23/02/2021 - Selected for the Encounters and Panorama sections, debut feature films Azor and The World After Us shine in the vendor’s line-up, which is also brimming with other promising assets

Directed by Pamela Leu and the Belgian arm of French group Playtime, international sales agent Be For Films is set to bathe in a particularly flattering spotlight at the European Film Market (online 1- 5 March), where it will be negotiating on behalf of two first feature films scheduled to showcase in the 71st Berlinale.

The focus of distinctly favourable buzz, Azor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Fontana
film profile] by Swiss director Andreas Fontana is set for an unveiling in the Encounters competition. The film follows in the wake of Swiss banker Yvan De Wiel who travels with his wife Inés to Buenos Aires in the midst of the military dictatorship. He is searching for his partner René Keys who was in charge of maintaining relations with wealthy Argentinean clients and has mysteriously disappeared. De Wiel encounters a decadent society of landowners, the newly rich, heiresses, aristocrats, army officials, fixers and prelates, all complicit with the regime but concerned with taking advantage of the hypocritical collusion between the Swiss banking system and diplomacy to hide their capital abroad. As he moves from exclusive receptions to private circles and luxury hotels, while soldiers arrest bystanders in the streets, the discreet De Wiel must learn to interpret and speak the allusive language of a greater, darker power in order to take on his predecessor’s increasingly unclear role. But exiting the maze will lead the protagonist to the dark heart of the mystery… Starring Belgium’s Fabrizio Rongione as its protagonist, Azor is produced by Swiss firm Alina Film in co-production with France’s Local Films, Argentina’s Ruda Cine and RTS, and notably benefits from an advance on receipts from the CNC.

Be For Films will also be pinning its hopes on The World After Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas
film profile], the first feature film offered up by French director Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas, which is scheduled to premiere in the Panorama section.

Two market premieres, meanwhile, are on the agenda for Little Lesson of Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by French director Ève Deboise (starring Laetitia Dosch and Pierre Deladonchamps in lead roles) and Madly in Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Raphaël Balboni & Ann Sirot
film profile] by Belgians Ann Sirot and Raphael Balboni (a film discovered and well-received in Namur and Tallin). Also worth a mention is the Belgian documentary by Pierre Pirard All of Us, which brings to light stories of audacious citizens from around the world who are driven by the strong desire that people of different beliefs should live together in harmony, and have found ways of reinventing family, education, social relations, culture, and work, despite existing difficulties and frictions.

The online EFM will also see Be For Films continuing its labours on the brilliant movie A Night Doctor [+see also:
trailer
interview: Elie Wajeman
film profile] by French director Elie Wajeman, which was awarded Cannes’ 2020 Official Selection label and which is still awaiting its cinema release, the latter having been continually postponed on account of the health crisis.

Last but not least, stand-out post-production titles set to be pre-sold include Anaïs in Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
film profile] by Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet (read our article – starring Anaïs Demoustier, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Denis Podalydès), South Sentinel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mathieu Gérault
film profile] by Mathieu Gérault, À plein temps [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eric Gravel
film profile] by Éric Gravel (starring Laure Calamy up front) and Jan Bucquoy’s dramedy The Last Temptation of the Belgians [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan Bucquoy
film profile].

(Translated from French)