Guelph, Ont.-based Black Fawn Distribution has launched an international sales arm, which it intends to debut at the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film, which starts today (May 13).

The new arm is kicking off its slate with Guelph-born Gabriel Carrer’s Death Cycle produced by Toronto’s Latefox Pictures, Chronovisor Images and Conestego, Ont.-based Highrise Studios.

The film stars Matthew Ninaber and Kristen Kaster. It follows a woman coming to terms with the death of her sister, only to encounter a mysterious man determined to solve several murders committed by a motorcycle-riding killer.

Black Fawn Films’ co-founder Chad Archibald (pictured right) tells Playback Daily the impetus for the new sales arm, which was in the works for about eight to 10 months, was spurred by seeing many filmmakers over the years have to leave the industry due to lack of profits.

“We really wanted to create a little bit of a new ecosystem for ourselves and for filmmakers that we work with and projects that we bring in that’s very transparent, very filmmaker focused,” says Archibald. “Our goal is really to ensure that our filmmakers can see profits from the films that they made, and that’s mainly just so that they could continue making movies.”

The other inaugural part of its slate is the debut feature of writer-director Ian Tuason, The Undertone.

The horror film, which Black Fawn coproduced with Toronto-based Slaterverse Pictures, stars Nina Kiri in the only on-camera speaking role. It follows the host of a horror podcast who, when she moves into her mother’s home to become her primary caregiver, is sent audio recordings of a young pregnant couple experiencing paranormal occurrences.

Production on the film wrapped in February.

The goal for the new sales arm at Cannes will be to “wave the flag,” as Archibald puts it, focusing mainly on horror but also open to action, science fiction and more. There’s also no set scale to the slate, he explains, as “we don’t want to take on too many films where we get to a point where some of them are being underserved.”

Archibald also mentioned plans to grow the company’s sales team, although he declined to provide more detail.

Photo by Ben Alexis