AMF 2015 - IF livre

AMF 2015
FRENCH BOOKS PREMIERE
FILM RIGHTS
Shoot the Book! Premieres
in Los Angeles
Shoot the Book! LA organized by the French Embassy’s Mission for Culture and
Higher Education in the United States and the Institut français is the first U.S.
edition of Shoot the Book!, an event initiated by the Société Civile des Editeurs
de Langue Française (SCELF) and the Bureau International de l’édition française (BIEF) at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Shoot the Book! LA was made
possible thanks to the support of the Scelf and the CFC (Centre français du
droit de Copie).
Shoot the Book! LA has been designed as a platform displaying a selection of
titles from France’s front-line publishing houses and selected by leading American film professionals for their potential as screen adaptations for film, television
and other digital formats.
Each book is presented in its main storylines, with a synthesis of key information
and the person to contact if you would like to know more. The titles presented
by representatives from the Mediatoon Group (Dargaud and Dupuis), the
Delcourt Group (Delcourt and Soleil), Denoël, Fayard and the Madrigall Group
(Denoël, Gallimard, Gallimard Jeunesse and Futuropolis) offer a varied
selection of France’s literary production today, giving an overview of the vitality
of the French publishing world, from graphic novels to science-fiction, crime,
memoir, drama and comedy. This event will be moderated by Steven Gaydos,
Vice-President/Executive Editor, Variety.
In connecting French and American professionals in the framework of the AFM
in Los Angeles, Shoot the Book! LA seeks to nourish creative and business links
between France and the United States.
Members Of The Jury
Howard A. Rodman, President, WGAW. Committee chair
Bob Bookman, Senior motion picture and television agent, Paradigm
Franklin Leonard, film executive and founder of The Black List
Andrea McCall, Senior Vice President, DreamWorks
Moderator
Steven Gaydos, Vice President/Executive Editor, Variety
3
Selected Books
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Black Cocaine - Laurent Guillaume | Denoël
Hemispheres - Tristan Garcia | Gallimard
Husk - Louis, Frédéric L’Homme and Arnaud Boudoiron | Soleil
I, Murderer - Antonio Altarriba and Kéko | Denoël
Mommy Killers - Zidrou | Dupuis
Never Be Sad Again - Baptiste Beaulieu | Fayard
Palace of Dreams - Ismail Kadaré | Fayard
Scrubland - Eric Corbeyran and Olivier Berlio | Dargaud
The White Page - Boulet and Pénélope Bagieu | Delcourt
What Became of the White Savage - François Garde | Gallimard
Other Titles
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Published by MCUF
French Mission for Culture and Higher
Education in the United States
Consulate General of France in Los
Angeles
10390 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 410
Los Angeles, CA 90025
T: (310) 235-3280
[email protected]
frenchculture.org
4
How My Dad Became a Ballerina - Gavin’s Clemente-Ruiz | Fayard
Karma Salsa - Callède and Charlot | Dargaud
Mal de Mère - Roderic Valambois | Soleil
Max - Sarah Cohen-Scali | Gallimard Jeunesse
Re-Mind - Alcante | Dargaud
Saving Joseph - Laurent Clerc | Denoël
Scissors - Stéphane Michaka | Fayard
Spin Angels - Jean-Luc Sala and Pierre-Mony Chan | Soleil
The Fermi Paradox - Jean-Pierre Boudine | Denoël
Urban - Luc Brunschwig and Roberto Ricci | Futuropolis
Publishing houses
DELCOURT
Ranked as the first largest publisher of comics in France, Delcourt seeks to
embrace the full spectrum of creativity within the comics genre with authors
from all over the world.
Editions Delcourt is part of the Groupe Delcourt, the first independent francophone comics publishing group. Among its hits, Star Wars, The Walking Dead,
books by Guy Delisle, Sean Philipps, Joann Sfar and many more.
Books available in French and English on comixology.com.
SOLEIL
The third comics publisher in France, Soleil publishes a wide range of comics
from fantasy to science fiction and humor. Editions Soleil is part of the Groupe
Delcourt, the first independent francophone comics publishing group. Among
its hits, Barbucci and Canepa’s Skydoll, Lanfeust de Troy (a fantasy series written
by Christophe Arleston with more than 10 million books sold), and an important
licensing program such as Ninja Turtles, Dreamworks movies etc...
Books available in French and English on comixology.com
DENOEL
Since its creation in the 1930s, Denoël has been publishing diverse literary
genres and prestigious authors from the entire world: Louis Aragon, Isaac
Asimov, Blaise Cendrars, Robert Crumb, Hans Fallada, Norman Mailer, Curzio
Malaparte, Arto Paasilinna, Georges Perec, Sylvia Plath, Jean Rhys, Sempé,
Patti Smith and many more.
Across different series, Denoël publishes around 50 titles per year: literary
and commercial fiction, crime stories and thrillers, science fiction and fantasy,
essays and non-fiction, graphic novels and illustrated books.
Denoël is part of the Gallimard Group.
5
DARGAUD
Dargaud is a publishing house that has specialized in comics since its creation
more than fifty years ago. Many cult series (Valerian, Blueberry, XIII, Achille
Talon…) were born under the Dargaud label, particularly in its Pilote magazine.
In addition to its flagship series and the “Poisson Pilote” and “Long Courrier”
collections, its catalogue dedicates a substantial space to the discovery of new
talent. Each year, more than 8 million titles are sold throughout the world and
approximately twenty audiovisual adaptation projects are signed.
DUPUIS
For more than half a century, Dupuis has written an important page in the history of the 9th art. Through its famous weekly publication, Spirou, Dupuis develops comics that captivate the general public. Having discovered Lucky Luke,
Spirou, Boule and Bill, The Smurfs, Cedric, Le Petit Spirou, Le Marsupilami and
Largo Winch, Dupuis’ current productions benefit from the experience acquired
through working with the medium’s most celebrated authors. In the “Air Libre”
collection, Dupuis also explores more complex and adult subjects. Each year, 6
million Dupuis albums are sold throughout the world.
FAYARD
Fayard was founded in 1857 by Arthème Fayard and has been controlled by
Hachette since 1958. Fayard has a strong history both in French and foreign
literature and in non-fiction. Fayard has published prominent writers such as
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Ismail Kadaré, Boris Vian, Albertine Sarrazin, Pauline
Réage, Colette, Patrick Süskind among many others. Fayard also represents
worldwide the estates of Boris Vian, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Danilo Kis
for all rights, including film rights. Fayard also has several imprints, among
which Mazarine, which publishes commercial fiction and non-fiction, and JeanJacques Pauvert for literary and edgy fiction and non-fiction.
Among the most recent films adaptations of Fayard titles: L’Ecume des jours by
Michel Gondry, Respire by Mélanie Laurent, L’Astragale by Brigitte Sy,
SK1 by Frédéric Tellier, Tout, tout de suite by Richard Berry shall be released
early 2016. You surely also remember Broken April by Walter Salles (adapted
from the Ismail Kadaré novel). Fayard also has a TV series adapted from its
series Le sang de la Vigne with a sixth season in development so far.
6
GALLIMARD
Created in 1911, Gallimard has a catalogue of more than 30.000 titles and
8.900 authors including Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre,
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Muriel Barbery and the two recent French Nobel
Prize winning authors, J.M.G. Le Clézio and Patrick Modiano.
Gallimard has a long history of film adaptations with more than 270 motion pictures already produced among which Port of Shadows by Marcel Carné, Jules
& Jim and Two English Girls by François Truffaut, The Fire Within by Louis Malle,
The Class by Laurent Cantet and The Skin I Live In by Pedro Almodovar.
GALLIMARD JEUNESSE
Created in 1972, Gallimard Jeunesse has a catalogue of more than 10.000 titles
including The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (adapted by Mark
Osborne), Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, novels by Roald Dahl, Michael Morpurgo, John Green, Timothée de Fombelle… Gallimard Jeunesse is part of the
Madrigall group along with Gallimard, Futuropolis, Denoël…
FUTUROPOLIS
Part of the Madrigall group since 1988, Futuropolis is a comics and graphic
novels publishing house created in 1974 by Étienne Robial. It has a catalogue
of about 1.000 titles and publishes about 40 titles a year. Among its famous
authors: Jacques Tardi, Baru, Pascal Rabaté, Jean C. Denis, Luc Brunschwig and
Etienne Davodeau whose successful graphic novel has been adapted to the
screen by Solveig Anspach.
