Netflix buys Cannes winner ‘Atlantics’, festival debut ‘I Lost My Body’
Two unusual dramas have gone to Netflix after making debuts at the Cannes Film Festival — ocean-going romantic thriller “Atlantics” and missed connections adventure “I Lost My Body”.
French actress and film director Mati Diop poses with the Grand Prix for her film “Atlantics” on May 25, 2019 during the closing ceremony of the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Image: AFP/Valery Hache
Mati Diop became the first black woman director to both contend for and also win Cannes’ Grand Prix when she accepted the award on May 27, 2019.
A Romeo and Juliet story of young love in Dakar, Senegal is given a supernatural frame in her dramatic ocean-going migrant film “Atlantics”, and online streaming service Netflix has secured international distribution for all but a handful of territories.
China and Russia are not included in the deal, while online distribution for France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg kicks in 36 months after domestic theatrical release.
“I Lost My Body” is another prize-winner, though this time at the International Critics Week event that runs alongside the Cannes festival.
It follows a severed hand as it makes its way through Paris in search of Naoufel, the young man from whom it was cut.
Naoufel was once a boy with a bright future but tragic circumstance removed him from his parents’ care and landed him with far less devoted relatives; instead of inching his way towards an astronaut-musician career fantasy, he is working in pizza delivery.
It is on one of those calls that he speaks to library worker Gabrielle and, knowing little else about her, not even what she looks like, starts searching for a way to find her.
The film was a feature-length debut for director Jérémy Clapin, who co-wrote it with Guillaume Laurent of “Amélie” and “A Very Long Engagement” fame.
Again, the Netflix deal is worldwide excluding China, Turkey, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and France; Netflix will carry it in France 36 months after its theatrical release. RGA/JB
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