A24 and Amazon added some last minute sizzle, but the real story was the deals that didn’t get done.
When the lights went up after the Cannes premiere of Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, the writer-director scooped up his 14-year-old co-star Reggie Absolom in his arms and started a chant in his honor. He knew he had a winner.
A few days and nights of a bidding war later, he was proved right. A24 laid down eight figures for world rights to Firstman’s debut feature — outmaneuvering Focus Features, Searchlight, Netflix and Mubi to land this year’s Cannes success story. For a market that had been crying out for a genuine breakout, the reported $17 million worldwide deal was the shot of adrenaline everyone needed.
Club Kid, which premiered in Un Certain Regard, stars Firstman as a gay, drug-addled party promoter who has spent a decade on the dance floors and in the darkrooms with no particular plan for the future — until the son he never knew he had shows up on his doorstep. Warm, funny and genuinely touching, but with plenty of edge, the film sparked the kind of competitive feeding frenzy that used to be a regular feature of the Marché. This year, it was the exception.
The other marquee deal came courtesy of Amazon, which inked the biggest package sale of the market, picking up most international rights to Pumping Black, a new psychological thriller from Fresh director Mimi Cave, set in the cutthroat world of competitive cycling and starring Jonathan Bailey and Natalie Portman. Two eight-figure deals to close the Cannes Film Market. On paper, a strong finish. In practice, a pair of bright lights in what was otherwise a pretty dim room.