7
Selected Books
“In Mali, everything is possible and nothing is certain”. Solo, a mixed-race former cop
turned P.I. who just landed in Bamako, is determined to leave his past behind and
make a fresh start. Not so easy, as Mali’s scorching heat, corruption and all kinds of
trafficking will not give him any respite…
Black Cocaïne
BLACK COCAINE
Laurent Guillaume
LAURENT GUILLAUME
BLACK COCAINE
Sueurs Fr ides
Genre
Crime
Setting
Contemporary Mali, Africa.
Main characters
Solo, a man in his forties.
Faten, a woman in her forties
Bahia, a woman in her twenties
Film and foreign rights guide
Film rights available
Translation rights sold to the USA (Le
French Book) and Turkey (Esen Kitap)
Find out more
Laurent Guillaume is a multiple-award-winning
French writer and former police officer. During
his successful career in law enforcement, he
worked anti-gang, narcotics, financial crimes,
and served in Mali as advisor to the local police.
He is now a full-time writer and TV screenwriter,
and has published seven novels to date..
9
Wanted by the French police after a family drama that had pushed him to
extremes, Souleymane «Solo» Camara has found refuge in Mali, his father’s
home country. Bamako is flooded by men like him, with an obscure past trying
to start anew in the heat and chaos of the Dark Continent. A former narcotics
officer, Solo has become a popular private investigator. In France, he was
always called a black man, now in Africa, he is considered a toubab, a white
man. An African for some, a Westerner for others, Solo likes this in-between
identity that makes him an eternal outsider.
Even if the painful memories of the past often haunt him, Solo manages to
numb them with alcohol. Until one day when Faten, a beautiful French lawyer
with Moroccan origins, hires him to release her younger sister Bahia from jail.
She has been arrested with cocaine in her suitcase. What seems like an easy job
will take an unexpected turn. His old demons awakened, this former cop gets
involved in a dangerous affair, a confrontation between tradition and corruption.
Solo easily gets the girl out by bribing a judge. But, nevertheless, Bahia is found
killed shortly afterwards. With the determination of those who have nothing to
lose, Solo embarks on a hunt for the killers that will take him to the far corners of
Mali. With the awakened demons by his side, he will uncover the close links that
now unite South American drug lords with contemporary Mali’s massive cocaine
trafficking.
A top-notch enthralling hard-boiled noir with a modern twist set in Africa,
reminiscent of movies like The Constant Gardener by Fernando Mereilles, Zulu
by Jérôme Salle, or all of Olivier Marchal’s films. A superb and complex role for
an African-American actor.
.
“A former cop who served as a police adviser in Mali,
Guillaume delivers a tale of high-level corruption that will
resonate with James Ellroy readers”, Publishers Weekly.
“West Africa is brought vividly to life in this enthralling,
fast-paced noir”, Foreword Reviews.
Editions Denoël. Judith Becqueriaux
[email protected]
+33 1 44 39 73 76
A team of Californian and Korean researchers has invented The Barrier, which completely
stops the flow of all information. As a result, the population, violently rejecting the Internet and
the post-crisis, post-war world, has regrouped in hemispheres according to their beliefs and
value systems. Their sole obligation is to independently ensure their own means of subsistence.
Hemispheres in 7
HEMISPHÈREs
Tristan Garcia
The narrator is a Principles inspector. He goes from hemisphere to hemisphere
where, completely cut off from any contact with the outside world, populations
have gathered in various communities defined by their beliefs and values.
The first hemispheres created were religious in nature, but then the population
demanded the right to form communities based on other political, metaphysical,
and moral principles. Consequently, a variety of hemispheres – of vegetarians,
animal rights defenders, those adept at self-management, ultraliberals, medieval
revivalists, defenders of properly ritualized human sacrifice, uncompromising
collective suicide devotees, satanists, Nordic pagans, ultra-libertarians, proslavery buffs, homosexuals, transgenders, those anticipating the arrival of
extraterrestrials, those who practice traditional Aikido martial arts and lifestyle,
citizens of Greek Antiquity with their slaves, and on and on – proliferated.
The narrator is one of a group of «universalists» whose main responsibility is to
verify that the flow of electric current ensuring The Barrier of the hemispheres is
functioning correctly and that all is well within, that no one is being detained by
force or ill-treated. Only a handful of universalists is left. Some, like the narrator,
were born on the outside, but the majority are renegades who have abjured
their Principles and left their respective hemispheres.
Genre
Anticipation/Action
Setting
Our world in the future
Main characters
Male, about fourty
Male, about twenty
Film and foreign rights guide
Film rights available.
Find out more
This novel has just been released in
September 2015.
10
The narrator hates inspecting hemisphere 101, whose inhabitants believe that
nothing exists on the outside, because he is taken for a ghost, a sort of demon.
A young man who is being pursued and wants to escape the hemisphere begs
for his help. Once outside, he tells the narrator of his hellish childhood. His
parents and the entire community saw him as a hotheaded rebel, to be
convinced, by force, that the world was thirty years old and that, a kilometer past
their garden wall, nothing more existed.
In Hemisphere 99, populated by defenders of human sacrifice, the Universalists
intervene to snatch children from the clutches of their murderous parents.
Tristan Garcia was born in 1981 in Toulouse and attended
the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he
specialized in philosophy. He is the author of a book of
philosophy, L’Image, published in 2007. His works
published by Éditions Gallimard include La meilleure part
des hommes (published as Hate. A romance in English
language, by FSG in the US and Faber in the UK, licensed in
8 different languages), Prix de Flore 2008, Mémoires de la
jungle (2011), Faber. Le destructeur (2013) and 7 (2015)
Mini novel of 37 pages, extract of a collection entitled “7”
Editions Gallimard. Frédérique Massart
[email protected]
+ 33 1 49 54 42 98
Sarah and Leo are cops. Sarah is the pilot of a biomechanical supersuit called Husk,
Leo is her copilot. Someone hacked the biomechanical suits, threatening them with
the prospect of losing control. Sarah and Leo are the police. But both are much more
fragile than they seem. What will their resistance to brain control be?
Husk
HUSK
Louis and Frédéric L’Homme / Arnaud Boudoiron
Husk has a deep science fiction element involving biomechanical super-suits in
a slightly dystopian future. But it is also the story of a drug-addicted cop, Sarah,
trying to cope with the rush of piloting a super-suit while still embodying the
virtues of law and order. Husks are the ultimate weapon: biomechanical suits
controlled by police, gigantic mechas, stronger, faster and much more
elaborated than a human. Each suit is driven by a pilot inside the suit linked by
neurologic connection, and a copilot outside of the suit, at a dashboard,
communicating with the pilot and orienting him or her to avoid loss of control.
When the robot functions, it is as if the brain of the pilot was in the body of the
robot, the copilot being in charge of permitting the return of the human
consciousness in its flesh and blood body. Piloting a Husk feels like being a god,
with endless physical power. When Sarah, a young talented cop, is in the Husk,
she feels better than on any of the drugs she takes.
Genre
Sci-Fi/Meca
Setting
The near future. A futuristic city, The Earth
and Mars.
Main characters
Sarah, 20 years old, cop, Husk pilot,
talented, addict
Leo, 30 years old, cop, Sarah’s copilot, her
ex-boyfriend
A mysterious brain-hacker
Film and foreign rights guide
Film and series rights available.
Find out more
Complete English version on sale on comixology.
com
Louis is also the creator of Khaal at Editions Soleil
http://www.soleilprod.com/serie/khaalchroniques-d-un-empereur-galactique-01-livrepremier.html
The first alert is when a Husk M5 (the last version of the Husk) shows it can
become autonomous: Sarah loses control of the biomechanical brain, as if
someone was using her own will. Her copilot Leo, at the dashboard, is unable to
help her. No one questions Sarah’s loyalty, although it is obvious that she is on
drugs more and more often. Sarah and Leo are both very close to each other,
maybe still in love even though they broke up a while ago. But having a strong
connection is an obligation for a Husk team: the pilot in the body of the mecha,
as well as the copilot outside at the dashboard, both rule the biomechanical
machine that functions at a sub-cellular level. It is an act of piracy, a brain-hack.
Only the government of Mars, now independent, could be behind this, as they
also produce Husks. Leo and Sarah are sent to Mars to investigate undercover.
But foreign cops are not permitted on Mars, and Leo is known on Mars: quickly
Leo and Sarah are arrested. But soon they’re kidnapped by anti-government
Martian rebels who need their help. A Husk rebellion is out of control, and
obviously on the way to major destruction. It seems that what Sarah and Leo are
facing is not a brain-hack, but a major conspiracy.
One would imagine that in a world where people have colonized Mars and drive
biotech suits, people would have loftier, more righteous goals. But that is not the
case. The characters have flaws that are complicated by the world around them.
In Husk, technology has not made life easier or better.
