Odell’s critically acclaimed The Reunion/Återträffen (winner of two Guldbagge for Best Film and Best Screenplay in 2014) was the first feature film produced and sold internationally by French Quarter, headed by French-born Mathilde Dedye (pictured) and Swedish director Matthias Sandström. The drama was a signature project for French Quarter specialised in challenging and ground-breaking projects.
The recent deal signed with Mousetrap Films in the US comes on top of previous sales to nearly 40 territories. “Mousetrap Films is specialised in ‘festival pearls’, mostly foreign arthouse films for US audiences, “explains Dedye. They have their own digital distribution platform, ‘Film Festival Flix’, and if a film gets a good buzz online, they use it as marketing tool to then launch the film in selected cinemas”.
French Quarter Film’s second feature length The Ceremony about France's most famous dominatrix, author Catherine Robbe-Grillet and her inner circle, previously screened in competition at CPH:DOX and Gothenburg’s Nordic documentary sections. The North-American premiere at South by Southwest is set for March 16.
“The subject matter of S/M is receiving a lot of attention as it is both controversial and timely, sitting next to 50 Shades of Grey, “notes Dedye. Salma Abdalla, sales executive at Autlook Film Sales says the film has been sold to Italy (iWonder), Taiwan (Ipa Asia). A US deal is in the pipeline.
In Sweden, the film was released simultaneously in cinemas (Lucky Dogs Distribution) and on various VOD platforms on February 13.
“We have to use alternative distribution models for small innovative films, which means working hard on PR to create a viral buzz,” says Dedye.
French Quarter’s next project is Maryam, a fiction project by Kurdish-born Swedish director/journalist Zaryam Adami (The Guerilla Son). Set in Iran in the 1980s, the project is inspired by the director’s own story as the son of a female guerrilla soldier who had to choose between taking her son to safety in Sweden or staying in Iran to fight against the regime.