Twelve years after making his French-language directorial debut with “The Past,” two-time Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi is set to return to Paris for his next film, “Parallel Tales.”
The film, whose plot remains under wraps, bring together a powerful French cast, including Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”), Virginie Efira (“Benedetta”), Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”), Pierre Niney (“The Count of Monte Cristo”) and Adam Bessa (“Ghost Trail”). Iconic French actor Catherine Deneuve will also make an appearance in the film.
Produced by long-time collaborator Alexandre Mallet-Guy alongside with Asghar Farhadi and David Levine, the prestige project will be launched by Charades and UTA Independent Film Group at the upcoming Cannes Film Market. Charades will handle international sales, while UTA Independent Film Group will rep U.S. rights. Farhadi is set to begin production on “Parallel Tales” in Paris this fall.
The Iranian director’s most recent film, “A Hero,” earned the Grand Prize at Cannes in 2021 and was nominated for a Golden Globe.
“Parallel Tales” marks Farhadi’s eagerly awaited follow up to “A Hero” which earned the Grand Prize at Cannes in 2021. The helmer, who is attached to France through his friendship and collaboration with Mallet-Guy, previously struck a chord with “The Past” which starred Tahar Rahim and Berenice Bejo. The movie competed at Cannes in 2013 and won best actress for Bejo, and received five César nominations and a Golden Globe nomination in 2014.
Besides “The Past,” Mallet-Guy’s Paris-based company Memento Production three more films by Farhadi, “The Salesman,” which won two awards at Cannes for its screenplay and lead actor in 2016, and the Oscar for best foreign language film the following year; “Everybody Knows,” Farhadi’s Spanish-language debut starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, which opened and competed at Cannes in 2018; and lastly “A Hero.” On top of producing, Memento, which is one of France’s leading distribution companies, will handle the release “Parallel Tales” in France.
The cast of “Parallel Tales” is particularly exciting as it mixes some of the biggest names in French cinema from different generations and cinematic horizons, notably Huppert and Efira, and Cassel and Niney, whose recent epic film “The Count of Monte-Cristo” was France’s second biggest box office hit in 2024 with 10 million admissions sold. Bessa, meanwhile, is a rising French talent who was nominated for a Cesar Award for his performance in “Ghost Trail this year” earlier this year.
“Parallel Tales” is expected to be theatrically released in France in the Spring of 2026. The film will be an official French-Italian-Belgian coproduction between Alexandre Mallet-Guy’s Memento Production in France, Andrea Occhipinti’s Lucky Red in Italy, and André Logie’s Panache Productions and Gaëtan David’s La Compagnie Cinématographique in Belgium. Anonymous Content in the US will also co-produce the film.
Memento Production, whose auteur-driven production credits include Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Palme d’Or “Winter Sleep” and “On Barren Weeds,” is headed for a strong Cannes Film Festival with Tarik Saleh’s “Eagles of The Republic” set to world premiere in competition. “Eagles of The Republic” will reteam Mallet-Guy’s Memento Production with Saleh following “Cairo Conspiracy” which had won best script at Cannes in 2022.
Anonymous Content’s credits include Oscar-winning films such as “The Revenant,” “Spotlight,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Mr. Robot,” along with recent and upcoming projects such as “The Nickel Boys,” “True Detective: Season 4,” Alfonso Cuarón’s “Disclaimer,” “East of Eden” starring Florence Pugh, and “Neuromancer” starring Callum Turner.
Executive producer credits include Carole Baraton, Yohann Comte, Pierre Mazars, Yousra Filali, Stefano Massenzi, Chadwick Prichard, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Maciej Musial and Lila Yacoub.
Asghar Farhadi
Corbis via Getty Images
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