Thursday, August 11, 2022

Cannes 2022 ‘Triangle of Sadness’ Directed by Ruben Östlund

 

‘Triangle of Sadness’ Directed by Ruben Östlund;Ruben Östlund, Cannes Competition, Palme d’Or Winner

IMDb synopsis of this film: A cruise for the super-rich sinks thus leaving survivors, including a fashion model celebrity couple, trapped on an island.

I could ask a few of my friends about their involvement in its production, e.g., Jim Stark, Micah Green, Philippe Bober, Lizzie Francke, Mike Goodridge…I wonder what they would tell me. Or I could guess…which is what I am doing here as a subject of this blog.

Philippe Bober: Coproduction Office is the international sales agent for the film. But the company is also, as the name suggests, a coproducer and Philippe usually takes a strong part in the development of the project as well as representing it for licensing to territories. In this case (I have to repeat that have not seen the film, but based upon what I have only heard said), I would guess that he did not do much with the development because when he does, the project is in no way formulaic; I have heard this film has traces of Ostland’s previous film, The Square, which then makes it more prosaic. Bober’s hand in film always makes the film unique.

And Philippe usually works with younger budding talent or else hardcore art house filmmakers. However, as international sales agent, perhaps some presales by him to territories helped finance the film. I am unsure that was necessary because the director Ruben Ostlund is so well known and accoladed already that I would think the money might come from other more well established sources. You can see the companies involved and get an idea of funding.

That’s where I would guess Micah Greene would enter the picture. At 30WESThe is not only producing and is best friends with the US distributor, Neon, one of the top U.S. films distributors today, but he comes from the most prestigious CAA where he was in charge of international financing for their films. He was and is still on top and deserves every good thing that comes his way. A mensch. Lizzie Francke is a true producer, has done horror and comes from the roots of arthouse films from U.K. She is now Editor-at-Large at the BFI Film Fund now. There certainly is a need for such a UK partner. Is there a need for more? Mike Goodridge, founder of the brand new production company Good Chaos, is also there. Aside from producing, Mike has worn many hats, beginning as a journalist and heading up the L.A. office at Screen International, heading up Protagonist a top U.K. international sales agency as well as a production company, heading up Beijing (?) Film Festival, all around professional and all around good guy.

Olivier Père, former head along with (now Tribeca’s Frederic Boyer) looks like he is involved in every current production these days… Check out his credits in IMDb:

La grande magie (co-producer) (post-production)

2022Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (producer)

2022Pacifiction (co-producer)

2022More Than Ever (co-producer)

2022Triangle of Sadness (co-producer)

2022Brother and Sister (co-producer)

2022Corsage (co-producer)

2022One Fine Morning (co-producer)

2022Les Harkis (co-producer)

And last but not least, Jim Stark, another with an eye, like Philippe Bober, for cutting edge talent and stories, has made 17 films as exec producer, producer, associate producer or co-producer just since 2018. That is almost four films a year! For those who might remember, he also discovered and produced for Jim Jarmusch on his first five films starting with Down by Law in 1986, done just after we all witnessed ourselves transported by Stranger Than Paradise at the New York Film Festival, the year Jim and I met and I began buying his films for Lorimar and Republic.

The Owner (executive producer) (filming)

Inside (executive producer) (post-production)

2022Triangle of Sadness (executive producer)

2021El camino de Sol (associate producer)

2021The Middle Man (executive producer)

2021/IVAlma (co-producer)

2021Prayers for the Stolen (producer)

2020Treasure City (producer)

2020The 11th Green (executive producer)

2019Not Not Jazz (Documentary) (producer)

2019Echo (co-producer)

2019The Whistlers (associate producer)

2019One Taxi Ride (Documentary) (executive producer)

2019The Operative (associate producer)

2018Our Time (associate producer)

2018Birds of Passage (co-producer)

2018/IIAdam (producer)

___

Five is not a bad number of women represented on a list of 31 producers, coproducers, associate produces, executive producers and line producers…that’s almost 20 %. But the list still sounds to me like an old boys’ list and I wonder if they all got back a good share of the budget. We all know movies never make money, but the above and below the line members do. What was the budget? Was this everyone’s reward for all the times they do not get paid because they are making art built into the budget?

Or am I just being cynical? Hollywood stunts don’t surprise me but what does surprise me is that it also won the top prize in Cannes. These producers are all-round good guys who are also good business men, and networking is crucial to this business. It’s nice to see them all together; this roster is very impressive.

Writing for young talent, I would say: This is a list of acquaintances you should aspire to have, study their credits, speak to them about their projects when you meet them. But, also remember to network yourself within your own circle. This list is of people who have all known each other many years, wearing many different coats and hats. So will you if you heed these words: Network and know who you are meeting and why you are meeting them as you go through your festival circuit(s) with your dreams of making the films that will change the world, then when you reach their age, you will also be poised to profit from all your work.

‘Triangle of Sadness’ produced by:

Brina Elizabeta Blaz…executive producer

Philippe Bober…producer

Julio Chavezmontes…co-producer

Alessandro Del Vigna…executive producer

Lizzie Francke…executive producer

Dan Friedkin…executive producer

Ryan Friedkin…executive producer

Rose Garnett…executive producer

Mike Goodridge…co-producer

Micah Green…executive producer

Faruk Guven…co-producer

Per Damgaard Hansen…co-producer

Erik Hemmendorff…producer

Giorgos Karnavas…co-producer

Konstantinos Kontovrakis…co-producer

Clemens Köstlin…co-producer

Jovan Marjanovic…associate producer

Mouns Overgaard…pre-production: line producer

Marina Perales Marhuenda…co-producer

Mirsad Purivatra…associate producer

Olivier Père…co-producer

Andreas Roald…executive producer

James Benjamin Shannon…executive producer

Danae Spathara…line producer: Greece

Jim Stark…executive producer

Daniel Steinman…executive producer

Bradley Thomas…executive producer

Zahra Waldeck…line producer: Sweden

Pierre Wallon…line producer: Greece

Dan Wechsler…executive producer

Jamal Zeinal Zade…executive producer

And, just for the record, if you look at the IMDb list of production companies (rather than people) involved, you will see this is a giant of a coproduction involving private and public companies, TV stations and international film funds:

Production Companies

And finally, since the return on the investment, theoretically, comes from the final sources of revenues, the consumer, it is worth knowing what streamers receive, that that information is the hardest to get. Second to that is the monies paid to the ISA (international sales agents) though sales to distributors. Here are the distributors as listed in IMDb and Cinando, two sources of such information which do not always list the same information:

Distributors as listed on IMDb:

Distributors as listed on Cinando and not on IMDb:

Benelux, Surinam, Dutch Antilles — SEPTEMBER FILM DISTRIBUTION BELGIUM, Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD, Airline

Baltics — FILMSTOP OU, Theatrical, TV, VOD

Italy — TEODORA FILM, Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD, Airline

South Korea — GREEN NARAE MEDIA CO., LTD., Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD

Lithuania — A-ONE FILMS BALTIC, Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD, Airline

Poland — GUTEK FILM LTD, Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD

Romania — INDEPENDENTA FILM, Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD

Serbia — FIVE STARS FILM DISTRIBUTION

Singapore — ANTICIPATE PICTURES, Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD

Slovenia, territories of former Yugoslavia — DEMIURG — CVETKA FLAKUS, S.P., Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD

Switzerland — XENIX FILMDISTRIBUTION GMBH, Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD, Airline

Turkey — FILMARTI FILM, Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD


Posted by Sydney at 1:58 AM
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