Editions Soleil. Juliette Mathieu
[email protected]
+33 1 53 34 94 77
11
I, Murderer takes readers on a journey into the unfathomable depths of a killer’s psyche, a man
who defines himself not so much as a serial killer, but rather as a ‘bespoke’ killer. This thriller
taps into politics and philosophy, turning like a finely-tuned clockwork and ultimately leading the
killer to his own damnation. An unsettling journey into the very heart of human perversion.
I, Murderer
MOI, ASSASSIN
Antonio Altarriba / Keko
Antonio AltArribA • KeKo
Genre
Thriller/Horror
Setting
Contemporary Spanish Basque country
and Paris
Main characters
Enrique Rodriguez Ramirez, a 53- year old
male university professor
Cristina Ramirez, a woman in her fifties
Edurne, a female student in her twenties
Film and foreign rights guide
Film rights available
Translation rights sold to Spain (Norma),
Germany (Avant Verlag), Italy (Rizzoli
Lizard), the Netherlands (Scratch Books),
Croatia (Fibra) and Brazil (BesouroBox)
Find out more
Awarded Comics critics’ Grand Prix ACBD 2015
Detailed synopsis and characters description
available in English
12
« Killing is not a crime, it is an art form»
53 year-old Enrique Rodriguez Ramirez is a university professor. He gives
conferences all over Europe which permits him to indulge in his true passion:
murder as an art form. Inspired by pictorial and artistic techniques, his murders
are planned like artworks. At the summit of his intellectual glory, he looks down
from his icy heights on the absurd little world around him, which is soon to catch
up with him and oblige him to plunge into the maze of his criminal mind. His
professional life suffers from the ambitions and ideological rivalry that weigh
down university life. His private life is falling apart. Cristina, his wife, blames him
for not giving her any children. For his part, he has an ambiguous affair with
Edurne, one of his students. His wife decides to leave him, less because of the
girl than the frosty indifference between her and her husband.
Between gory flashbacks of past murders and the preparation for the one that
will be his masterpiece, the killer – left to his own devices and more and more
cut off from the trivialities of social life – pays no attention to the diabolical plot
that is being made against him. A copycat murder inspired by Goya, a subtle
duplication of his own misdeeds, will finally bring him down. He is now the
perfect suspect for a crime he did not commit. Rejected by his few remaining
friends and abandoned by his mistress, he finds himself alone in a dark mental
place where all that remains is his conviction of the murderous nature of
humanity. Paradoxically tied up by an erroneous accusation – this man who has
so many doubtful things on his conscience witnesses his academic rival, the
deceitful Eduardo Marín, triumph because of a crime. At the end, he has lost
everything, except the certainty that he will continue to kill right to the end “to
denounce the holocaust that life has become, to keep feeling alive, and, always,
for the love of art …”
At once impressively masterful, highly addictive and increasingly fascinating as
the story unfolds, I, Murderer is quite simply great crime fiction, reminiscent of
David Fincher and his taste for the mechanics of serial murders, or Jonathan
Demme for his ability to make us feel sympathetic to the attractive yet
abominable Hannibal the Cannibal.
“A brilliant storyline, a must read as terrifying as it is
electrifying.”, 20 Minutes
“At once ferociously majestic and delicate.”, Libération
“Altarriba’s scary and fascinating storyline wavers
between a major crime fiction and a lecture upon art,
beauty, crime, life and death. This graphic novel is
devilish.”, L’Express
Editions Denoël. Judith Becqueriaux
[email protected]
+33 1 44 39 73 76
Be careful what you wish for! If you ever curse your mother...
It could cost HER a lot!
Mommy Killers
TUEURS DE MAMANS
Zidrou / Borecki / Ers
T, an explosive and rebellious young girl starts at a new school and becomes
friends with Valentine, Anggun and Beatriz. What is unusual about their group?
They were all raised without a father. But what is it that unites them so strongly?
The hundreds and thousands of reasons why they each hate their own mothers:
for being fed brussel sprouts at lunch time, for being born with a handicap, or
because she is a lesbian…
One day they stumble across the website CASTIGO.COM, which offers to give
people a taste of their own medicine. Taking one of their mother’s credit cards,
the five girls decide to play the game, and soon the site becomes a real outlet
for the girls. But no sanctions are given and so thinking it is a scam, the girls
continue to let off steam, conjuring up increasingly violent punishments.
A few weeks later, the first punishment actually happens. Initially feeling rather
pleased with themselves, the five girls soon realize that they have taken it too far
as they watch punishment after punishment take place. Whilst the police
investigate what they believe to be a psychopath who is something between the
“mad hatter” and a “masked avenger”, the girls desperately try to cancel the
order, but to no avail…
They now have only one goal: to save their mothers! But can they do it in time?
Genre
Thriller/Drama
Setting
Town / School
Main characters
T., Valentine, Marie, Anggun & Beatriz /
Female / 14 years old
Mothers/ Female / 30-45 years old
Film and foreign rights guide
Audiovisual and publishing rights available
worldwide
Find out more
Mommy Killers and its website Castigo
could be a 2.0 version of the eternal
adolescent crisis.
As the punishments become more violent, one of the mothers manages to
escape from the “bogeyman”. Forced to confess everything to their families, the
girls are held by the police before being released to do some repair work, as the
investigation has been stalled for lack of evidence.
Consumed with remorse, they decide they are going to stop the psychopath
themselves by setting a trap for him. This time, their sadistic literature teacher is
the target. What they do not realize, is that the last mother who had escaped her
punishment is still on the list. After a breathless confrontation, they manage to
overpower who they believe to be the “bogeyman”, when another “vigilante”
prepares to carry out his mission… T. realizes the ploy and warns her mother
and her friends immediately… but it’s too late: she is captured and must decide
which woman she should leave to die: her mother or her mother’s girlfriend!
Zidrou is one of the most gifted writers of his generation, capable of dipping into
every genre, from school comedy and fairytales to romantic comedy. His series
for teenagers have already been adapted several times to the big screens, and
in this series he shakes up all of the genre’s clichés by adding a healthy dose of
sadism into the mother / daughter relationship.
A fascinating character study of 5 very different, insecure
teenagers, that develops firstly into a tense thriller,
before taking a more disturbing turn.
13
Editions Dupuis. Laurent Duvault
[email protected]
+ 33 1 53 26 11 43
A middle-aged, successful man, crushed after the brutal loss of his wife, decides to
take his own life. Sarah, an eccentric old lady cab driver he encounters by chance, has
7 days to convince him to change his mind. The countdown begins.
Never Be Sad Again
ALORS VOUS NE SEREZ PLUS JAMAIS TRISTE
Baptiste Beaulieu
Genre
Dramedy
Setting
Today. In a big city. It could be anywhere in
the world.
Main characters
Male / Forties / The Narrator
Female/Sixties/Sarah
Film and foreign rights guide
Film rights available
Translation rights sold in German, Hebrew,
Spanish, Polish and Korean.
English synopsis available. French press
clips available.
Find out more
14
This is the story of a 40-year old surgeon who has lost all interest in life since his
wife died. Stuck in the throes of grief and feeling unable to practice medicine
anymore, or to do anything else for that matter, he decides to commit suicide.
Before doing so, however, he has to sort out a few things at the hospital. He
leaves home and jumps into a cab, driven by a mysterious and eccentric old lady
named Sarah. Actually her full name is Lady Sarah Madeline Titiana Elizabeth
Van Kokelicöte, and she claims to possess a strange gift: when she looks into
people’s eyes, she can predict the exact moment of their death. And as soon as
she sees the surgeon, she feels it is imminent. So she offers him a deal: since he
has nothing to lose, why not take 30 days to reconsider his decision? Sarah
being the kind of woman who could sell a car with no wheels to an armless man,
he finally agrees to grant her seven days. For one week, she takes him along
everywhere she goes, putting him through all kinds of ordeals to bring
memories back to the surface, reminding him of his medical student days,
helping him to rediscover all the beauty of life and of his trade. The surgeon
finds himself jogging in the snow in a deserted cemetery, invited to a fancy
restaurant where he isn’t allowed to order a crumb of food, shooting at
pumpkins… She tells him stories, she sings his favorite song to him, and she
always seems to guess everything about him… The seven days reach an end
and we have no idea of what is going to happen. What will prevail? Despair, or
lust for life? This is the amazing turning point of the story. Contrary to all
expectations, the surgeon has NOT changed his mind, and he bids Sarah and
the world goodbye. But just as he is about to cross the point of no return, the
phone rings. He picks it up. A young woman he and Sarah met together over the
week informs him that Sarah is dead. And that she left something for him. When
he gets to her house, he recognizes all the people they met over the week. They
were really members of her family. They give him a beautiful letter she wrote to
him – and here comes the masterful final twist: Sarah’s letter reveals how she
met his wife in the hospital and how they became very close friends, spending
all their time together. They had promised each other that whoever would die
first would take care of the other’s family. And the surgeon’s wife had given
Sarah all kinds of useful tips to convince her husband, who she knew would be
desperate, to spend some time with her.
