Gaumont Boards Cannes Critics’ Week Closer ‘La Vie en Grand’
PARIS– French major Gaumont has acquired French distribution and international sales rights to Mathieu Vadepied’s “La Vie en grand,” the social dramedy set to close Cannes’ Critics Week.
A feature debut, “La Vie en grand” tells the tale of Adama, a 14-year-old growing up in the projects, where he juggles the pressures of school and street life. With the help of his younger buddy Mamadou, Adama manages to get their lives on a different track.
Vadepied is a well-respected cinematographer whose best-known credits include Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s “The Intouchables” and Jacques Audiard’s “Read My Lips.”
“La Vie en grand” is produced by Bruno Nahon’s outfit Unite de Production, in association with Toledano and Nakache’s Ten Films.
Critics Week artistic director Charles Tesson said “La Vie en grand” “will let a wind of tenderness and freshness swirl through Critics’ Week.”
Penned by Olivier Demangel, Vincent Poymiro and Vadepied, “La Vie en grand” stars Balamine Guirassy, Ali Bidanessy, Guillaume Gouix, Josephine de Meaux and Leonita Fall.
Gaumont will release the film on Sept. 16 in France. With movies like “Intouchables” and “Samba” on its track record, the 120-year old company has become an expert at handling this brand of social comedy.
Nahon, who works in film and television, is producing the animated series “Hard Apple” with James Gray and Canal Plus. Rolling off “Samba,” “La Vie en grand” is the second feature film co-produced by Toledano and Nakache’s Ten Films.
Running May 14-22, alongside the Cannes Film Festival, Critics Week is dedicated to first and second films.
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