Best Friend Forever Acquires Cannes’ Cinefondation Prizewinning ‘Bootlegger’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Elsa Keslassy

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international sales rights to Caroline Monnet’s feature debut “Bootlegger” which won best screenplay at Cannes’ Cinefondation in 2017.

A well-known contemporary artist, Monnet has shed light on Indigenous identity and has debunked stereotypes through her works, which have been shown at the Whitney Biennial in New York, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Haus der Kulturen in Berlin, Aesthetica in London and the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, among many other places. Monnet has also earned critical acclaim with her short films, six of which played at Toronto. She also directed the 2016 short “Mobilize,” which world premiered at Sundance.

Currently in post-production, “Bootlegger” was written by Monnet and Daniel Watchorn. Set in contemporary Northern Quebec, the film follows Mani, an ambitious lawyer in her 20s who heads back to her remote Indigenous community to help her people free themselves from outdated paternalistic laws, leading the community to split into two opposing clans.

“Bootlegger” is headlined by Devery Jacobs (“American Gods”) and Pascale Bussières (“The Demons”), along with many professional and non-professional indigenous actors.

“We’ve been following Caroline’s career since many years and are thrilled to add one more Canadian production to our slate after ‘The Twentieth Century’ and ‘A Colony,’” said Martin Gondre, Best Friend Forever co-founder.

The film’s key crew includes cinematographer Nicolas Canniccioni. Catherine Chagnon at Microclimat Films (“The Seven Last Words”) is producing. Pierre Even (“War Witch,” “C.R.A.Z.Y.”) is acting as executive producer. MK2 Mile End will release “Bootlegger” in Canada at the end of the year. The film will be delivered by the spring.

Best Friend Forever is attending the Berlin Film Festival with four films, including Patric Chiha’s French dance documentary “If It Were Love” in Panorama, Camilo Restrepo’s “Los Conductos” in Encounters and Radu Jude’s “Uppercase Print” in Forum, along with Matthew Rankin’s “Twentieth Century,” which won best Canadian debut feature at Toronto where it bowed in Midnight Madness.

The company was launched in Cannes 2019 and is a sister company of Paris based Indie Sales.