“One never likes to turn one's back on the creative periphery of the filmmaking community,” explains Sudy Coy, executive vice president of Paris-based Pandora, “but with the marketplace continually demanding bigger and better pictures, production companies need to land big names to secure ambitious projects.”
Given Pandora's proven expertise in pre-sales and a practicable production financing policy, the redistribution of production capital is never denied to emerging talent for long. This has taken effect most recently with the embellishment of Pandora's international slate to include O Quatrilho, the Oscar-nominated drama from Brazilian director Fabio Barreto, to be delivered in May, as well as the satirical comedy Kid, an unashamedly tender story from the Czech Republic, now in post-production.
Despite the importance of pre-sales, Pandora are swift to harness contemporary market vogue and the UK/Australia collaboration Shine, premiering to an ecstatic response at Sundance, rides in on the success of the recent comedy-based antipodean renaissance (Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla, Muriel's Wedding, Babe). At A$6.5 million and starring Sir John Gielgud and Lyn Redgrave, this moving biopic of pianist David Helfgott is the most expensive film ever to be co-financed by the Australian Film Finance Corporation, though Pandora's extensive pre-selling thus far - including Latin America and most of Europe - has more than justified the expense.
Crimetime, a chilling thriller starring The Usual Suspects alumni Pete Postlethwaite and Stephen Baldwin enjoys a promo reel appearance, as does Spanish thriller Death in Granada (aka Lorca), starring Andy Garcia (The Untouchables, Internal Affairs) and Esai Morales (Bad Boys, La Bamba). Both figure in the Pandora vanguard at Cannes where Coy emphasises “the fundamental benefits of screening product as yet unseen.” Pandora's anticipation of market temperature this year includes Dating The Enemy. Featuring the vital statistics of Guy Pearce, ex-Neighbour turned diva sensation in last year's Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, it details the ultimate in gender-bending fantasy when a young couple wake one morning to find they have switched bodies.
With Jonathon Taplin's Foolish Heart due to commence principal photography this summer and Sue Clayton's The Disappearance of Finbar Flynn in post-production, the variety and depth of Pandora's AFM slate bodes well for the future.
Mark MacKenzie
