Cannes Marche & Fantasia Select 13 Projects For Genre-Focused Industry Event Frontières

EXCLUSIVE: Frontières Platform, the genre-focused event run by Fantasia and Cannes’ Marche du Film, returns to the French fest for another edition this year, with 13 projects selected to take part in the showcase, running July 10-11. Scroll down for the full list.

The event is technically taking place physically, as per Cannes’ commitment to staging an in-person industry event in July, but Frontières has informed participants that it does not encourage them to travel during a pandemic and that all pitches will be screened online. If participants do wish to travel to Cannes, however, the event will allow them to do so, and a representative of Frontières will be in attendance, restrictions allowing.

Activities will include the Proof of Concept presentations for projects in the advanced stages of financing, and the Buyers Showcase for films that are in post-production or have recently been completed. Footage will be screened from seven projects, some of which shot during the pandemic despite production challenges around the world.

In total, five of the 13 projects are directed by women. Three hail from Canada, and others come from the likes of Scandinavia and Italy.

“The selection process has been a real rollercoaster ride. For some time I did wonder whether the pandemic would affect the quality or quantity of projects, but in the end we witnessed a wave of fantastic submissions from all over the world,” said Annick Mahnert, Executive Director of Frontières. “I am really excited by the fact that we will be showcasing the first ever Anime at Frontières and we have some fabulous films from female filmmakers. And going through the project submissions for the August market, I think it’s going to be an amazing year for Frontières. Filmmakers have been very prolific during the pandemic and this makes me very happy.”

“We are very happy to continue our partnership with the Fantasia International Film Festival. Frontières has proved it’s an essential step for the genre film community and we are proud to contribute helping those films and projects to get financing and distribution,” added Jérôme Paillard, Executive Director of the Marché du Film in Cannes.

The Frontières Platform in Cannes is funded by the Government of Canada, with the major support of Wallimage, the Netherlands Film Fund, Telefilm Canada, and SODEC.

Frontiers Platform 2021 projects:

Buyers Showcase:

ESLUNA: THE CROWN OF BABYLON (Canada)
Director: Denver Jackson
Producer: Daniel Hogg

KICKING BLOOD (Canada)
Director: Blaine Thurier
Producer: Jennifer Jonas

RUBIKON (Austria)
Director: Magdalena Lauritsch
Producers: Loredana Rehekampff, Andreas Schmied, Klaus Graf
Sales Agent: ARRI Worldsales

SUBJECT (Australia)
Director: Tristan Barr
Producer: David Gim, Tristan Barr

THE CREEPS (Finland)
Director: Marko Mäkilaakso
Producers: Miika J. Norvanto, Timo Puustinen
Sales Agent: Raven Banner Entertainment

THE TWIN (Finland, Estonia)
Director: Taneli Mustonen
Producer: Aleksi Hyvärinen
Sales Agent: Film Constellation

TWISTED (Denmark)
Director: Vibeke Muasya
Producers: Lene Børglum, Vibeke Muasya

Proof Of Concept Presentation:

ALL THE NAMES WE BURIED (USA)
Director: Thomas Torrey
Producers: Thomas Torrey, Noah Lang, Chadd Harbold, Sam Frohman
Sales Agent: ICM Partners

BEASTS OF PREY (Italy)
Director: Andrea Corsini
Producer: Giorgia Maria Priolo, Francesco Grisi

DRAVEN (UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland)
Director: Sonny Laguna & Tommy Wicklund
Producers: Rachel Richardson-Jones, Sean Wheelan, David Liljeblad

LONG DAYS (USA)
Director: Adam Keleman
Producer: Eric Schultz

SUPERPOSITION (Denmark)
Director: Karoline Lyngbye
Producer: Amalie Lyngbo Quist
Sales Agent: Trust Nordisk

THE ISLAND BETWEEN TIDES (Canada)
Directors: Austin Andrews & Andrew Holmes
Producers: Austin Andrews, Andrew Holmes, Josh Huculiak