Cannes is a great showcase, but also a great film market. American distributors made a great number of purchases from French cinema.

1- Kino Lorber and distribution company Le Pacte announced on May 20 in Cannes that they have finalized an agreement for the U.S. rights of Aimer boire et chanter, the festival final movie by Alain Resnais. Kino Lorber will release it late summer or early fall in the U.S., just before a theatrical run in New York City. A run in other major American cities will follow. It is adapted from The Life of Riley by the playwright Alan Ayckbourn. Resnais has given this Vaudeville film a lightness in tone, in which life is a theater, and death a cruel joke.

2- Worldview Entertainment had already acquired in November 2013 North American rights to The Search by Michel Hazanavicius in competition on May 21. A remake of the 1948 Fred Zinnemann’s movie, it traces the fate of four people during the second Chechen war. An engagé (Is this an english word?) movie starring Bérénice Bejo and Annette Bening which has not yet announced a U.S. release date. Coming to France in November.

3- Cohen Media Group has purchased U.S. rights to L’Homme qu’on aimait trop by André Téchiné which is to be released on French screens in July. Its U.S. release is scheduled for early 2015 under the title, In the Name of My Daughter. Featuring Catherine Deneuve, Guillaume Canet and Adele Haenel, this movie adapts for the big screen the story of a casino owner who disappeared in 1977, a true story which has not yet found its judicial determination, pending a cassation. The world première was at Cannes, on May 21th, out of competition.

4- Sundance Selects has picked up North American rights to The Blue Room by Mathieu Amalric which premiered on May 16 at Cannes in the 'Un Certain Regard’ section of the festival. This noir thriller is adapted from Simenon: a man and a woman meet for a rendezvous at a hotel. Suddenly under investigation, the man tries to understand what happened, and of what he is accused. Already sold in a dozen countries, it is a “dazzling” movie Thierry Fremaux, the festival director, said. No release date has been announced as of yet.

5-IFC Films is going to acquire the rights of Bird People by Pascale Ferran presented on May 20 in Cannes 'Un Certain Regard’ section. The movie will be released in France on June 4. Charles de Gaulle Airport, the RER train, Roissy Hilton Hotel are the scenery of a U.S. businessman short trip (Josh Charles). His life crosses that of a maid (Anaïs Demoustier), a student who finances her studies. Both dream of a breaking and of an another life. A movie which should have been in official competition, according to Télérama critic.

6- Entertainment One Films announced a fall release in North America of the Frédéric Tcheng's documentary Dior and I. The film, which world premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival takes the audience behind the scene of the famous fashion house.

7- Goodbye to Language rights were already purchased two years ago by Twentieth Century Fox, probably lured by a project in 3D! A challenging, thrilling, and cheerful movie for the French or Anglo-Saxon critics who have loved it at its Cannes released may 21. ‘A poem’ according to the president of the Cannes jury, Jane Campion. The 83-year-old director has been awarded by the Jury Prize ex-aequo with the 25-year-old Quebecker Xavier Dolan.

8- After months of controversy and threats, it is said The Weinstein Co. could have renegotiated and retained the U.S. rights to the Olivier Dahan feature, Grace of Monaco screened on May 14 in Cannes. Weinstein should release it early fall in America.