“Ghostland,” Pascal Laugier’s tense psychological thriller which scooped the top three awards, including the Grand Prize, at the Gerardmer film festival, is set to travel to key territories.
Gregoire Melin’s Kinology, which co-financed the stylish French grindhouse movie in international markets, already pre-sold it in 20 territories, including Germany (Capelight Pictures), Italy (Koch Media), Japan (King Records), Latin America (Cine Video y TV) and Russia (Cascade Film). A U.S. deal is currently in negotiation.
“With ‘Martyrs,’ Pascal Laugier established himself as a revered French genre director, and with ‘Ghostland’ he’s back with a bang and shows again the scope of his talent,” said Melin. “The script is sharp and precise; the performances are strong, especially Emilia Jones, who’s definitely a talent to watch, and the visual style really stands out.”
A female-powered movie, “Ghostland” follows a mother of two who inherits a home from her aunt and is confronted with murderous intruders. Jones stars in the film opposite French singer Mylène Farmer and Anastasia Phillips.
Clement Miserez and Jean-Charles Levy at 5656 Films produced “Ghostland.” Stephane Celerier’s Mars Distribution, which co-produced the film, will give it a fairly large release in France on March 14. Since unspooling at Gerardmer, the movie has been lauded by critics and is trending on social media.
Kinology will be hosting a market screening of “Ghostland” at the Berlin Film Festival’s EFM.
Gerardmer ranks as one of the world’s most prestigious festivals of fantasy/genre films. This year’s jury was presided over by Mathieu Kassovitz (“The Bureau”) and included Olivier Megaton, Judith Chemla, Aissa Maiga, Suzanne Clement, David Belle, Finnegan Oldfield and Pascale Arbillot. Laugier’s fourth feature, “Ghostland” won the Grand Prize, the Audience Award and the Syfy Award.
