MK2 Films Secures Worldwide Rights to Celine Sciamma Film Library (EXCLUSIVE)

MK2 Films has secured worldwide rights to the complete filmography of Céline Sciamma, the French filmmaker best known for her Cannes prizewinning “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.”

The Paris-based company is touting the deal as a “landmark catalogue acquisition” since it brings the body of work of a leading contemporary auteur under a single international sales banner. It also marks MK2 Films expanding the range of its activities with classic films beyond traditional sales. As such, the outfit will spearhead direct curation and programming.

Under the library pact, MK2 Films will host the world premiere of Sciamma’s newly re-edited version of her celebrated feature “Tomboy” at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival for the 40th anniversary of the Teddy Awards. Sciamma will also receive an honorary Teddy Award in recognition of her cultural and artistic impact.

Sciamma has forged a strong bond with MK2 Films over the years. The banner has sold internationally “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” after it won best screenplay and the Queer Palm at Cannes; as well as “Petite Maman,” which competed at Berlin. Both films achieved global critical acclaim and secured BAFTA nominations for best film not in the English language.

The agreement, signed with Sciamma’s producer Bénédicte Couvreur at Lilies Films, will see MK2 Films complete its collection with the director’s earlier features “Water Lilies” and “Girlhood.”

Nathanaël Karmitz, MK2 CEO, says, “It is a great honor to be entrusted with the worldwide rights to Céline’s complete body of work to date.”

“Our ambition is to ensure that all of her essential films reach the widest possible audience across the globe, across theatrical, festival, and curated revival circuits,” he said, before adding that “beyond classic distribution, (the company is) actively creating new pathways to expand theatrical exposure and maximise the cultural impact of our collections.”

“Céline’s films form a uniquely coherent body of work that has reshaped representations of youth, female desire and identity on screen, becoming a touchstone of modern feminist and progressive cinema,” said Frédérique Rouault, MK2 Films’ head of collections.

MK2 Films’ sales team will introduce the Céline Sciamma collection to buyers at the European Film Market, running alongside the festival.

MK2 Films will also turn up in at the Berlinale with two more films in the official selection: Kornél Mundruczó’s “At the Sea,” starring Amy Adams and set for the competition; and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “The Double Life of Veronique” which will be presented in the Berlinale Retrospective for the 30-year anniversary of the filmmaker’s passing.