All the Movies Sold at Cannes 2023

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All the Movies Sold at Cannes 2023

Cannes Film Festival is more than just gorgeous gowns, auteur films, and indiscriminate standing ovations. It’s also one of the largest and most distinguished film markets in the world. The Marché du Film — the setting where sales companies hawk their latest slate of films — runs parallel to the Cannes, offering up the rights to films both appearing in the festival and outside of it. Take the star-studded May December, for example. The Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman–led festival smash emerged as one of the buzziest free agents in competition for the Palme d’Or, but will leave the Côte d’Azur with a different grand prize: an $11 million distribution deal with Netflix. Other exciting offerings, including a Paddington sequel, a Liev Schreiber and Josh Hutcherson–starring Ernest Hemingway adaptation, and a new Bambi slasher, found homes as well. Below, all the titles that picked up distribution at Cannes 2023.

Festival Titles

May December (director: Todd Haynes)

Distributor: Netflix

A Hollywood actress shadows a married couple whose tabloid romance and large age gap gripped the nation 20 years ago. Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton star.

Price: $11 million for North America

Strange Way of Life (director: Pedro Almodóvar)

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics, Mubi

Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal carry a Pedro Almodóvar–directed gay western.

Price: Undisclosed

Firebrand (director: Karim Aïnouz)

Distributor: International deals with Sony Pictures, STX International

Alicia Vikander and Jude Law star in a revisionist period drama about Henry VIII and his sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr.

Price: Undisclosed

In Our Day (director: Hong Sang-soo)

Distributor: International deals with Capricci, L’Atalante Cinema, and Ama Films

The South Korean auteur directs a minimal project about two people — a woman in her 40s and a man in his 70s — who share ramyun with their respective visitors and talk about life.

Price: Undisclosed

Anatomy of a Fall (director: Justine Triet)

Distributor: Neon

A German writer and her French husband grapple with the death of their 11-year-old son — with the former eventually becoming the main suspect.

Price: Undisclosed

The Delinquents (director: Rodrigo Moreno)

Distributor: Mubi

A bank employee and his co-worker hatch a plan to rob their employer.

Price: Undisclosed

Robot Dreams (director: Pablo Berger)

Distributor: Neon

The first-time director helms this animated film about a man who decides to build, then abandon, his robot friend, leaving open the possibility of their reconciliation.

Price: Undisclosed

Black Flies (director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire)

Distributor: International deals with Signature Entertainment and FilmNation Entertainment

A Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan–starring drama about a paramedic’s adrenaline-pumping nights and his days spent studying for medical school.

Price: Undisclosed

Cobweb (director: Kim Jee-woon)

Distributor: International deals with MovieCloud, Edko Films, and more

Song Kang-ho stars in this period drama about a filmmaker attempting to finish what he believes to be his masterpiece.

Price: Undisclosed

Marché du Film Titles

Paddington in Peru (director: Dougal Wilson)

Distributor: Sony

The third Paddington entry begins filming in July.

Price: Undisclosed — Paddington 2 went for $30 million plus auction

The End We Start From (director: Mahalia Belo)

Distributor: Republic Pictures

An apocalyptic thriller starring Jodie Comer. The film follows a woman (Comer) and her newborn child as they try to escape London flood waters and find their way home.

Price: In the mid-seven figures

Across the River and Into the Trees (director: Paula Ortiz)

Distributor: Bleecker Street

Josh Hutcherson and Liev Schreiber lead the film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s last novel. Set in post-WWII Italy, an army colonel coming to terms with his PTSD enlists a military driver to take him to Venice.

Price: Undisclosed

Old Guy (director: Simon West)

Distributor: International deals with Vertigo Releasing, Lumiere Ventures, SND Films, and more

An aging hit man takes one last job — and must train a sassy prodigy assassin. Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu, and Cooper Hoffman star.

Price: Undisclosed

In Water (director: Hong Sang-soo)

Distributor: The Cinema Guild

The director’s other film to sell at Cannes follows a young actor who gave up acting to make a short film on Jeju Island and the people he encounters there.

Price: Undisclosed

The Crime Is Mine (director: François Ozon)

Distributor: Music Box Films

Billed by some as a post–Me Too comedy, the 1930s French period piece about a struggling actress who stands trial for murdering an asshole producer stars Isabelle Huppert, Rebecca Marder, and Nadia Tereszkiewicz.

Price: Undisclosed

They Shot the Piano Player (directors: Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal)

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

An animated documentary about a New York journalist who researches the disappearance of genius Brazilian pianist Tenório Jr.

Price: Undisclosed

High and Low — John Galliano (director: Kevin Macdonald)

Distributor: Mubi

A documentary about acclaimed fashion designer John Galliano, whose career ended after a video of him using antisemitic and racist slurs circulated.

Price: Undisclosed

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (director: Christian Gudegast)

Distributor: Briarcliff Entertainment

Gerard Butler stars in the sequel to the heist thriller that made over $80 million worldwide.

Price: Undisclosed

Mercy Road (director: John Curran)

Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment

The director of Chappaquiddick is back with a psychological thriller led by Luke Bracey.

Price: Undisclosed

Camp Hideout (director: Sean Olson)

Distributor: Roadside Attractions

A troubled teen on the run hides at a summer camp. Corbin Bleu, Christopher Lloyd, and Ethan Drew star.

Price: Undisclosed

The Origin (director: Andrew Cumming)

Distributor: Bleecker Street

This five-time British Independent Film Award nominee is a Stone Age–era horror flick about a band of early humans.

Price: Undisclosed

Untitled Ernest Cole Documentary (director: Raoul Peck)

Distributor: Magnolia

The director of I Am Not Your Negro unravels the life of Ernest Cole, South Africa’s first Black freelance photographer.

Price: Undisclosed

Lola (director: Andrew Legge)

Distributor: Dark Sky Films

In 1941, two women build a time machine that can parse broadcasts from the future. Legge and his cinematographer, Oona Menges, use period cameras and lenses to shoot the film and otherwise employ found footage.

Price: Undisclosed

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Sequel (director: Rhys Frake-Waterfield)

Distributor: International deals with Cinemex, Crone Film, Pictureworks, and more

The sequel to the Winnie the Pooh slasher that debuted earlier this year.

Price: Undisclosed

Bambi (director: Scott Jeffrey)

Distributor: ITN

A horror film that uses the character of Bambi much like this year’s Winnie the Pooh slasher. Think Cujo.

Price: Undisclosed

Golden Years (director: Barbara Kulcsar)

Distributor: Music Box Films

A hit in Sweden about an elderly couple whose marital problems emerge on a cruise.

Price: Undisclosed

Related

• Cannes’nt Stop, Won’t Stop
• What’s at Cannes? Scorsese, a Gay Western, and Cate Blanchett As a Renegade Nun.