As the old lady says at one point: “You always have a right to deny the kind of
person you’ve become, to hope for the better, to change, and maybe, finally, to
meet the one you really are. »
This heart-wrenching modern fairy tale will make you cry your eyes out and give
you a whole new, bright, and hopeful perspective on life at the same time.
Baptiste Beaulieu is a 30 years old
doctor and writer. As such, he has an
uncanny ability to put a smile on your
A novel. A beautiful, heart-breaking
face and bring a touch of magic to the ultimately feel-good love story.
world. His first book, Alors voilà, sold
over 50,000 copies in France and was
translated into 10 languages,
published in paperback, adapted into a Editions Fayard. Carole Saudejaud
graphic novel and is currently being
[email protected]
developed as a TV series.
+33 1 45 49 82 48
yet inspiring and
A Machiavellian autocrat has decreed that the dreams of the entire nation must be laid bare, a
ghastly plan to reduce individual citizens to servitude and to keep them under surveillance – even
in their sleep. Mark-Alem, the descendant of a noble family, is a lowly recruit at the dreaded Palace
of Dreams. As he rises rapidly through the hierarchy, will he succeed in becoming its Master?
Palace Of Dreams
LE PALAIS DES REVES
Ismaïl Kadaré
The setting is presumably the Ottoman Empire, perhaps Istanbul, sometime in
the 19th century. Mark-Alem Quprili, scion of a once powerful line of Albanian
nobles, has been recruited into the Palace of Dreams. Also called Tabir Sarrail,
the Palace of Dreams is the mysterious, impenetrable and dreaded organ of
State where the dreams of the Empire’s citizens are collected, sifted and
interpreted to discover the Master-Dream: the dream that holds the key to the
fate of the Empire — and its sovereign. Through a strange string of events, and
also sheer luck, Mark-Alem finds himself catapulted into the inner circle of
power at Tabir Sarrail. Meanwhile, the deadly nature of the institution is made
perfectly clear when Mark-Alem sees the coffin of an incarcerated man,
interrogated for an allegedly subversive dream, being removed from a heavilyguarded chamber. Any dream representing a potential threat to the Empire
must at all costs disappear from the dreamer’s memory, even if it means
neutralizing the dreamer.
Genre
Thriller/Political
Setting
19th century – The Ottoman Empire. A
large city (presumably Istanbul), a
maze-like palace
Main characters
Male/Twenties/ Mark-Alem Quprili
Male/Thirties/ Kurt Quprili
Male/Fifties/ The Quprili “Vizier”
Film and foreign rights guide
Film rights available
Translated and published in English, German,
Spanish, Dutch, Korean, Portuguese, Romanian,
Bengali,Turkish, Slovenian, Indonesian, Japanese,
Polish, Swedish, Danish, Greek, and Italian.
Full text and press reviews available in the
above- mentioned languages.
Find out more
Winner of the Man Booker International Prize
(2005) and of the Prince of Asturias Award of
Arts (2009). He was named 2015 Jerusalem
Prize (for the Freedom of the Individual in
Society) winner.
15
But when a particular Master-Dream is reported to the Emperor’s Palace,
disaster strikes at the very heart of Mark-Alem’s family. At a dinner party given
by the Quprilis, where rhapsodists have been invited to sing the family’s epic
poem retracing its struggles with the State, the Emperor’s guards unexpectedly
burst onto the scene to make so-called identity checks. They murder the
rhapsodists and arrest Mark-Alem’s Uncle Kurt, who is suspected of conspiring
against the Sultan. A short time later, much to everyone’s surprise, Mark-Alem is
promoted to the head of the Palace of Dreams. The Quprili family is back in the
saddle…
This fascinating, chilling and endearing work is jarringly topical. A genuine
journey to the end of a nightmare, the text gives us a glimpse of what could be
called the Fascism of dreams or a Stalinist state of the unconscious. Could there
be a more oppressive dictatorship, an empire more tyrannical, than a State
requiring its citizens to report to a Palace of Dreams upon waking, to recount
their dreams of the previous night? And to have to do this each and every day,
so that no dream would be left unturned, all in the name of unmasking
supposed enemies of state. A brilliant idea, one step beyond even Orwell! In
short, a next-gen Dictatorship.
It could easily be set in some near future in many
countries. The text offers the possibility, into a whole
other reality, of a decidedly contemporary dystopia.
Animation would also do full justice to the book’s wealth
of fantastic settings.
Editions Fayard. Carole Saudejaud
[email protected]
+33 1 45 49 82 48
Four friends have managed to set up the perfect scam. But when one of their victims
returns and is assassinated, everything falls to pieces. Now a policeman, ten years on,
one of the four launches an investigation around the other three and their families,
risking losing more than just their friendship.
Scrubland
GARRIGUE
Eric Corbeyran / Olivier Berlion
In a gas station in the middle of nowhere, a man bumps into the guy he
supposedly killed a few years back. In a state of panic, he decides to run away,
but his “victim” catches him up, and fires a bullet through his back.
10 years later: Michael, a newly retired police officer, finds documents
belonging to a stranger in Ray’s basement (his best friend that he has just
buried). It was in this very same basement that he, Ray and two other
accomplices (Rick and Frank) planned their mean but lucrative scam: pick a
fool, invite him to join them hunting, stage a hunting accident in which one of
them is accidentally killed by this “idiot”. In order to avoid being denounced, the
man would pay the group money for their silence and then quickly leave town!
Until now, these arrangements hadn’t caused any problems for Michael. Better
yet, these little scams had even allowed him to put aside enough money to build
a house and to start thinking about settling down. Intrigued, Michael doesn’t
understand what these documents are doing at Ray’s house. Tracing his
memories and the trail of a gun, he will conduct an investigation in a scrubland
as dry as it is deadly. Which of his two surviving childhood friends holds the key
to the mystery? Over the course of the investigation, Michael will become up to
date on a series of dark secrets, previously hidden in their supposed friendship.
And where is the girl he once loved so dearly, who he never dared to declare his
love to, and who disappeared without a trace? Is it related to this case? What
price will he pay to solve it? Between repentance and redemption, nothing can
put a stop to Michael’s investigation.
Genre
Thriller/Crime
Setting
A quiet village in the countryside
Main characters
Michael / Male / 50 Years
Ray/ Male / 50 years
Frank & Rick / Male / 50 Years
Film and foreign rights guide
Audiovisual and publishing rights available
worldwide
Translated into English, Italian and Dutch
Find out more
Built up by a series of flashbacks that
propel the investigation, Scrubland is a
profound and powerful thriller, digging up
the sources of friendship to reveal the
characters’ vulnerability.
16
This graphic novel explores the perfect scam gone
wrong, and the impact it has on other people’s lives and
friendships.
Editions Dargaud. Laurent Duvault
[email protected]
+33 1 53 26 11 43
Eloise wakes up on a bench, she realizes she has lost her memory. She has no other
choice than to start an investigation about herself. She can’t find anything about herself
that is peculiar, specific or unique: everything she loves makes her the average girl-nextdoor, her life barely has any meaning. Who is she? Or who would she like to be?
The White Page
LA PAGE BLANCHE
Gilles Boulet / Pénélope Bagieu
Genre
Drama/Detective
Setting
Today in a European City
Main characters
Eloise, female, in her twenties
Film and foreign rights guide
Film and TV rights available. Published in
Korean, Italian, and Japanese.
Find out more
Press reviews are available.
Read other books by the same authors in
English : Notes by Boulet at
Knockabout Books, and Josephine by
Pénélope Bagieu on comixology.com
Pénélope Bagieux is the second most
followed writer on Twitter after J.K.
Rowling in France.
Pénélope Bagieu on twitter @Penelopeb
and Boulet in English on internet:
http://english.bouletcorp.com/
60 000 copies sold in France.
.
17
Eloise is in her twenties, a young urban woman. She suddenly regains
consciousness on a bench, unable to remember who she is or what she is doing
there. She has no choice but to investigate, at the very least to know who she is
and where she lives. She quickly finds the info in her handbag, even though
none of the information she finds is familiar. She walks to what seems to be her
place, doesn’t recognize the street, the building, the elevator, or the bell. What
will she find behind the door? A husband and 2 children? A crime scene? A
surprise birthday party? She carefully opens the door and finds a cat, obviously
her cat, waiting for her in a very regular small apartment. Eloise scans the room
cautiously, looking for some information and explanation. Late at night she falls
asleep. She wakes up at 7:00 AM when the clock rings. She showers and
sneezes: the woman she is obviously loves fruit flavors for her shampoos! She
doesn’t know where to go, and luckily her boss calls her and tells her she’s late,
everyone at the bookstore is waiting for her. Eloise runs to work. Step by step,
Eloise will find out about her job, her boyfriend, her best friend, her preferences.
