16 mar 2021 MK2 Films Sparks Bidding War With Celine Sciamma’s ‘Petite Maman’

Celine Sciamma’s Berlinale competition title “Petite Maman” has been sold by MK2 Films around the world with some bidding wars in multiple territories.

The critically acclaimed film, which marks Sciamma’s follow-up to “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” has been sold to Alamode (Germany), Culture (Japan), Challan (South Korea) Sun (Latin America), Avalon (Spain), Madman (Australia/New Zealand), Red Cape (Israel), Cinéart (Benelux), Cineworx (Switzerland), Angel (Denmark), Folkets Bio (Sweden), Arthaus (Norway), Swallow Wings (Taiwan), Russian World Vision (CIS), New Horizons (Poland), Weirdwave (Greece), Midas (Portugal) and Demiurg (Ex-Yugoslavia).

“Petite Maman” was bought by Neon for North America and MUBI for the U.K. and Turkey during the virtual Berlin Film Festival. MK2 Films is currently negotiating further sales.

Described as a chamber piece, a ghost story and a fairy tale, “Petite Maman” follows Nelly, an 8-year-old girl who has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. While there, her mother, Marion, is overwhelmed with grief and abruptly leaves Nelly with her father. Shortly after, Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods whose name is Marion. The two girls are played by siblings, Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz. Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne and Margot Abascal complete the cast.

The movie earned unanimous acclaim at Berlin Film Festival, with Variety’s Peter Debruge praising Sciamma‘s talent in delivering “lively portraits of young people, if not necessarily on fire, then at least smoldering with the urgent uncertainty of identities still in formation.”

Sciamma has indeed explored childhood and teenage years in previous films, notably “Tomboy” and “Girlhood.” Her last film “Portrait of a Lady of Fire” won best screenplay at Cannes in 2018 and was nominated for a Golden Globe.

“Petite Maman” was produced by Lilies Films and co-produced by France 3 Cinéma.