Emmanuel Alain Raynal: Last News

Ben Croll Paris-based Kinology will handle international sales for “Ogresse,” a musical directed by Grammy-winner Cecile McLorin Salvant and acclaimed animator Lia Bertels. Spearheaded by Miyu Productions and adapted from a stage show that Salvant has toured since 2019, the animated fable mixes digital 2D and stop-motion alongside a wealth of musical styles ranging from ballads to jazz waltzes to baroque lamentos, setting to song the plight of a misunderstood outsider living alone in the woods and the heartache of young knight sent to fatally win her heart. After claiming two prizes out of the Annecy Animation Festival’s Mifa pitch session last year, the international co-production has emerged as an industry buzz title, winning support from the likes of Claude Barras, who will co-produce and provide stop-motion assistance through his Lausanne-based Helium Films banner.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has boarded international rights to “Death Does Not Exist” (“La mort n’existe pas”) which is being showcased in the work-in-progress section at the Annecy Film Festival. Currently in production, “Death Does Not Exist” is directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière who previously helmed “Archipel” which won the Annecy Contrechamps Jury Award in 2021, and ‘Ville Neuve’ which had its premiere at Venice Days 2018.

EXCLUSIVE: Zeitgeist Films, in association with Kino Lorber, has acquired all U.S. rights to the animated feature Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman from The Match Factory.