The second edition of the French Comedy Club unfolds at the Lumière Cinéma in Beverly Hills this weekend.
The event, which is open to cinema industry professionals and the public, aims to generate business and raise awareness about French comedy.
Olivier Albou and Laurence Schonberg at Paris-based sales and production company Other Angle Pictures have spearheaded the initiative, with the support of French export body Unifrance and artists residencies body Villa Albertine.
Over the past decade, their company has brought a raft of French comedies to the international market including Netflix hits Spoiled Brats and The Last Mercenary.
This year’s line-up includes the Other Angle title Sweet Little Things as well as Alibi.com 2, which is sold by Newen Connect, and How To Survive Without Mum and Stay With Us, which are both handled internationally by Studiocanal.
The showcase opens Saturday with Ludovic Bernard’s How To Survive Without Mum, starring Franc Dubosc as a stay-at-home dad whose dream skiing holiday falls apart after his lawyer wife is called back to work, leaving him to care for their four children alone.
The film opened in second place at the box office in France on April 12, after Dungeon & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The comedy is a sequel to 2020 hit 10 Days Without Mum, which grossed close to $10 million in France.
Mélanie Auffret’s Sweet Little Things (Les Petites Victoires) stars Michel Blanc as a pensioner who enrols at a small village school to learn to read and write where he goes on to challenge the teacher (Julia Platon), who is also the local mayor.
The film won the Jury Prize and the public prize at the French comedy-focused Alpe d’Huez film festival in January and has grossed $6.4 million since its release in early March.
Philippe Lacheau’s Alibi.com 2 is currently in third place in the French box office for 2023, having beaten the performance of its 2017 predecessor to gross around $32.2 million at home so far.
Elmaleh’s Stay With Us revolves around a man whose family embark on a campaign to revive his connection with his Jewish roots after he announces his plan to convert to Catholicism.
The film was released last November, grossing $3.4 million. Film Movement acquired North American rights in January for a release in 2023.
Albou says they hope to build on last year’s edition which drew strong audiences and also resulted in a remake deal for the 2022 title Retirement Home, starring Kev Adams as a petty criminal sentenced to 300 hours worth of community service in a retirement home.
“Over 800 people turned up at the theater right after Covid and we hope to have similar audiences this year,” he said. “We think French comedy has the potential to attract an audience in theaters because we could see last year that people were enjoying the films and laughing so much that we wanted to do this again.”
