Neon has scooped U.S. rights to Ryusuke Hamaguchi‘s (“Drive My Car”) French movie “All of a Sudden.” The project is produced and sold internationally by Cinefrance. It’s the first major deal – believed to be in the seven-figure range — of the European Film Market so far.
The movie shot in Paris with a glamorous female duo led by Virginie Efira (“Benedetta”) and Tao Okamoto (“The Wolverine”).
Efira (“Benedatta”) as Marie-Lou Fontaine, a director of a nursing home in the Paris suburbs, who defies convention by adopting the “Humanitude” method despite her team’s resistance. Her encounter with Mari Morisaki (Tao Okamoto, “The Wolverine”), a terminally ill Japanese playwright, transforms her life. Together, they turn the facility into a symbol of resistance and humanity against the system’s limits.
The film is loosely inspired by a collection of real-life exchanged letters published in the book “When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn: Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher with Terminal Cancer and a Medical Anthropologist” by Makiko Miyano and Maho Isono. It filmed on location in Paris and wrapped shooting in the fall.
Cinefrance, which reps the movie alongside Bitters End which reps Asia, and has already closed some deals with Plaion for Germany and Austria; and September Film for Benelux.
Cinefrance Studios is producing “All of a Sudden” with Office Shirous & Bitters End in Japan, Heimatfilm in Germany and Tarantula in Belgium. Diaphana will distribute in France and Bitters End in Japan.
Hamaguchi broke through the international scene in a major way in 2022, after garnering four Oscar nominations for “Drive My Car,” including best director and adapted screenplay, as well as Japan’s first ever for best picture. The movie ultimately won an Oscar for best international feature. His previous film, “Evil Does Not Exist,” premiered at Venice and won the Silver Lion and the Fipresci prize, and the experimental silent piece “Gift.”