“The biggest horror movie with the biggest budget is the world as it is today. It would be a shame if the imagination of filmmakers was less powerful than the state of the world! “, launches Thierry Lounas, producer and distributor of Capricci, to sum up the spirit of the new genre cinema label Wild West: created with Vincent Maraval, producer and distributor of Wild Bunch, it aims to bring out a new wave of French films navigating between the real and the fantastic, that is to say connected to the turbulence of the time.
The creation of Wild West will be officially announced on Wednesday, June 9, in Bordeaux, the headquarters of the new company, where twelve feature film projects will be unveiled. The special effects company Digital District, headed by Daniel Danesi, is opening a Bordeaux branch (Digital Bordeaux) in order to work as closely as possible with authors.
In the world of cinema, Capricci was seen as a head researcher when mini-major Wild Bunch, founded by Studio Canal alumni, broadened its palette from auteur film to family comedy. In 2016, Thierry Lounas founded the Sofilm genre residency laboratory, from which Just Philippot’s first “feature” came out, The Cloud (2020), with Suliane Brahim, from the Comédie-Française (it will be in theaters on June 16). The story of a grasshopper breeder who, unable to make ends meet, begins to force-feed her insects in a strange way.
For its part, Wild Bunch has sold internationally Serious (2016), Julia Ducournau’s first feature film examining anthropophagy and the erotic fantasy of devouring in a young girl falling into adulthood – her second “feature”, Titanium, with Agathe Rousselle and Vincent Lindon, has just been selected in competition at Cannes.
Sharpen the imagination
With Sofilm de genre, Thierry Lounas opened a breach that other producers are borrowing today. As a reminder, in January, the company Parasomnia productions was born from the association of Marc Missonnier (Fidélité productions) with the boss of Sony Pictures France, Stéphane Huard. Three feature-film projects, fully funded by Sony to the tune of one million euros, are in the works, with a goal of theatrical release in 2022. It is also a question of giving back to a young audience – known for leaving theaters – going to see a movie on the big screen.
Thierry Lounas, co-founder of Wild West: “The new French wave will be gender or not”
You have 48.97% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.