Her so-called best friends don’t help her, they don’t notice that she feels lost,
her boyfriend is a selfish guy. She meets with one of her colleagues who seems
attentive. Sonia is not fancy and not cute, but she is the only one who noticed
that something wrong was going on. A new friendship starts, and after a while
Sonia will explain to Eloise that before her memory loss, she used to despise
her, that she wouldn’t talk to her and wouldn’t show any interest in her. Eloise
realizes that she doesn’t want to be the person she used to be. This person
seems very superficial to her, with fake tastes and attitudes. With Sonia’s help,
Eloise will move on, inventing a new life for herself, more sincere, more
personal.
Boulet is the author of the best-selling series Notes that
sold 250 000 copies in France and was translated into
English by Knockabout. His blog Bouletcorp.com is
extremely popular in France.
Pénélope Bagieu’s series Josephine sold half a million
copies and was made into a successul long feature film.
Her twitter account has over 130 000 followers..
Editions Delcourt. Juliette Mathieu
[email protected]
+33 1 53 34 94 77
The amazing true story of a young French sailor abandoned on the coast of Australia
and given up for dead by his shipmates. He is saved from certain death by aboriginal
people and becomes one of them, forgetting all of his previous life. 17 years later, he is
kidnapped by an English ship crew, and brought back to civilization against his will.
What Became of the White Savage
Ce qu’il advint du sauvage blanc
François Garde
In the middle of the nineteenth century, Narcisse Pelletier, a sailor on the
Saint-Paul shooner is forgotten on an Australian beach. As no drinkable water
was found in the surroundings, his shipmates thought he was already dead
when they realized their mistake.
Seventeen years later, he is found by an English crew. He lives naked, is
tattooed, knows the aboriginal way of hunting and fishing and has apparently
forgotten everything of his original identity, including his French native
language. He has a wife and two children and answers to the name of Amglo.
This is the beginning of the “white savage” legend.
What happened during those seventeen years? How does one become a
savage? It is what Octave de Vallombrun, a well-meaning geographer who
takes Narcisse under his wing and sets out to bring him back to civilization, tries
to find out.
Observing Narcisse’s struggle to adjust to the ways of the white man, Octave
too begins to question his assumptions about what it means to be civilized, and
to see Narcisse and the aboriginal peoples in a new light.
Genre
Adventure/Historical
Setting
Australia and France during the 19th
century.
Main characters
Narcisse Pelletier – male - teenager /
about thirty
Octave de Vallombrun – male - about
fourty
Film and foreign rights guide
Novel translated into English (Dedalus
Limited), German (Beck), Arabic (Dar
Ninawa), Korean (Eunhaeng Namu
Publishing), Italian (Corbaccio), Croatian
(Ceres).
To be published in Farsi.
Film rights available.
18
Vallombrun’s inquiry alternates with Narcisse’s story of his life in Australia.
Therefore we discover, in the same movement, the long path taken by Narcisse
to become Amglo, the Australian aboriginal, and the opposite, no less difficult
journey, to readapt to his native country thanks to compelling and often
amusing scenes when the cultures clash.
A novel inspired by real events.
François Garde is the author of two novels published by
Editions Gallimard, Ce qu’il advint du sauvage blanc
(2012) awarded by ten literary prizes, including the
Goncourt du premier roman, licensed in 7 different
languages, Pour trois couronnes (2013) and an essay La
baleine dans tous ses états (2015).
Editions Gallimard. Frédérique Massart
[email protected]
+ 33 1 49 54 42 98
Other Titles
Undergoing the weirdest possible middle-age crisis, an unemployed Xerox copy
repairman suddenly decides to become a lead ballet dancer, wreaking havoc in his
family.
How My Dad Became a Ballerina
comment papa est devenu danseuse etoile
Gavin’s Clemente-Ruiz
Welcome to the Minchielli’s. 47-year old Lucien, unemployed, hasn’t left his
couch for over a year. His wife, Sophie, has just about had it with him, and their
two children have taken sides: each parent gets one kid.
When Lucien finally does decide to stop lolling about, however, he does so with
a vengeance. Suddenly overcome by a passion for fitness, he takes up jogging
and even ballet – much to the dismay of his daughter, Sara, whose class he has
joined! All hell breaks loose at home, as Dad transforms into an unlikely cross
between Usain Bolt and Benjamin Millepied.
Paul, the youngest, is bent on finding out what’s really going on with his dad. As
usual, he spends his Wednesdays drinking tea and eating candy with his
grandmother, Maria, a former lead dancer with the Bolshoi Theater. Years
before, after learning she was pregnant, her former husband, Luigi Minchielli,
had ditched her for a beautiful Argentinean skier. When Paul informs Maria of
her son’s fitness craze, she can’t believe her ears. What in the world could have
gotten into him?
Genre
Comedy
Setting
Nowadays. In Paris.
Main characters
Male/40’s/Lucien Minchielli
Male / 60’s / Luigi Minchielli
Male/10’s/Paul Minchielli
Film and foreign rights guide
Film rights available.
Find out more
The book will be released in France in
March 2016.
Gavin’s Clemente Ruiz was born in
1978. Comment papa est devenu
danseuse étoile is his first novel.
English Synopsis available.
20
Lucien is summoned to explain. He confesses to having spotted his long-lost
father, Luigi, on a reality TV show one insomnia-ridden night. Luigi is now an
internationally acclaimed ballet director, famous for staging performances with
non-professional dancers. Some of them are pot-bellied, and the female roles
are played by men, and vice versa. And he is in Paris holding auditions for his
latest show. Lucien would do anything to get to know him, even if it means
putting on a pair of ballet slippers!
But will Lucien and Luigi’s father-son bonding moment upset the delicate
balance of Lucien’s own family unit? And how will Grandma Maria feel about the
reunion? The old woman still wears a picture of her first husband in a locket
around her neck…
With the final rounds of auditioning coming up, Lucien steps up his training.
Sophie and Sara, who can’t take it anymore, pack up their bags and move out:
their lives will no longer be dictated by the aspiring dancer’s needs. The fatherson-grandfather trio will have to get along without them.
Weeks go by and the training gets harder and harder. Lucien is ready to try out
for the role of Odette he has worked so hard for. The performances are
scheduled. But Lucien doesn’t show up at the media preview; he has decided to
save his marriage first and to win back Sophie’s heart. A few days later, the
much anticipated show opens, to public and critical acclaim. Lucien is a
remarkable Odette and the whole family is here to see him on stage.
Editions Fayard. Carole Saudejaud
[email protected]
+33 1 45 49 82 48
Prison is only in the Mind, they said. But now Ange is out, how long will he be able to
resist letting his old demons in?
Karma Salsa
Karma Salsa
Philippe Charlot, Callède / Fred Campoy
Genre
Adventure/Detective
Setting
The Caribbean and South America,
present day
Main characters
Ange/ Male / 45 Years
Melissa / Female / 20 years
Poitr / Male / 45 Years
Film and foreign rights guide
International publishing rights available
(except Holland)
International Audiovisual Rights available.
Find out more
Karma Salsa contains all the best elements of a
good roman noir: prison life, underground
fighting, drug trafficking, hidden cash, tenacious
vengeance and continuous twists… its
Caribbean setting adds color and sweat to all
these adventures, as well as a modern touch,
which revisits the genre in a dynamic way,
peppering the dialogue with welcomed humor,
without falling to the second degree.
English script of the 3 volumes available
21
Ange is released from prison after serving a heavy sentence of 20 years. A
former war dog and brutal henchman, meditation has turned his life around. But
the people waiting for him on the outside haven’t changed one bit. They want to
get their hands on the $2 million that he managed to hide before he was
arrested. Sandro, a corrupt cop and his sidekick El Gordo, an amateur rapper,
are determined to make him spill the beans. Pablo Juarez, the son of Ange’s
former guardian, wants not only the money, but also… his skin. He accuses
Ange of having robbed him of everything: the respect of his father, the love of
the beautiful Elena. But the psychopathic mobster finally gets his revenge:
Melissa, the pretty young exotic dancer that he has hired, just happens to be the
daughter of Elena… and Ange. If her father, bewildered on discovering he has a
daughter, doesn’t bring Pablo the cash, it is Melissa who will face the
consequences. Ange has vowed to leave behind his violence, and he will not let
himself be messed around. Escaping his pursuers, he will kidnap his own
daughter before embarking upon a huge treasure hunt throughout the country.
