{"id":108910,"date":"2025-05-17T11:36:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T11:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/108910\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T11:36:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T11:36:18","slug":"frances-memento-distribution-buys-harry-lightons-pillion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/108910\/","title":{"rendered":"France’s Memento Distribution Buys Harry Lighton’s ‘Pillion’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAlexandre Mallet-Guy\u2019s Memento has bought Harry Lighton<\/a>\u2018s sexy romance \u201cPillion<\/a>\u201d which is world premiering in Un Certain Regard.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Paris-based Memento, which is at Cannes with three movies in competition, will release the A24 movie in France. Speaking to Variety, Mallet Guy said, \u201cIt\u2019s a gay BDSM rom-com, and it\u2019s pretty wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAlexander Skarsg\u00e5rd plays the biker, and Harry Melling, who you might know from \u2018Harry Potter,\u2019 plays the submissive. The film is hilarious but also quite disturbing, simply because it\u2019s a romantic comedy set in such a specific, unconventional world. But it really works \u2014 it\u2019s surprisingly emotional, and there\u2019s something incredible about seeing two stars take such bold risks,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\tMemento\u2019s Cannes competition lineup includes Joachim Trier\u2019s \u201cSentimental Value,\u201d Jafar Panahi\u2019s \u201cA Simple Accident\u201d and\u00a0Tarik Saleh<\/a>\u2018s \u201cEagles of the Republic,\u201d as well as Laura Wandel\u2019s \u201cAdam\u2019s Sake\u201d which opened Critics Week.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of Wandel\u2019s film, \u201cAdam\u2019s Sake,\u201d Mallet-Guy said he had \u201ca real shock\u201d after he read the script which he describes as \u201ca true page-turner.\u201d \u201cThe story unfolds almost in real time: an hour and thirty minutes in a hospital, with about an hour and fifteen minutes actually filmed. You\u2019re in total immersion as you follow the chief nurse and the mother of a young child who\u2019s been hospitalized, and their confrontation is absolutely gripping,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\n\tTrier\u2019s \u201cSentimental Value,\u201d meanwhile, will appeal to fans of the Norwegian\u2019s work, Mallet-Guy predicts. \u201cIt\u2019s very melancholic, very beautiful, and above all, it\u2019s a family story,\u201d he said. The film follows a family across generations, with flashbacks, all centered around a single house. The house itself transforms depending on who\u2019s living there, with each person\u2019s memories attached to different rooms. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe producer-distributor also spoke about Panahi\u2019s film and said it\u2019s \u201cdeeply rooted in the current realities of Iranian society. \u201cIt\u2019s a very politically engaged work, powerfully connected to its time.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tMallet-Guy\u2019s relationship with Panahi dates back to \u201cTaxi Tehran\u201d which was a major success in France where it sold 600,000 admissions. It marked the second-biggest success for Iranian cinema here after \u201cA Separation,\u201d which did 1 million tickets in theaters. Memento then handled \u201cThree Faces,\u201d which was also selected in competition at Cannes. This latest film, \u201cA Simple Accident\u201d is co-produced by the French company Les Films\u00a0P\u00e9ll\u00e9as, the production company behind \u201cAnatomy of a Fall\u201d and is co-produced by Bidibul Productions and Pio &Co.<\/p>\n

\u201cEagles of the Republic,\u201d which Memento co-produced, reteams Mallet-Guy with Saleh after \u201cThe Nile Hilton Incident\u201d and \u201cBoy From Heaven,\u201d a pair of commercial and critical hits that traveled around the world. Mallet-Guy said \u201cEagles of the Republic\u201d \u2013 once again set in Egypt \u2014 marks \u201cwithout a doubt, Tark Saleh\u2019s most ambitious film to date \u2014not just in terms of budget, but also in its political engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt begins with the tone of a black comedy and gradually shifts into a political thriller with elements of espionage. It\u2019s a bold, exciting film.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe movie is produced by Unlimited Stories, a major Swedish company, Tarik\u2019s own Paraton, and Memento. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is actually the biggest budget we\u2019ve ever had for an Arabic-language film. Funding films in Arabic is never easy, but thanks to the support of Canal + and Arte, we\u2019ve managed to make it happen,\u201d Mallet-Guy said. <\/p>\n

\n\tMemento has been increasingly involved in production in the last few years. It recently announced the next film by two-time Oscar-winning Iranian director\u00a0Asghar Farhadi<\/a>, \u201cParallel Tales,\u201d which will shoot in Paris with a powerful cast, including \u00a0including\u00a0Isabelle Huppert<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cElle\u201d),\u00a0Virginie Efira<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cBenedetta\u201d),\u00a0Vincent Cassel<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cBlack Swan\u201d), Pierre Niney (\u201cThe Count of Monte Cristo\u201d) and Adam Bessa (\u201cGhost Trail\u201d). <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve always produced one or two films a year, but lately, we\u2019ve been putting more focus into it,\u201d Mallet-Guy noted. <\/p>\n

\n\tMemento is also backing several Asian filmmakers. The banner is working on the next film by Chinese director Diao Yinan, who won the Golden Bear for \u201cBlack Coal, Thin Ice\u201d and then we made \u201cThe Wild Goose Lake,\u201d which competed at Cannes, and is developing a new project with \u201cBlack Dog\u201d director Guan Hu.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe company\u2019s upcoming French distribution titles includes Marc Fitoussi\u2019s latest film, currently shooting in Paris with Isabelle Huppert, who plays an extra and Sandrine Kiberlain, who plays herself as a French film star. It\u2019s produced by Caroline Bonmarchand, and marks a new collaboration between Fitoussi and Huppert after \u201cCopacabana.\u201d Another title is\u00a0Martin Provost\u2019s new film, \u201cDemain Je Tombe Amoureux,\u201d\u00a0featuring Fabrice Luchini in the lead, with Carole Bouquet, Emmanuelle Devos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexandre Mallet-Guy\u2019s Memento has bought Harry Lighton\u2018s sexy romance \u201cPillion\u201d which is world premiering in Un Certain Regard.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[6639,2000,299,36,49628,49629,49630,49631],"class_list":{"0":"post-108910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-cannes-film-festival","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-harry-lighton","13":"tag-memento-distribution","14":"tag-pillion","15":"tag-tarik-saleh"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114522972819236250","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}