Cannes: Closet Monster and P.O.V. Make Market Debuts at Fortissimo

Closet Monster, the coming-of-age drama that marks the feature debut of Canadian director Stephen Dunn, and Dennis Bartoks horror movie P.O.V., will both make market debuts in Cannes. They will be handled by Hong Kong- and Amsterdam-based Fortissimo Films.

“Closet Monster,” the coming-of-age drama that marks the feature debut of Canadian director Stephen Dunn, and Dennis Bartok’s horror movie “P.O.V.,” will both make market debuts in Cannes. They will be handled by Hong Kong- and Amsterdam-based Fortissimo Films.

“Closet” follows an imaginative teenager with dysfunctional parents who is unsure of his sexuality. He creates an unusual universe to help him confront his demons; Isabella Rossellini voices a talking hamster in the film.

The film is produced by Rhombus Media (“The Red Violin,” “Blindness”) and Best Boy Entertainment. Dunn is one of Canada’s most promising young filmmakers, winning more than a dozen prizes for his short films and causing a sensation at Sundance earlier this year with “Pop Up Porno.”

Casting is currently under way ahead of a third-quarter start of production in Ireland on Bartok’s directorial debut “P.O.V.” Having previously headed programming at the American Cinematheque and worked with Tribeca Prods., Bartok has become a successful screenwriter. And in 2006 he produced horror “Trapped Ashes.”

Brendan McCarthy and John McDonnell will produce the film through their Ireland-based horror production outfit Fantastic Films, along with Jan Doense and Herman Slagter of the Netherlands-based, genre-specific House of Netherhorror.

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The two titles join other recent acquisitions: Maurice Dekkers’ culinary documentary “Ants on a Shrimp,” and Victor Vu’s Vietnamese title “Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass,” which Fortissimo is also launching at Cannes.

In the festival, Fortissimo is handling “Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” by Chloe Zhao. The film premiered in Sundance, but a new director’s cut will bow this week in the Directors’ Fortnight section.

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