Netflix acquires Cannes Film Festival Award Winners “Happy As Lazzaro” and “Girl” for North America and Latin America

Netflix acquires Cannes Film Festival Award Winners “Happy As Lazzaro” and “Girl” for North America and Latin America

“Happy as Lazzaro” premiered in competition and was awarded Best Screenplay for Alice Rohrwacher

The Camera d’Or for best first film was awarded to Lukas Dhont for “Girl”

“Girl” premiered in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival where it was awarded Best Actor for Victor Polster

ABOUT “HAPPY AS LAZZARO”

• Alice Rohrwacher was awarded Best Screenplay for Happy as Lazzaro (it was a tie with Nader Saeivar for 3 Faces)
• Synopsis:  This is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed  by his imagination.  Life in their isolated pastoral village Inviolata is dominated by the  terrible ­Marchesa­ Alfonsina de Luna, the queen of cigarettes.  A loyal bond is sealed  when Tancredi asks Lazzaro to help him orchestrate his own kidnapping.  This strange and improbable alliance is a revelation for Lazzaro.  A friendship so precious that it will  travel in time and transport Lazzaro in search of Tancredi.  His first time in the big city, Lazzaro is like a fragment of the past lost in the modern world.
• Writer & Director:  Alice  Rohrwacher

• Cast:  Adriano Tardiolo, Luca Chikovani, Alba Rohrwacher, Agnese Graziani, Tommaso Ragno, Sergi Lopez, Natalino Balasso, Gala Othero Winter, David Bennent, Nicoletta Braschi.

• Producer: Carlo Cresto-Dina
• Co-producers: Tiziana Soudani, Alexandra Henochsberg, Grégory Gajos, Arthur Hallereau, Pierre-François Piet, Michel Merkt, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen
• Production Companies: A Tempesta production with Rai Cinema in co-production with Amka Films Prods., Ad Vitam Production, KNM, Pola Pandora, RSI Radiotelevisione Svizzera, ARTE France Cinéma, ZDF/ARTE
• International Sales: The Match Factory
• About Alice Rohrwacher

Alice Rohrwacher directed Le Meraviglie (The Wonders), winner of the Grand Jury Prize at  the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.  Born in 1981 in Fiesole, she studied in ­Turin and ­Lisbon.  She has worked in ­music and ­documentary projects.  She has also worked as an editor and composer for theatre.  Her first feature Corpo Celeste made its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight (Cannes 2011).

ABOUT “GIRL”

• The Camera d’Or, for best first film, was awarded to Girl
• Vincent Polster won the Best Actor Prize for Un Certain Regard for his performance in Girl
• Lukas Dhont's Un Certain Regard entry Girl was awarded this year's Queer Palm award.  (The Queer Palm launched in 2010 and selects its winner from all LGBTQ-themed films across the official selection of the Cannes film festival, Un Certain Regard, Directors’ Fortnight, Critics’ Week and the unofficial ACID section.)
• Synopsis:  Determined 15-year-old Lara is committed to becoming a professional ballerina. With the support of her father, she throws herself into this quest for the absolute at a new school. Lara’s adolescent frustrations and impatience are heightened as she realizes her body does not bend so easily to the strict discipline because she was born a boy.
• Director: Lukas Dhont
• Cast: Victor Polster, Arieh Worthalter, Oliver Bodart, Tijmen Govaerts, Katelijne Damen, Valentijn Dhaenens, Magali Elali, Alice de Broqueville
• Screenwriters: Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens
• Producer: Dirk Impens
• Production companies: Menuet, Frakas Productions, Topkapi Films

• International Sales: The Match Factory
• About Lukas Dhont

Lukas Dhont was born in Ghent, Belgium.  He graduated with a diploma in audiovisual arts  from the KASK School Of Arts in Ghent.  His short films, Corps Perdu and L’Infini, received numerous prizes.  L’Infini was the Belgian entry for the Academy Awards in 2015.  Throughout his  studies, he focused on fiction but also explored the possibilities of documentary.  In 2016,  Lukas Dhont participated in the Cannes Cinéfondation residency with the script for his first feature film, Girl.  This film combines themes the filmmaker has already explored, like dance, transformation and identity.  Lukas Dhont collaborates regularly with choreographer and dancer Jan Martens with whom he co-signed a performance titled  “The  Common  People.”