Best Friend Forever Launches Kung Fu Action Romance ‘Zenithal’ From ‘Titane’ Producer Kazak & ‘Parasite’ Distributor The Jokers Films – Cannes Market
By Melanie Goodfellow
Senior International Film Correspondent
@mel_goodfellow
May 16, 2023 5:08am
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Vanessa Guide
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
EXCLUSIVE: Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights for the zany kung-fu-themed action romantic comedy Zenithal.
Vanessa Guide stars as a woman battling to establish peace between the sexes after her longtime boyfriend falls under the thrall of a Machiavellian schemer, who has murdered and harnessed the virulent powers of a famous kung-fu master, as part of a plan to restore absolute male domination.
It is the first feature of Jean-Baptiste Saurel, who has recently been signed as one of the directors on France TV’s upcoming Zorro reboot starring Jean Dujardin, with previous credits including the Disney+ sci-fi French original Parallels.
The feature expands on his provocative 2012 Cannes Critics’ Week short The Dickslap (La Bifle). BFF has released a first-look photo hinting at one of the zany plot twists.
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First look at ‘Zenithal’
“Zenithal questions the injunctions of virility through comedy, with a visual style inherited from U.S. comedy and manga culture,” said Saurel.
“At the time of gender relations redefinition, I offer my own answer, by making fun of the level of seriousness with which these subjects are addressed today. The intimate enemy is men’s ignorance of their own bodies and of women’s bodies and the difficulty of questioning themselves.”
Vanessa Guide (30 Days Left, The Brand New Adventures of Aladdin) is joined in the cast by Franc Bruneau, Cyril Guei (Full Time, How I Became a Superhero), Xavier Lacaille (Parliament), Bruno Gouery (Emily in Paris, The White Lotus).
Key crew include cinematographer Yann Maritaud (The Big Hit, Slalom) and stunt coordinator Samuel Kefi Abrikh (Valerian, Dunkirk, Mission: Impossible – Fallout).
“Zenithal is a unique, cathartic and necessary film, which teenagers, as well as their parents, will be able to identify with through a relaxed, benevolent and fair laugh,” BFF heads and co-founders Martin Gondre and Charles Bin.
Producers Kazak Productions are best known internationally for the 2021 Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane, with other credits including Corsage and Arab Blues.
The Jokers Films will release the film in France.
