For the seventh time, Pontas was present at the Cannes Festival’s Marché du Film, the biggest event in the international film industry and a unique opportunity to meet the most varied professionals, from producers to investors, from filmmakers to scriptwriters, from lawyers to sales agents, from distributors to directors... Meetings took place from early in the morning until late at night at the most different spots around Cannes: from stands at the Palais or Riviera to the appartments and hotel suites at La Croisette, from terraces by the beach to yachts at the harbour, restaurants and cafés... as well as while walking the red carpet for a festival screening!
Representing both the Pontas Agency and Pontas Films, Anna Soler-Pont attended the event. On the book side, pitching books with film potential to producers and meeting again with producers who have already bought some rights from Pontas (like Swedish producer Helene Lindholm –in the photo–, currently developing The One-Eyed Rabbit by Christoffer Carlsson; or German producer Peter Nadermann, who is about to announce the scriptwriter, director and cast of the feature film adaptation of The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo very soon; or with others, like Cécile Pico (from French UGC, in the photo), who is always looking for literary properties to adapt.
At least three strong initiatives willing to approach literature to the screen took place in Cannes this year. Best Seller to Box Office hosted several interesting book pitching sessions and co-production pitching sessions with selected projects based on a book itched by producers looking for co-producer at the “Literary Adaptation Pavilion” at Village International Pantiero.
Taking place this year in Cannes for the second time, the event “Shoot the Book!” –a SCELF (Société Civile des Editeurs de Langue Française) and BIEF (Bureau International de l’Edition Française) joint initiative– gave French publishers the opportunity to present books with strong potential for film adaptation at the Cannes Film Market and Festival. It assembled those in charge of film rights in French publishing houses and international professionals from the film industry.
And once again Juergen Boos (CEO-President of the Frankfurt Book Fair) hosted a networking lunch at the gardens of the Grand Hotel inviting a very interesting group of professionals from the publishing industry and the film industry. Among some of the guests were German publisher Linda Walz (C.Bertelsmann), Spanish publisher Joaquín Álvarez de Toledo (Planeta), Danish producer Sophie Bech (Zentropa) or Italian Berlin-based filmmaker and writer Cristiano Bortone.
On the other side, Traces of Sandalwood, the first feature film ever produced by Pontas Films (completed and released in November 2014) was screened at the Cannes's market for the second time. And we're glad to announce that the distribution rights have already been acquired in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, India and Australia, among others (in the photo, David Doepel, from Australian Leap Frog Films distribution company). Indian actress Nandita Das (leading actress in the film) was also in Cannes and could also meet with Anna.
Meanwhile, the adaptation of Cold Skin (La pell freda) by Catalan author Albert Sánchez Piñol is already in pre-production by Kanzaman (with Pontas Films as associated producers). The film is to be mainly shot in English language, in Iceland and directed by French filmmaker Xavier Gens.
Click here to watch the teaser of the project (with a promo-reel of the director’s previous works and his comments): http://www.babieka.com/cold-skin/
In the photos below, from left to right: Orlando Pedregosa, Mark Albela, Denis Pedregosa, Denise O’Dell, Xavier Gens and Anna Soler-Pont. And of course, there are always chances to attend world premieres and to walk the red carpet (such as the premiere in competition at the festival of Carol with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara directe by Todd Haynes).
