an absurd and surrealist comedy about the modern world, which crosses cultures and influences; a Canadian film in Farsi, "venturing into new film territories between Teheran and Winnipeg", as sales agent Martin Gondre enthuses. The film is produced by Metafilms, who have notably produced works by Xavier Dolan and Monia Chokri, and Falcon Lake [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Charlotte Le Bon, which was presented in the Directors’ Fortnight last year.

Best Friend Forever will also be championing a trio of new and promising movies. High hopes surround the second feature film by brothers Lenny and Harpo Guit, who sent Sundance into a spin with Mother Schmuckers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Harpo and Lenny Guit
film profile], a comedy that’s trashy and wacky in equal parts, and wonderfully ridiculous and nasty. They’re returning with Head or Fails [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lenny and Harpo Guit
film profile], which is an anti-romcom, of sorts, about the fate of a beautiful female loser who’s endlessly unlucky, both at cards and in love.

The Brussels sales agent will also be presenting Les Tempêtes [+see also:
film review
interview: Dania Reymond-Boughenou
film profile], a French-Algerian work by Dania Reymond-Boughenou. Part-genre film, part fantasy drama, this first feature-length movie takes us to a forgotten town raging with strange storms of yellow dust. Forty-five-year-old journalist Nacer is covering the phenomenon for his paper. As he’s taking stock of the various supernatural events unfolding, his partner back from exile, Fajar, moves in with him, while his doctor nephew Yacine starts to hear dead people. The cast notably stars Khaled Benaïssa, Camelia Jordana and Shirin Boutella.

BFF will also be unveiling Christina Vandekerckhove’s first fiction feature Milano [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which stars one of Flemish cinema’s biggest stars, Matteo Simoni. This family drama focuses on the relationship between a single father and his young, hearing-impaired son, who communicate via sign language. But when the latter’s mother reappears, their fragile equilibrium is jeopardised.

Other movies set to be foregrounded by BFF in Cannes include Michaël Dichter’s The Fantastic Three - a family adventure film released in France on 15 May via Zinc - and Jean-Baptiste Saurel’s kung fu comedy Zénithal [+see also:
film review
film profile] which is expected at the end of August.

(Translated from French)