French Outfit Mk2 Launching Private Online Film Mini-Market With Doc Slate

EXCLUSIVE: Mk2 Films, the sales wing of French major Mk2, is creating a private online market that will launch initially with its latest slate of documentaries.

Titled ‘Reality Beyond Fiction’, the five-day event will be available to registered buyers and will focus on completed films including Helmut Newton: The Bad And The Beautiful, which would have been Tribeca-bound before the fest was cancelled, and new title Colette, Mon Amour.

The market opens for business on Wednesday, April 29, and will run until May 3. Buyers will be able to register via an online form on the company’s website (mk2films.com) and will be sent a secured private link to access the screening room. Both films will be introduced by their directors, with actress Isabella Rossellini, who appears as an interviewee in Helmut Newton, also making an appearance.

The sales co said the platform may well be used at other points throughout the year to encourage business on its wider slate, particularly while the pandemic continues to disrupt the international film biz.

The move follows the cancellation or postponement of major markets and festivals such as MIPTV and Cannes due to the coronavirus crisis. Cannes’ business hub the Marche du Film was originally scheduled to take place next month but is now pivoting to an online version in late June due to the coronavirus crisis (more details on that here). Mk2 creating its own market doesn’t mean the company won’t participate in other virtual events, we understand.

“We’ve curated a strong lineup of diverse documentaries this year, some that we won’t be able to world premiere on a big screen this spring as anticipated, hence this new online initiative,” Fionnuala Jamison, Mk2’s Head of Sales, said. “All the films included in this private virtual mini-market are completed and ready to screen, broadcast or stream whenever that might be.”

Helmut Newton: The Bad And The Beautiful chronicles the renowned fashion photographer, featuring interviews with the likes of Grace Jones, Charlotte Rampling and Anna Wintour alongside archive footage. Directed by Gero von Boehm, the film is produced by Lupa Film and scheduled for theatrical release by Filmwert in Germany this fall, in time for what would have been the 100th anniversary of the photographer. The film has pre-sold to Benelux (The Searchers), Spain (Avalon), CIS (Pioneer), Latin America (Impacto), as well as Italy, Portugal, Baltics, Poland, Japan and South Korea.

Colette, Mon Amour, which Mk2 has recently boarded, offers an inside look into the final days of the iconic Parisian fashion store Colette, featuring interviews with Kanye West, Pharrell Williams and more. Directed by Hugues Lawson-Body, the film is produced by HLB, La Pac Film and Highsnobiety. It has screened privately at pop-up events in Paris, London and New York, with further engagements planned for Fashion Week in the fall. The film is available worldwide.

Also as part of the private market, Mk2 will continue sales efforts on Jia Zhang-Ke’s Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue, which screened at this year’s Berlinale, Sébastien Lifshitz’s Little Girl, and Patrick and Hugo Sobelman’s Golda Maria. The company has two further docs in post-production: Jean-Stéphane Bron’s The Brain, and Jacques Loeuille’s Birds Of America.