Protagonist Pictures and mk2 films have come on board to jointly handle worldwide sales on the Un Certain Regard 2017 Official Selection April’s Daughter (Las Hijas de Abril), from Cannes award winning writer / director Michel Franco (Chronic, After Lucia, Daniel and Ana) and executive producer Tim Roth, it was announced today by Protagonist Pictures CEO Mike Goodridge and Juliette Schrameck, Managing Director of mk2 films. The Spanish language feature from Mexico is Franco’s fourth film to be invited to the Cannes Film Festival.
Starring Emma Suarez (Julieta, The Next Skin) as April, the film tells the story of 17-year-old Valeria who is pregnant by her teenage boyfriend, but hasn't informed her absent mother April. When her sister Clara goes behind her back and calls their mother, she arrives full of concern, support and tenderness. But once the baby is born, it soon becomes clear why Valeria wanted to keep April as far away as possible.
The film also stars Ana Valeria Becerril, Joanna Larequi (Charity), Enrique Arrizon (Desterrados), and Hernán Mendoza (After Lucia).
As well as writing and directing the film, Franco produced April’s Daughter through his Lucía Films production company. Lorenzo Vigas (From Afar) and Moises Zonana (Chronic, After Lucia) are also producers of the film. Executive producers on the project are Rodolfo Cova, David Zonana, Gabriel Ripstein and Academy Award nominated actor Tim Roth. Roth (Rob Roy, Pulp Fiction) starred in and executive produced Franco’s first English language feature Chronic, winner of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival Best Screenplay Award. The film was nominated for two Film Independent Spirit Awards for Best Feature and Best Actor for Roth.
“We think Michel’s new film is his best yet,” said Protagonist CEO Mike Goodridge. “Anchored by a wonderfully deadpan performance by Emma Suárez, April’s Daughter is a film which will surprise, even stun audiences as its story unfolds. We are so happy to be partnering again with our friends at mk2 on this film."
mk2 films Managing Director Juliette Schrameck adds “We are thrilled to be handling such a special film, certainly one of the most powerful pieces on parent/child relationships seen in a long time, served by Michel Franco’s remarkable execution and excellent actresses' performances.”
Protagonist Pictures and mk2 films will launch sales on the title in Cannes where they are co-repping worldwide rights. The two companies first partnered this year in Berlin on the market standout Cold War from Director Pawel Pawlikowski.
April’s Daughter is the third film in the festival for Protagonist who are also handling the Directors’ Fortnight selections The Rider, from Chloé Zhao, and The Florida Project, co-written and directed by Sean Baker starring Willem Dafoe. mk2 films’ Cannes line up also includes in Official Selection in Competition Radiance, written and directed by Naomi Kawase (An, Still the Water), and in Official Selection Un Certain Regard Until the Birds Return, co-written and directed by Karim Moussaoui (The Days Before).
As writer, director and producer, Michel Franco’s acclaimed body of work includes After Lucia, which won Best Film in Un Certain Regard in 2012, Daniel and Ana, nominated for Cannes’ Golden Camera Award in 2009 as well as Chronic. Franco produced 600 Miles (directed by Gabriel Ripstein), which won the Best First Feature award at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival, and From Afar, directed by Lorenzo Vigas, which won the Golden Lion award at the 2015 Venice Film Festival. Franco is currently developing several feature films and TV projects through his production company Lucia Films.
About mk2 films
Every year, mk2 films sells and distributes a dozen new films by established or promising directors such as Olivier Assayas, Jia Zhangke, Naomi Kawase, Xavier Dolan, Robert Guédiguian and Stéphane Brizé.
mk2 films also distributes a unique library of more than 600 films in France and around the world, including some of the major films of the history of cinema and a large number of classic films restored in HD and 2K: Charles Chaplin, François Truffaut, Abbas Kiarostami, Krzysztof Kieślowski, David Lynch, Buster Keaton, Claude Chabrol, Michael Haneke, Stan Laurel and the RKO collection.
About Protagonist Pictures
Protagonist Pictures is an international finance, production and sales company which has a proven track record in outstanding films and commercial successes. Based in the UK, the company handles films from around the world, always maintaining a strong focus on filmmakers with exceptional vision and storytelling skills.
Protagonist’s current successes on release around the world include Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire with its ensemble cast of Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy, Sharlto Copley and Jack Reynor; Adam Smith’s Trespass Against Us starring Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleesson, Charlie McDowell’s The Discovery with Rooney Mara, Jason Segel and Robert Redford, William Oldroyd’s TIFF 2016 buzz feature Lady Macbeth and the 2017 Directors’ Fortnight selections The Rider from Chloé Zhao and The Florida Project from Sean Baker. Currently in post-production are Clio Barnard’s Dark River, Richard Loncraine’s Finding Your Feet and Amma Asante’s Where Hands Touch, whilst Pawel Pawilkowski’s Cold War and Kristoffer Nyholm’s Keepers are currently shooting.