A24 Acquires Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘Parthenope’ Ahead of Cannes Debut

Brian Welk
·2 min read
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In the first major sale ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, A24 has acquired the North American rights to the competition title “Parthenope” from director Paolo Sorrentino, the distributor announced Friday, May 3.

“Parthenope” is the latest film from the Oscar winner Sorrentino, who will be competing for the Palme d‘Or for the seventh time. A24 describes the film as a “monumental and deeply romantic story of a lifetime.”

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The film follows the titular character Parthenope, who is born in the sea of Naples in 1950 and searches for happiness over the long summers of her youth, falling in love with her home city and its many memorable characters. From Sorrentino, who also wrote the script, we expect a lot of lush Italian vistas and colorful, garish interiors.

The film features Gary Oldman and also stars, in alphabetical order, Dario Aita, Celeste Dalla Porta, Silvia Degrandi, Isabella Ferrari, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Biagio Izzo, Marlon Joubert, Peppe Lanzetta, Nello Mascia, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri, Daniele Rienzo, Stefania Sandrelli, and Alfonso Santagata.

“Parthenope” is an Italian-French co-production and was shot in both Naples and Capri. It’s a Fremantle film produced by The Apartment Pictures, and Pathé in association with Numero 10, in association with Saint Laurent and PiperFilm.

The producers are Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment Pictures, a Fremantle Company, Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent, Paolo Sorrentino for Numero 10, and Ardavan Safaee for Pathé. Douglas Urbanski is the executive producer.

Daria D’antonio, who shot Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God,” is reuniting with him as cinematographer. And the film also has costume artistic director Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent, costume designer Carlo Poggioli, editor Cristiano Travaglioli, production designer Carmine Guarino, and casting by Annamaria Sambucco and Massimo Appolloni.

Pathé is handling international sales of the film and will also distribute the film in France and Switzerland.

A24 is also coming into Cannes 2024 with the Un Certain Regard title “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.” A24 has also been active on the acquisition front in the last week. It landed a package for Ben Mezrich’s chess movie that will reunite Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone and picked up Adam Wingard’s next film “Onslaught.” And the company is also re-teaming with the directors of “Talk to Me” for another original horror film starring Sally Hawkins.

Deadline first reported the news.

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