Luckily Ange can always count on his former band of brothers: Duke, an aviation
and DIY genius, and Piotr Kirilenko, a kind-hearted Russian mercenary. A
breathless chase begins from the middle of the desert to the depths of the
jungle, punctuated by gunfire, and full of grand gestures and heated arguments,
as father and daughter attempt to get to know each other before it is too late. It
all accelerates when, in order to save Melissa, who has been captured by gold
miners, Ange gives vent to the rage that he has tried to hold in for 20 years. This
is followed by utter mayhem, when Piotr loses his life, and our heroes run
away… only to fall under the claws of a jaguar. Saved by a Shaman who will
enable him to make peace with his violent past, Ange and Melissa find
themselves in prison. They are trapped; the former Mafia member is left with no
choice. Under heavy guard, he leads the crew to the ruins of an old prison in the
heart of the jungle. In the depths of the tunnels dug out by former prisoners,
plays out the final tragic act, where greed and violence will spare no one!
Karma Salsa contains all the best elements of a good
roman noir: prison life, underground fighting, drug
trafficking, hidden cash, tenacious vengeance and
continuous twists… its Caribbean setting adds color and
sweat to all these adventures, as well as a modern touch,
which revisits the genre in a dynamic way, peppering the
dialogue with welcomed humor, without falling to the
second degree.
Editions Dargaud. Laurent Duvault
[email protected]
+33 1 53 26 11 43
A Son’s testimony on his mother’s alcoholism. Based on a true story.
Mal de Mère
mal de mere
Roderic Valambois
The noise of the bottles falling in the glass recycling bin. This image introduces
when the narrator, along with his father, sister and brother, spends hours
throwing out the many bottles that they found in the house, and when they
realize that the noise itself tells everyone in the neighborhood that there is
something wrong going on, way too many bottles to throw out. This is not a
heroic or tragic vision of alcoholism, Mal de Mère recalls the progressive
deterioration of a regular family, while the three children grow up and develop
their characters. Of course addiction will give its rhythm to the everyday life of
mother, father and children: how the narrator discovers that his mother is an
alcoholic, how the two younger brother and sister understand it, how the father
pretends that nothing happens, how the truth appears, how they hide it from
their loved ones, the neighbors, how they stand together while everyone leaves
them aside, how people finally prefer to pretend nothing happens etc., all
constantly balancing between love and toughness. The narrator tells how, over a
period of 20 years, a happy family had to give up all that it was made of, and lose
its footing to become, little by little, social outcasts, because of this illness.
He relates the evolution of each of the members of his family, not only that of
his mother.
Genre
Drama/Memoir
Setting
Today, Europe
Main characters
Roderic, older son of the family
Maman, school teacher, sometimes
distant, as lost, yet tender and gentle.
Papa, reads a lot, good at humiliating,
exercises authority over his family.
Film and foreign rights guide
Film and TV rights available
Find out more
Press review in French.
His father, who drew closer to them through necessity. Himself, who grew
harder to protect himself. His brother and his sister, who knew their mother only
in a state of dependency. His mother, who gave up. And the others, who often
pretended not to see anything, turning their backs on them, judging them, and
those who, sometimes, understood them and helped them.
.
“I have written this without sparing anyone, but without
vindictiveness. If there be judgements, there is no moral.
Each person has a dark side and a share of humanity”.
Roderic Valambois
“A shock, on a taboo subject” in Le Parisien.
Editions Soleil. Juliette Mathieu
[email protected]
+33 1 53 34 94 77
22
Max is the perfect prototype of the ‘Lebensborn’ programme, initiated by Himmler. Women
selected by the Nazis were to bring into the world pure specimens of the Aryan race,
young people whose purpose would be to regenerate Germany, then Europe, occupied by
the Reich. Fascinating and disturbing, this historical fable is remarkably well-documented.
Max
max
Sarah Cohen-Scali
Max was born in 1936 in Steinhöring, in the first foyer of the ‘Lebensborn’
project launched by Himmler’s S.S. Women selected by the Nazis would give
birth to children who were perfect specimens of the Aryan race, to create
“perfect” youth, whose vocation was to regenerate Germany then all of Europe,
occupied by the Reich. Max makes it his duty to be a perfect prototype, and
succeeds. Quickly taken from his mother, he grows up in a universe where the
Führer’s speeches are diffused like lullabies, and the list of Nazi emblems, like
nursery rhymes. At the age of four he leaves for Poland, to take part in a scheme
to kidnap children with Aryan looks who are destined to be Germanized. At six,
he attends the Kalish, a ‘school’ where the little Poles are educated. There, he
meets Lukas, a rebel who refuses Germanization. Max becomes his friend. On
several occasions, he saves him from torture and even certain death. His Nazi
convictions are shaken; even more so when he discovers that Lukas is a Jew.
The two boys are sent to a Napola, a school reserved for the Aryan elite. Max is
racked with doubt. The Allies are approaching, getting closer every day, the
defeat of the Reich is imminent. Entrenched in ruined Berlin, Lukas is killed one
day by a drunken Russian soldier. As for Max, after a time of wandering around
Germany, now torn asunder, he is taken in by the Allies and he tells them his
story, the horror of the ‘Lebensborn’ programme.
Genre
Drama/Historical
Setting
Germany and Poland, from 1936 to 1945
Main characters
Max – male – child (before 10/12 years
old)
Lukas – male – child (before 10/12 years
old)
Film and foreign rights guide
Novel translated into Spanish (Planeta
Latin America), English (Text Publishing for
EU and Commonwealth, Roaring Brook
Press for North America), Greek (Patakis),
Hungarian (Colibri), Portuguese
(Pensamento – Cultrix for Brazil),
Rumanian (RAO).
To be published in Slovenian.
Film rights available
Find out more
More than 10 awards, among which Prix
Sorcières 2013 and Prix jeunesse des
libraires du Québec 2013.
Author available for the book’s adaptation
23
Sarah Cohen-Scali was born in Fes, Morocco, 1958, has
written over 20 books, some for young adults and kids,
as well as crime novels for adults, some under the name
Sarah K.
Editions Gallimard Jeunesse.
Frédérique Massart
[email protected]
+ 33 1 49 54 42 98
Imagine a device that can record a person’s memories at the moment of their death.
The FBI decides to euthanize a comatose agent, the victim of a bombing. On hearing
of the plan, his father does all he can to further the agency’s investigation, thus
protecting his son’s life… even if it means risking his own.
Re-mind
re-mind
Didier Alcante / Alessandro Mutti
Genre
Thriller/Anticipation
Setting
City
Main characters
Johan Geb / Male / 45 years oldv
Mc Kee/ Male / 25 years old
Cameron / Female / 25y ears old
Film and foreign rights guide
Audiovisual and publishing rights available
worldwide
Translated into English, Italian and Dutch
Find out more
More than a breathtaking race against time
and a struggle between the F.B.I. and
terrorists, the first story of the “Re-Mind”
series is also a story of the redemption of
an estranged father trying to save the life
of his son triggering hundreds of life and
death situations.
Re-Mind is the perfect concept for a movie
or a TV series with strong main characters
equipped with innovative gadgets.
24
Ethan Geb, an undercover FBI agent knows the target of an imminent terrorist
attack. But during his rescue mission, he is shot and falls into a coma. Mc Kee, a
ruthless FBI agent, needs to retrieve this crucial information at any cost. Even if
it means killing Ethan in order to access his memory using « Re-Mind », a
revolutionary technology that can record your memories, but only when you’re
dying.
Ethan’s estranged father, John – a 45 years old disillusioned doctor – sneaks
into the security perimeter of the hospital to watch over his son. There, he
discovers McKee’s plan. In an attempt to save his son, he decides to steal his
body, thus becoming a prime suspect. He has now only a few hours to find the
terrorists... before the F.B.I. catches him and the bombs explode. His only
chance is a spare copy of this new mind-recorder that he stole just before
making a run for it!
John has now less than a day to find out the terrorists’ plans and to prevent the
murder of Ethan by the F.B.I.… and the destruction of New-York.
Searching through his son’s past, he finally finds the trace of a hidden computer,
protected by a password. Without it, the PC will self destruct, with the bomb’s
location inside. As this password is linked to Ethan’s past, John volunteers then
to put himself into a near death experience to try to record his own lost
fatherhood memories… He will die retrieving the name of his son’s imaginary
pet… the missing password!
Recovering from his painful experience, Ethan Geb is actively involved in the
second story arc.
