César Award-winning French producer Sylvie Pialat is coming to Cannes with one of the most diverse productions on the Croisette, from an alpine revenge thriller by Argentine author Pablo Fendrick to a geopolitical drama about Augusto Pinoche starring Sebastian Stan and Ana de Armas to Céline Devaux’s first animated feature.
Les Films du Warsot, headed by Piarat and Benoît Quainon, is developing Black Glacier, directed by Fendrick and starring Samuel Kircher and Andranique Manet. The project, co-produced with Benjamin Domenech, was originally developed as an Argentine production before the country’s political crisis and economic turmoil forced the team to rethink the film.
“We were financially bankrupt, so we came up with the idea that if he liked it, we could move the story to France and shoot it in French,” Pialat said in an interview at Cannes.
“At some point, France really makes people dream,” she added, pointing to a growing wave of international filmmakers moving their projects to France as financing and production conditions tighten in other countries. “Movies don’t exist in the same way anywhere else. There’s a huge industry, technicians, actors.”
The thriller, scheduled to be filmed in the French Alps next year, tells the story of a young man estranged from his family, whose lonely journey of revenge ultimately engulfs his entire clan.
Despite not speaking French, Fendrick auditioned in Paris and ended up directing the French feature in English and Spanish, with the help of translators and close collaborators.
Fendrick is a prominent Argentine filmmaker whose first two films, The Heist and Blood Appears, were screened at Cannes Critics’ Week. His third feature, El Aldor, had a special screening at Cannes. He also directed HBO’s “The Bronze Garden” and the Berlin-first miniseries “Amongst Men.”
Les Films du Worso’s other international project is “49 Days,” directed by Chinese filmmaker Hu Wei, who made his name known worldwide with the Oscar-nominated short “A Lonely Cow Weeps at Dawn.” Shot entirely in France and in Chinese and French, the film follows a Chinese couple who have been separated for years and come together to bring the body of their son, who committed suicide in Paris, back to China and try to understand what his life was like. The title refers to the traditional Chinese mourning period that follows a death. memento distribution The film will be distributed in France.
Animation also broke new ground for the company with Devaux’s first animated feature, Quatre Saison et de Idiot, following his acclaimed debut, Everybody Loves Jeanne, and the César Award-winning short film Sunday Meals. Diafana will distribute the film in France. Supported by Canal+ and France 3. The project, which was selected for the Annecy MIFA pitch session, was described by Pialat as a portrait of today’s urban 30-40 year old generation, “exploring their anxieties and joys with Devaux’s signature humor and handcrafted animation style.”
“She speaks very well, humorously, about that generation, her generation, in today’s world,” she continued.
Pialatto’s company is also partnering with Mr. Domenech and Mr. Pathé on “Impunity,” an ambitious spy thriller directed by Chilean filmmaker Felipe Gálvez and starring de Armas and Stan. The film, based on the book by Philip Sands, follows the international effort to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested in London in 1998.
Scheduled to be shot in the UK, Spain and Chile, ‘Impunity’ will be produced by Ray Pictures’ Spanish arm, UK-based Quiddity, and new Chilean companies Ronda Cine and Les Films de Warso, in collaboration with Spain’s Zeta Studios, Denmark’s Snowglobe and France’s Pathé, which will also handle international sales and distribution in France, Switzerland and the Benelux. Stan and de Armas will serve as executive producers.
Pialat said the project resonates powerfully in today’s political climate. “Dear dictators, today we have no choice,” she said. “The movie becomes a spy thriller. All of a sudden, for different reasons, everyone wants him on trial. But we all know how it ends. He essentially returns to Chile as a hero, but he never stands trial.” But even knowing the ending “can’t stop us from being fascinated by the story of how it all unfolded,” she continues.
She will also reteam with Top Shot and Pathé to produce Amélie Bonnin’s next film, the follow-up to her debut film Partir en Jour, which opened at Cannes last year and attracted nearly 700,000 attendees.
Piara also recently finished filming “Fury,” directed by Emmanuel Bercot. The €17 million production stars Marion Cotillard, Benoît Magimel and newcomer Aaron Desbare. The film, co-produced with Pathé, is scheduled for release in 2027. The film, based on Charandon’s novel about the brutal 1930s Bell Island children’s penal colony, follows a group of teenagers who escape institutional violence after a mass escape.
Going forward, Pialat says he wants to maintain a balance between director-driven productions and ambitious international films. “Our joy is that people like Bercot and Beauvois are fused with young filmmakers like Wei Fu, Salome da Sousa and Céline Devaux.”
