Epicentre Takes French Rights for Simón Mesa Soto’s ‘A Poet’ Ahead of Cannes Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

French distribution rights for Simón Mesa Soto’s “A Poet” have been sold to Epicentre Films ahead of the film’s world premiere at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Luxbox is handling world sales.

Epicentre’s Daniel Chabannes and Corentin Sénéchal said: “ ‘A Poet’ was an instant ‘coup de coeur’ for us! It is pure poetry in the service of cinema.”

The drama, shot in Medellin, Colombia, follows Oscar Restrepo, whose obsession with poetry has brought him no glory. Aging and erratic, he has succumbed to the cliché of the poet in the shadows. Meeting Yurlady, a teenage girl from humble roots, and helping her cultivate her talent brings some light to his days. But dragging her into the world of poets may not be the way.

“A Poet” is Mesa Soto’s second feature film after “Amparo,” which was presented in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2021 and won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for the actor Sandra Melissa Torres.

Both his short films, “Mother” (2016) and “Leidi” (2014), competed in Cannes and “Leidi” won the short film Palme d’Or.

The producers on “A Poet” are Juan Sarmiento G. and Mesa Soto at Ocúltimo in Colombia; and Manuel Ruiz Montealegre at Medio de Contención Producciones in Colombia. Sarmiento G. is also the film’s cinematographer.

The coproducers are Katharina Bergfeld, Heino Deckert (Majade Fiction, Germany); David Herdies, Michael Krotkiewski (Momento Film, Sweden); Film I Väst (Sweden); and ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/ARTE (Germany).

The cast is led by Ubeimar Rios, Rebeca Andrade and Guillermo Cardona.