Determined to avenge his father and take down the terrorists, Geb becomes a
rogue agent breaking any rule that gets in his way. Especially when the last
existing Re-Mind device is stolen by the same terrorists.
Meanwhile Mc Kee, as a surviving key witness of the first operation, takes part in
a confidential meeting to validate the next steps of the Re-Mind military
program.
When the Black Sky terrorists “steal” all the nuclear security codes from the
mind of the U.S. minister of defense, the two agents have to team up again,
helped by a ruthless and sexy hacker, to race against time and prevent a new
nuclear disaster.
Re-Mind is the perfect concept for a movie or a TV
series, with strong main characters equipped with
innovative gadgets.
Editions Dargaud. Laurent Duvault
[email protected]
+ 33 1 53 26 11 43
A funny and contemporary comedy with biblical undertones. The tender tale, rich in
fantasy, of a man like any other caught up in the contradictions of today’s world.
Saving Joseph
Saving Joseph
Laurent Clerc
Paul, a balding forty-year-old, is a man with romantic aspirations and tons of
good intentions. But he cannot deny the truth: his marriage to Julia has gone
terribly wrong. She almost never speaks to him and prefers watching her
favourite TV series every night. The immense wall of silence between them
keeps growing. On Christmas Eve, when he finds himself standing in front of the
nativity scene in a church, he is deeply moved by the solitude of Joseph, the
Virgin Mary’s husband – a man no one has really paid attention to for about two
thousand years. He can relate to Joseph’s fate, like any middle-aged man
hovering between youth and old-age and their possible choices. What exactly is
expected of him? To act like an old-time tough guy or an attentive metrosexual?
To be a father, a son, or the Holy Spirit? To resign himself to let time pass by and
the flame die down, or, on the contrary, to constantly try to reconstruct his life,
like a brave carpenter? So many questions that his wife – devoured by her giant
TV screen or the smaller one of her smartphone – no longer asks.
Genre
Comedy/Feelgood
Setting
Paris, today
Main characters
Paul, a man in his late thirties/early forties
Julia, a woman in her late thirties/early
forties
Sonia, a woman in her late thirties/early
forties
Film and foreign rights guide
World translation and film rights available
Find out more
Detailed synopsis and characters
description available in English.
25
The hero’s aging parents unwittingly give him the means to break away from
being ‘the second role in a play that was written in advance‘. With a windfall of
20,000 euros, Paul tries by more or less intelligent means to win Julia’s heart
back. But from a convent to a brothel, via a travel agency and an unforgettable
trip in a crane, the venture does not have the desired effect: it is with Sonia - the
nun he met in church who ends up being different than what she seems – that
real love is born at last… Lovable, fragile, and funny, Paul is the guy next door
– someone who tries very hard to save his couple while desperately searching
for the meaning of life. He set out to save Joseph’s honour, but ends up finding
himself instead. And love, in unexpected places.
In between Deconstructing Harry by Woody Allen and Heaven Can Wait by Ernst
Lubitsch, an extravagant and tender comedy, featuring a troubled yet very
lovable contemporary male character.
A must, for the hilarious and biblical role of the main
character, and the disarray of the contemporary male
treated with warmth and self-derision in a delightfully
elegant comedy.
“Rather unorthodox, but diabolically funny!” Paris Match
“A true feelgood book” Elle
Editions Denoël. Judith Becqueriaux
[email protected]
+33 1 44 39 73 76
Raymond is a writer. Marianne, his wife, is a waitress. Although very young, they already have
2 kids. In 1970s America, it’s hard to make ends meet. Raymond dreams of being published.
His meeting with Douglas, the literary director of a big magazine, is crucial yet infernal. The
true story of one of the most mythical duos in the history of American literature.
Scissors
ciseaux
Stéphane Michaka
This is the story of two young Americans struggling to get by: Raymond and
Marianne, his wife in spite of everything. Married at 16, two kids at 20, they pick
up any small jobs they can, and vegetate in a town in the North West. Marianne
is a school teacher by day and a waitress by night to pay the rent. Raymond is a
hospital watchman at night and a librarian. He’s desperate to get his work
published, to beat his attraction for alcohol and its demons. They share a mad
dream: Raymond’s literary genius, in which Marianne believes, and is willing to
make sacrifices for.
After 15 years of marriage and just as many of struggling to get by, a knight in
shining armor appears: the editor of one of the country’s most read magazines.
His name is Douglas. Regal and dictatorial, he’s nicknamed ‘Scissors’ in the
publishing world. As Raymond gains fame thanks to Douglas, drawing on his
conjugal life for the subjects of his short stories, the couple starts going wrong.
Because Raymond is a hurt man, ready to make any sacrifice to be published, to
exist. He spends more and more time in New York. And Douglas makes the best
of it. He pitilessly transforms the stories of his protégé, sometimes cutting them
by half, changing the ending. Raymond protests when he doesn’t recognize his
work, but always gives in. His relationship with Douglas is ambiguous, between
friendship, the quest for recognition, admiration and suppressed hatred.
Marianne doesn’t like the situation, she who sacrificed everything so that he
could write in peace. Raymond frequents many detox centers, women likewise.
When alcohol gets the better of him, he mistreats Marianne, who cannot stop
loving him even so. She admires this man, her man.
Success comes too late for Raymond: he drinks too much, his marriage is
Genre
Drama/Biopic
destroyed and he’s lost touch with his kids. Marianne and Raymond separate.
Setting
One spring evening, Raymond meets Joanne. Thanks to her, he sobers up and
USA. Several towns on the West Coast and finds the strength to stand up to Douglas. For her, he has decided to break with
NYC
him. He’s going to change publisher. When Raymond dies, Joanne – whom he
Main characters
married a few weeks earlier– becomes the literary executor of his work. She
Male / Forties / Raymond
summons Douglas and tells him she’s about to publish all Raymond’s work as
Female / Forties / Marianne
he wrote it, the public will be responsible for its future.
Male / Forties / Douglas
Michaka brilliantly explores the Faustian bargain between Raymond and
Film and foreign rights guide
Douglas. This is very compelling. Through Carver’s story, it is a journey into the
Film rights available
creative process, an insightful analysis of what it is to be an artist, an editor, a
Published in USA (Nan A. Talese /
producer, an intuitive exploration of the individual dreams of each.
Doubleday), Italy (Edizioni Clichy)
Find out more
Paperback published by Pocket.
Adaptated for the stage in 2013,
performed at the Domaine d’O
(Montpellier), directed by
Marion Coutarel.
French and foreign (US, Italian) press
reviews available.
26
Editions Fayard. Carole Saudejaud
[email protected]
+33 1 45 49 82 48
A 2000 year-old secret could shatter the power of the Vatican if it came to be revealed. And some are
ready to kill to know it…To settle an old debt of honor, a Godfather in the Mafia puts his best killer at the
disposal of the Vatican. This whiz kid of the gun is hired by a cardinal, who manages a department of
«secret agents» in discreet missions on the fringes of the Vatican’s religious administration…
Spin Angels
Cross fire
Jean-Luc Sala and Pierre-Mony Chan
A 2000 year-old secret could shatter the power of the Vatican if it came
to be revealed. And some are ready to kill to know it…
To settle an old debt of honor, a Godfather in the Mafia puts his best
killer at the disposal of the Vatican. Angelo, a whiz kid with a gun, is hired
by a powerful Cardinal, who’s overseeing the execution of the Church’s
most discreet black-ops specialists and spies.
He will be the guardian angel of a young and beautiful investigator. Their
mission will lead them to Jerusalem, in the Holy Land, and an ancient
mystery.
Jerusalem. Cardinal Marchesi’s unit is about to extract a heretical
document that could upset the foundations of the Roman Catholic
Church. But the mission turns into a bloodbath! The young investigator,
Sofia d’Agostino, and her bodyguard Angelo Costanza, a former killer of
the Mafia, are confronted with a commando squad connected to an
occult branch of the Vatican. Without knowing it, they have been enrolled
in a thousand-year-old fight for the protection of the Faith, which has
remained unsettled since the disappearance of the order of the Temple…
The document is a gospel written before the official four, and probably
written by Judas. Its public discovery could threaten the foundations of
the Catholic faith.
Genre
Adventure/Comedy
Setting
Today, The Vatican, Canada, Italy, Irak
Main characters
Sofia d’Agostino, historian, but also sexy
investigator
Angelo Costanza, killer, but also sexy
Monsignor Marchesi, Cardinal, in charge of
the Vatican’s special investigations and
Sofia d’Agostino’s boss.
