Sphere Films today confirmed David Cronenberg’s highly anticipated The Shrouds will have its world premiere in the Official Competition at the Festival de Cannes in May. The film starring Vincent Cassel (La Haine, Irréversible, Black Swan), Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, In the Fade), Guy Pearce (Memento, LA Confidential, The Hurt Locker) and Sandrine Holt (Daredevil: Born Again, House of Cards) will open in theatres across Canada later this year.
The Shrouds is written and directed by David Cronenberg (Crimes of the Future, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Crash) and produced by Martin Katz for Prospero Pictures (A Dangerous Method, Cosmopolis, Maps to the Stars), Saïd Ben Saïd (Elle, Maps to the Stars, Last Summer) and Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent (Strange Way of Life, Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: “Phony Wars”). This is the seventh time that a David Cronenberg film has been selected to compete in Cannes. His films have previously won a Special Jury Award (Crash) and Best Actress Award (Maps to the Stars). The Shrouds also reunites Cronenberg with Cassel, who previously collaborated on Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method.
“Being selected for the Cannes Film Festival is an immense honour, but to return for the seventh time is incredibly humbling. I look forward to sharing this film with the world on such a prestigious stage,” said David Cronenberg.
Shot on location in Toronto in 2023, The Shrouds tells the story of Karsh, 50, a prominent businessman. Inconsolable since the death of his wife, he invents GraveTech, revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living to monitor their dear departed in their shrouds. One night, multiple graves, including that of Karsh’s wife, are desecrated. Karsh sets out to track down the perpetrators.
“The Shrouds is an audacious and human film, so apt for our times,” said Martin Katz of Prospero Pictures. “It also marks our fifth collaboration with David Cronenberg and our second collaboration with Saïd Ben Saïd, both lasting relationships and deep friendships of which we are very proud.”
The Shrouds is produced by Martin Katz for Prospero Pictures, Saïd Ben Saïd, and Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent in association with Telefilm Canada, Ontario Creates, Eurimages, and Canal +.
ABOUT SPHERE FILMS
One of Canada’s foremost distributors, Sphere Films serves both the local and international markets with premium content across all genres. Sphere Films delivers the best of Canadian and international cinema, including the Academy Award-winner for Best Picture, Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite. Other recent releases include the critically acclaimed films Crimes of the Future and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Academy Award-nominated The Worst Person in the World, the Quebecois produced Arsenault et fils and Maria Chapdelaine. The Sphere Films brand belongs to Sphere, a Canadian film and television industry leader with offices in Montréal and Toronto.
ABOUT PROSPERO PICTURES
Prospero Pictures is the film and television production company founded by Martin Katz, whose credits include Hotel Rwanda, which was nominated for three Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. For over two decades, Prospero has produced films with celebrated director David Cronenberg, including A Dangerous Method, which had its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, Spider and Cosmopolis which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and Maps to the Stars, for which Julianne Moore received the Best Actress Palme d’Or at Cannes. Prospero’s television projects include Ice Road Truckers, one of History Channel’s highest-rated documentary series and Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…, an award-winning music and performance series hosted by Elvis Costello with appearances by Bono, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, Rufus Wainwright, Renée Fleming and Diana Krall, co-produced with Rocket Pictures’ David Furnish and Sir Elton John.
ABOUT SBS PRODUCTIONS
SBS Productions was founded by the French-Tunisian film producer, Saïd Ben Saïd, in 2010.
SBS is driven by a commitment to produce authors internationally renowned and finds its unity through the advocacy of a cinema that is both demanding and accessible. Its most recent productions received awards throughout the world, among which Paul Verhoeven’s Elle which won the Best Foreign Picture at the 2017 Golden Globes, Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms which was awarded with the 2019 Golden Bear at the Berlinale and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Bacurau which received the 2019 Jury Prize in Cannes, Ira Sachs’ Passages which was selected at Sundance festival in 2023 and Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer, which premiered in the Competition at Cannes 2023.
ABOUT SAINT LAURENT PRODUCTIONS
Saint Laurent Productions is a registered subsidiary of the house, marks the first fashion house to count the full-fledged production of films among its activities. The division, envisioned by Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent, is in line with Vaccarello’s assured steering of the brand into the future, while echoing the cinematic breadth and nuances of his collections.
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