Founded in 2017 by Carole Baraton, Yohann Comte, Pierre Mazars and Constantin Briest, the French international sales company Charades continues to bet on animated.
2024 marks a particularly exceptional year as Charades handles the export of several acclaimed films from last spring, starting with Adam Elliot’s Memoir of A Snail, winner of the Cristal for a Feature Film at Annecy. Imbued with a poetic universe, the stop motion film Memoir of A Snail, produced by Arenamedia and Screen Australia for an audience over 14, portrays the challenging journey of a twin sister and brother as they navigate through difficult trials.
Yohann Comte, co-founder of Charades, tells EAJ:
You come out of it with a smile on your face and tears in your eyes. We have teamed up with the British company Anton to sell the world rights outside Australia. Winning the Cristal has been a game changer for Memoir of a Snail because it made the film more appealing to the eyes of distributors.
Since 2019, four feature films from the Charades’ line-up won the Cristal: I lost my body, by Jérémy Clapin (2019), Little Nicholas, by Benjamin Massoubre and Amandine Fredon (2022), Chicken for Linda! by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (2023), and Memoir of a Snail. Over time, sales representatives have noticed how winning a Cristal award has become a significant factor in positioning films within the market. To date, Memoir of a Snail has been acquired by around 30 territories.
Another film that left a lasting impression was Flow by Gints Zilbalodis. This dialogue-free, survival story follows a group of animals who find shelter on a boat after a great flood destroys civilisation. Produced by Sacrebleu Productions (France), Dream Well Studio (Latvia), Trickster Studio (Latvia) and Take Five (Belgium), the 2D/3D picture world-premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival before heading to Annecy. At the Haute Savoie-based gathering, Flow snagged four awards: the Jury Award, the Audience Award, the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution and the Special Prize for Best Original Music.
Comte commented:
It’s a work for all audiences, featuring a distinct authorial signature. At Cannes, the reception was incredible. The film was bought by many distributors who normally don’t release animated films. For Sideshow/Janus Films, Flow‘s US distributor, Annecy kicked off the campaign for the Oscars.
Charades holds the picture’s world rights outside France and Latvia. The firm sold it to around 40 territories.
Ghost Cat Anzu by Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita, produced by Shin-ei Animation (Japan) and Miyu Productions (France), premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight strand of the Cannes Film Festival and later played in competition at Annecy. Made in 2D and rotoscoping, it follows the adventures of a little girl who befriends a ghost cat. Charades holds the world rights outside the US and France. Like other Japanese animated films, the positioning of Ghost Cat Anzu may vary across different markets. In the US, for example, Japanese animation is usually targeted at an audience of young adults and adults, regardless of the storyline. However, in France, where Ghost Cat Anzu is slated for release on 21 August, the emphasis is on marketing it as a kids and family-oriented flick. To date, the outfit sold Ghost Cat Anzu to around 20 territories.
In addition, Charades made its debut as a co-producer in an animated feature with Night of the Zoopocalypse by Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro. Produced with Copperheart (Canada), Mipa (Canada) and Umedia (Belgium), Night of the Zoopocalypse is a CGI family movie budgeted at €15m.
Comte underscores:
We signed up as co-producer because it’s hard to find funding for this kind of film. And that is paradoxical since distributors are looking massively for mainstream CGI family films
The project, presented in the Work-in-Progress showcase at Annecy, is close to completion. It has been pre-sold in fifteen territories by Charades and Anton, which hold the world rights outside Canada.
