Valérie Lemercier’s Celine Dion-inspired ALINE from Roadside & Goldwyn sells

LOS ANGELES, CA: Cannes sensation ALINE — with Valérie Lemercier’s buzzworthy star turn of the titular character at ages 5, 12 and into adulthood — has been acquired for an early 2022 U.S. theatrical release by Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Two time Cesar Award-winning writer/director/star Lemercier’s musical dramedy begins in 1960s Quebec. Sylvette and Anglomard welcome their 14th child, Aline. In this modest family, music is king. When a producer discovers Aline and her golden voice, he has only one idea in mind: to make her the greatest singer in the world. Supported by her family, guided by Guy Claude’s experience and budding love for her, Aline will create an extraordinary destiny for herself.

A fiction freely inspired by the life of Celine Dion, ALINE  is directed by Valérie Lemercier from a script by Lemercier and Brigitte Buc. Producers are Édouard Weil, Alice Girard and Sidonie Dumas; Associate Producer Laurent Zeitoun; Coproduced by André Rouleau, Valérie d’Auteuil and Patrick Vandenbosch.

Executive produced by Belga Productions. A coproduction of Rectangle Productions, Gaumont, TF1 Films Production, De l’huile, Caramel Films, Belga Productions. With the participation of Entourage Pictures, Canal+ & Ciné+, TF1, TMC and TFX. Produced with the participation of Téléfilm Canada.

Gaumont will release the film on Nov. 11, 2021 in French theaters.  

Starring Valérie Lemercier, Sylvain Marcel, Danielle Fichaud, Roc Lafortune, Antoine Vézina, Pascale Desrochers, Jean-Noël Brouté. Aline’s singing voice is Victoria Sio.

“Valérie’s tour de force performance as an emerging worldwide singing superstar created an enormous splash at Cannes this year, and we think American audiences will be every bit as thrilled to discover this one-of-a-kind entertainer in movie theaters early in 2022,” said Roadside and Goldwyn in a joint statement.

“We are very proud to team up with two emblematic independent US distributors such as Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films. Both companies have impressive track records and many awards to their credits. ALINE is in good hands and we are eager to see Valerie Lemercier’s love letter to Celine Dion to be released in the US,” said Alexis Cassanet, EVP International Sales & Distribution of Gaumont.

The deal was negotiated by Roadside’s Howard Cohen, Goldwyn’s Peter Goldwyn and Gaumont’s Alexis Cassanet.

More on Writer-Director and Actor VALÉRIE LEMERCIER

Valérie Lemercier began her career in 1989 in the comical TV series Palace created by Jean-Michel Ribes. Two years later, she made her first appearance in the film May Fools directed by Louis Malle. In 1993, she starred in The Visitors alongside Christian Clavier and Jean Reno. With this role, she won the Cesar for best actress in a supporting role. In 2006, she won her second Cesar for Best Actress in a Supporting role for Avenue Montaigne by Danièle Thompson.

Valérie Lemercier has also directed 6 films: Quadrille (1997), From Behind (1999), Palais-Royal! (2005), The Ultimate Accessories (2003), 50 is the new 30 (2017) and Aline (2021).

She also spent many years on stage and has written and performed five one- woman shows – three of them were awarded.

ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS

Since its founding in 2003, Roadside Attractions’ films have grossed over $300 million and garnered 23 Academy Award® nominations. Recent film include the Oscar®-winning Judy,starring Renee Zellweger, and the No. 1 independent film of summer 2019,The Peanut Butter Falcon. Their faith-based I Can Only Imagine was the No. 1 independent film of 2018 with a gross of $83.5 million. The company has released such critical and commercial hits as Manchester by the Sea, Ben Is Back, Beatriz at Dinner, Whitney, Stronger, Love & Friendship, Hello, My Name Is Doris, Mr. Holmes, Love & Mercy, A Most Wanted Man, Dear White People, The Skeleton Twins, All Is Lost, Mud, Winter’s Bone, The Cove, Arbitrage, Margin Call and Super Size Me.

SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS

Samuel Goldwyn Films is a major, independently owned and operated motion- picture company that develops, produces and distributes innovative feature films. The company is distributing the 2021 Academy Award® Winning Film ANOTHER ROUND and 2021 Academy Award® Nominated Film THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN. Other upcoming films include ADVENTURES OF A MATHEMATICIAN, the gangster film SNAKEHEAD, NIGHT RAIDERS which premiered at Berlin, the WWII film BETRAYED, and LAST FILM SHOW.

History of GAUMONT

Formed in France in 1895, Gaumont is the first film company in the world, celebrating 126 years of history and innovation. With offices in Paris, Los Angeles, London, Köln, and Berlin, Gaumont remains an industry leader, producing and distributing high-quality TV programming and films. Gaumont co- produces and distributes around ten films a year in theaters. The film library encompasses over 1400 titles from prestigious directors such as Louis Malle, Jean-Luc Godard. More recently Ballerina by Eric Summer and Eric Warin, Death of Stalin by Armando Iannucci and especially Toledano and Nakache for The Intouchables, the highest-grossing French-language movie to date with over $450 million in revenue to date.

Specializing in producing local stories with global appeal, Gaumont’s current slate includes talent-driven, diverse, and distinctive titles across multiple languages for the world’s leading global streaming platforms and channels. In the U.S., as the Netflix flagship series Narcos in its 6th season or Lupin, starring Omar Sy for Netflix.

RECAP:

ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS AND SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS DUET ON CANNES-PREMIERE ALINE, A FICTION FREELY INSPIRED BY THE LIFE OF CELINE DION, STARRING, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY VALÉRIE LEMERCIER.

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