Film and foreign rights guide
Film and TV rights available. Available in
German and English
Find out more
Complete English version on sale on
comixology.com
70 000 copies sold in France
27
Angelo and Sofia will soon discover that Marchesi’s team is not the only
section of the Vatican trying to find the heretical document.
Templars seem to be linked to this quest. The fight is very violent and
Angelo’s experience is very much appreciated, while Sofia investigates to
understand the historical reasons for this fight.
It finally appears that the quest for Judas’ gospel is a Trojan horse, and
that the highest authorities of the Vatican fight against each other for no
less than the Grail and immortality. Behind these gigantic stakes, there is
a smaller stake that also takes a lot of our two investigators’ time : love.
Editions Soleil. Juliette Mathieu
[email protected]
+33 1 53 34 94 77
A striking and realistic account of the collapse of our civilization and the ghastly
aftermath that awaits us, told by one of the last survivors. A concise and powerful
novel about the human race’s appetite for self-destruction.
The Fermi Paradox
le paradoxe de fermi
Jean-Pierre Boudine
Genre
Science-fiction
Setting
Somewhere in France in the 2030s
Main characters
Robert Poinsot, a man in his forties
France, a woman in her thirties
Film and foreign rights guide
World translation and film rights available
Find out more
“A gloomy tale that is fast becoming a cult book
for science and sci-fi lovers.”, Livres Hebdo
“One of these books you begin one night and
cannot put down until you have finished.», L’Alpe
28
The year is 2030, the world has just been hit by a terrible crisis and our
civilisation has brutally collapsed. 42-year-old Robert Poinsot has found shelter
in a cave in the Alps, where he tries to survive by hiding, in constant fear of
attacks by other survivors. In his den, on pieces of paper he has managed to
find, he uses his remaining strength to write down what has happened. A former
university researcher on animal biology, he recounts the collpase: the initial
financial crisis, which fast became an economic and social one, before finally
turning into a global meltdown while he sat back watching in shock and awe.
First, salaries do not get paid, people rush to withdraw their savings from the
banks and get organized in groups to secure food supply. Eventually, they flee
urban zones where violence soars out of control, and try to dodge the looters
that prey on the main roads. He tells about the chaos, the many epidemic
outbreaks and famines, the terror, the wars, the chemical and atomic bombs,
and the millions who died.
He remembers how, at first, he and his companions tried to face up to the
catastrophe. Then, given the state of bedlam, how he desperately fled through
Europe. His stay in a humanist community on the shore of the Baltic Sea, among
a group of intellectuals trying to gather what is left of human knowledge and
save the foundations of our civilization, is an inspiring interval in the midst of
disaster. He remembers how he felt full of hope, and how he even met a female
companion named France, who became pregnant. This hope was rapidly
crushed, however, when the real world caught up with him, and the barbary and
the violence and the looters and the food shortages came back. Eventually,
France and all his comrades died of hunger. He had no other choice but to flee
on his own further south, to the Alps.
Feeding on roots and small animals, he fights for his life while reflecting on
humanity’s dark fate. What if right here, right in the middle of this nightmare, laid
the answer to Fermi’s Paradox? This famous scientific enigma haunts him: in a
universe as vast as ours, the human species cannot possibly be the only one
gifted with intelligence; so where are the others? The only explanation to this
paradox he finds is that civilizations reaching a certain level of intelligence
destroy themselves before being able to communicate with other civilizations.
Perhaps Mankind will rise from its ashes in the end, and he is determined to
leave a trace of his own story behind before dying…
Somewhere between Cormack McCarthy’s The Road
(adapted by John Hillcoate), I Am a Legend by Francis
Lawrence and Malevil ...
Editions Denoël. Judith Becqueriaux
[email protected]
+33 1 44 39 73 76
Two weeks a year, humanity is allowed to indulge in multiple pleasures at Monplaisir. You can bet on
anything there, even the crimes, which go unpunished. When a crime is about to be committed, an
Urban Interceptor is sent to fight the assassin. The confrontation is broadcast on television, to
everyone’s delight, no matter what the outcome. Zachary Buzz does not share this idea of justice.
Urban
urban
Luc Brunschwig / Roberto Ricci
Genre
Science-fiction/Adventure
Setting
On Earth, second part of the 21st century
Main characters
Zachary Buzz – male – 19 years old
Springy Fool – male – about fourty
Merenia Colton – female – about thirty
Film and foreign rights guide
Graphic novels translated into German
(Splitter), Dutch (Dark Dragon) and Polish
(Taurus).
Film rights available
Find out more
Long-form synopsis in English available
29
Monplaisir, the greatest attraction park of the galaxy, which offers two weeks
annual vacation to a population worn out by grinding toil, is the brain-child of
Springy Fool, an overachieving geek. Everything here is under control, thanks
to a computer unit named A.L.I.C.E.
Springy Fool and A.L.I.C.E. the robot are the emcees of the most popular
programme, Urban Interceptors, the source of Monplaisir’s fame.
Zachary Buzz is 19. His role model is Overtime, a super hero of yesteryear. In
the old eponymous television series, Overtime’s task was to return to the past to
bring back assassins left unpunished by the justice of their times. Zachary
remains faithful to the morality of another era, a fact which will drastically affect
the fate of Monplaisir.
Zachary has left the farm where he was born to join the ranks of the Urban
Interceptors. On one of his first missions, his failure to prevent the murder of a
young boy, Dustin Colton, leaves an indelible mark upon his spirit.
The child’s mother, Merenia Colton, secretly plans a way to wreak vengeance
upon all the vacation revelers who watched the murder of her son as though it
were a show, applauding his death at the end. She poisons the food supplies
delivered to the gaming park, creating a wave of panic among the vacationers
as they flee towards the exits.
At the same time, she contacts Zachary, encouraging him to break the “rules of
the game” by conducting an actual investigation in order to find her son’s
assassin.
The lead Zachary follows takes him to Springy himself, who wished to get rid of
this illegitimate son he feared would one day claim the rights to his creation,
Monplaisir. According to the laws of inheritance, Dustin Colton is entitled to
these rights, but Springy intends to designate his own heir at his own chosen
time.
Will Merenia and Zachary succeed in avenging the death of Dustin?
Editions Futuropolis. Frédérique Massart
[email protected]
+ 33 1 49 54 42 98
MCUFEU
The French Mission for Culture and Higher Education in
the United States promotes the best of French arts,
literature, cinema, language, and higher education in the
US. Based in 10 cities across the country, the French
Cultural Services bring artists, authors, educational and
university programs to cities nationwide. It also builds
partnerships between French and American artists,
institutions and universities on both sides of the Atlantic.
For the first time this year, the Cultural Services in Los
Angeles bring «Shoot the Book» to Hollywood after 2
previous editions in Cannes and 1 in Toronto. This industry
workshop will provide professionals with an opportunity to
discover French literature and its potential for film
adaptation.
10390 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 410
Los Angeles, CA 90025
www. frenchculture.org
The Institut français, under the direction of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and International Development, organizes
cultural actions outside France. An active player in cultural
diplomacy, the Institut français represents France’s image
in a unique way, in France and throughout 96 countries. It
promotes authors, film-makers, architects, artists, ideas,
creation and industries that contribute to an innovative and
dynamic image of French creativity.
It also promotes the dialogue between cultures and
organizes events for professional communities in all its
fields of operation, thus developing the French cultural
network abroad.
8-14 rue du Capitaine Scott
75015 Paris - France
T +33 1 53 69 83 00
www.institutfrançais.com
Didier Dutour
Adelaïde Barbier
[email protected]
+33 1 53 69 39 68
SCELF
CFC
[email protected]
+1 (310) 235-3280
The Société Civile des Éditeurs de Langue Française
(SCELF) is a collecting society created in 1960.
It represents French book publishers and collects
adaptation rights from other French collecting societies
on behalf of its members. It also provides legal advice to its
members. For the past few years, SCELF has been
organizing events and partnerships in order to promote
film and TV adaptations and to develop the publisher’s
role in the exploitation of authors’ rights. Shoot the Book!
is the first international event organized by SCELF.
15 rue de Buci
75006 Paris - France
T +33 (0)1 53 34 97 10
[email protected]
www.scelf.fr
Nathalie Piaskowski
[email protected]
+33 1 53 34 97 10
30
INSTITUT FRANÇAIS
The Centre Français d’exploitation du droit de Copie (CFC)
is a collecting and distributing society for literary and
artistic rights. It deals collectively with paper copy rights
and digital rights for books and the press on behalf of
authors and editors. For more information on CFC: www.
cfcopies.comn.
20, rue des Grands-Augustins - 75006 PARIS
+ 33 1 44 07 47 70
www.institutfrançais.com
Philippe Masseron
[email protected]
+ 33 1 44 07 47 82