French giant in sales, production and distribution Gaumont unveiled four new projects to present to buyers during the Pre-Cannes Screenings.

Filming for Ramzi Ben Sliman’s in-house production has just started Neneh Superstar, a ballet school drama starring the big screen debutante Oumy Bruni Garrel, Maïwenn and Aïssa Maïga. Bruni Garrel, who is the daughter of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Louis Garrel, plays a 12-year-old girl who lands a place at the prestigious Paris Opera dance school. She surpasses the other students but comes up against envy and prejudice.

“He has an incredible cast and plunges us into the heart of one of the oldest cultural institutions in Paris. We are going to show buyers a good mood, ”said Alexis Cassanet, Gaumont sales manager. “Oumy is an ambitious dancer in real life.”

Ben Sliman’s credits include the feature film My revolution , who played in Generation 14plus of the Berlinale, and Grand Hotel Barbès , a short film co-produced by the Paris Opera and Les Films Pelléas.

Other new titles on Gaumont’s sales list include Mabrouk el Mechri’s martial arts drama comedy Kung Fu Zohra , who is now in office. It stars Sabrina Ouazani as a woman in a physically abusive relationship who embarks on martial arts after a chance encounter with a kung fu master. Mabrouk el Mechri’s previous credits include the TV drama Clos House and bank robbery thriller JCVD , with Jean-Claude Van Damme.

“The Pre-Cannes Screenings will allow us to work upstream on our more commercial titles with buyers who will not be able to go to Cannes in July. To then focus on our titles more authors during the festival and the buyers who will be physically present, ”said Cassanet.

He also talks to buyers about Belle and Sébastien new generation , a reboot of the popular Belle and Sébastien franchise. He is a 10-year-old boy who grew up in the city and is sent to his grandmother’s in the mountains. “Michèle Laroque will play the role of the grandmother, who is a bit rock’n’roll and will introduce her grandson to life in the mountains,” said Cassanet.

Radar Films, which produced the Belle and Sébastien trilogy as well as Spread your wings and School of life, lead produced. Pierre Coré, whose credits include the children’s adventure feature film Margot & Marguerite’s fantastic journey , signed to lead. It is in pre-production and is slated to be shot in August 2022.

Also on the slate is Natural born liar, the last comedy of Olivier Baroux who directed the hit The Tuché family trilogy. Rising comedy star Tarek Boudali plays a compulsive liar and yacht salesman who can’t help but make up life-enhancing stories, from his karate black belt to his friendship with Miss Universe. It started filming in May for a release in the second half of 2022.

“It’s a classic French comedy, with an element of American comedies like Liar liar with Jim Carrey adapted to Europe, ”explained Cassanet.

Gaumont will also present a preview of the works of David and Stéphane Foenkinos Fantasies [pictured], exploring intimacy and desire through the portraits of six very different couples, interpreted by Monica Bellucci, Karin Viard, Jean-Paul Rouve, Suzanne Clément, Denis Podalydès, Céline Sallette and Nicolas Bedos. He will also make his comedy debut The biggest fan , with Gérard Lanvin, as the on-site movie star who can’t have the pool boy photographed in the luxury villa he stays in for the duration of the shoot.

The company’s Cannes titles include Mathieu Amalric’s family drama Hug me tight, who will play in the new Cannes Première section, and the eagerly awaited one by Valérie Lemercier The voice of love, a fiction freely inspired by the life of Celine Dion.