Cesar-winning French producer Sylvie Pialat is in Cannes with one of the most eclectic slates on the Croisette, ranging from an alpine revenge thriller from Argentine auteur Pablo Fendrik, a geopolitical drama about Augusto Pinochet starring Sebastian Stan and Ana de Armas, and the first animated feature from Céline Devaux.
Led by Pialat and Benoit Quainon, Les Films du Worso is developing “Black Glacier,” directed by Fendrik and starring Samuel Kircher and Andranic Manet. Produced alongside Benjamin Domenech, the project was originally developed as an Argentine production before the political crisis and economic turmoil in Argentina forced the team to rethink the film.
“Financing collapsed. So we had the idea — if he liked it — to transpose the story to France and shoot it in French,” Pialat said during an interview in Cannes.
“At a certain point, France genuinely makes people dream,” she added, pointing to the growing wave of international filmmakers relocating projects to France as financing and production conditions tighten elsewhere. “Cinema doesn’t really exist anywhere else the same way. There’s a huge industry, the technicians, the actors.”
Set to shoot next year in the French Alps, the thriller follows a young man estranged from his family whose solitary quest for vengeance ultimately implicates the entire clan.
Despite not speaking French, Fendrik conducted auditions in Paris and will direct the French-language feature in English and Spanish through translators and close collaborators on set.
Fendrik is a celebrated Argentine filmmaker whose first two films, “The Mugger” and “Blood Appears” played at Cannes’ Critics Week. His third feature, “El Ardor,” was a Special Screening at Cannes. He’s also directed HBO’s “The Bronze Garden” and the mini-series “Amongst Men” which premiered in Berlin.
Another international project on Les Films du Worso’s slate is “49 Days,” directed by Chinese filmmaker Hu Wei, whose Oscar-shortlisted short “A Lonely Cow Weeps at Dawn” put him on the international map. Shot in Chinese and French, and filmed entirely in France, the movie follows a Chinese couple who have been separated for years come to France together to bring their son’s body back to China after he committed suicide in Paris, and attempt to understand what his life was like. The title refers to the traditional Chinese mourning period observed after death. Memento Distribution will distribute the film in France.
Animation also marks a new frontier for the company with “Quatre saisons et deux idiots,” Devaux’s first animated feature following her acclaimed debut, “Everybody Loves Jeanne,” and her César-winning short “Sunday Meal.” Diaphana will distribute the film in France. Canal+ and France 3 are backing. The project, which has been selected for the Annecy MIFA pitch sessions, was described by Pialat as a portrait of today’s urban 30-to-40-year-old generation, “exploring their anxieties and joys with Devaux’s signature humor and handmade animation style.”
“She speaks remarkably well about that generation — her generation — in today’s world, with humor,” she continued.
Pialat’s company is also partnering up with Domenech and Pathé on “Impunity,” an ambitious spy thriller directed by Chilean filmmaker Felipe Gálvez, starring de Armas and Stan. Adapted from a book by Philippe Sands, the film follows the international effort to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet after his 1998 arrest in London.
Set to shoot in Britain, Spain and Chili, “Impunity” is produced by Rei Pictures’ Spanish arm, U.K.-based Quiddity and new Chilean outfit Ronda Cine and Les Films du Worso, alongside Zeta Studios in Spain, Snowglobe in Denmark and Pathé in France, who also handles international sales and distribution for France, Switzerland and Benelux. Stan and de Armas serve as executive producers.
Pialat said the project resonates powerfully in today’s political climate. “Dictators today, we’re spoilt for choice,” she said. “The film becomes a spy thriller. Suddenly, for different reasons, everyone wants him put on trial. But everyone knows how it ends: he returned to Chile practically as a hero, and he was never tried.” But knowing the ending “doesn’t stop us from being captivated by the story of how everything unfolded,” she continues.
She’s also reteaming with Topshot and Pathé to produce the next film by Amélie Bonin following her debut “Partir un Jour,” which opened Cannes last year and went on to have a successful box office run, selling nearly 700,000 admissions.
Pialat also recently wrapped the shoot of “The Enraged,” directed by Emmanuelle Bercot. The €17 million feature stars Marion Cotillard, Benoît Magimel and newcomer Aaron Debarre. Produced with Pathé, the film is slated for release in 2027. Adapted from Chalandon’s novel about a brutal children’s penal colony on Belle-Île in the 1930s, the film follows a teenage boy fleeing institutional violence after a mass escape.
Going forward, Pialat says she wants to keep that balance of director-driven fare and ambitious international films. “The joy at our company is that we mix people like Bercot and Beauvois with younger filmmakers like Wei Hu, Salomé Da Souza and Céline Devaux.”
