Reported from the Cannes Film Festival & Market, Sony Pictures Classics has picked up multiple territory rights to The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, the latest animated feature from BAFTA-winning and four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sylvain Chomet. SPC previously handled distribution for his acclaimed films The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist.
Produced by Mediawan’s ON kids & family (The Little Prince, Miraculous) and What The Prod (Ashargin Poiré and Valérie Puech), the artistic 2D film is described as an “animated hymn to filmmaking,” chronicling the prolific, celebrated cinema pioneer, playwright and novelist’s remarkable life. As Chomet, who is writer and director for the biopic, put it when the project was announced:
“[Marcel Pagnol’s] entire work speaks to us in words relatable to all of us. I want to tell his story, what we know little or less about him, and try to understand and reveal the man behind his work. It is through the innocence of Marcel as a child that I have chosen to re-transcribe the profoundly human and universal values of the man, because I am convinced that our era needs to return to this poetry and language of humanity.”
Sony Pictures Classics has taken on distribution rights for North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Israel, India, Italy and worldwide airlines/ships at sea, in all languages.
The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol is currently in production, due in 2024. Co-producers are Bibidul Prod. and Align, in collaboration with Nicolas Pagnol of the Pagnol Estate.
[Source: Variety]
