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Other Angle is launching sales on Melissa Drigeard’s “Hawaii” with Berenice Bejo and Jeremy Guez’s “Kanun” at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris which is happening this week as an in-person event in the French capital.

“Hawaii”is headlined by an ensemble cast including The Artist” actor Bérénice Béjo. The movie follows nine friends who gather every year in their friend Thomas’ hotel in Hawaii. Following a nuclear attack alert, they believe that their last moments are upon them and their friendly annual meeting turns into shouting match. But after finding out the nuclear threat was a false alert, they have to spend the remaining eight days of vacation together. The movie is produced by Romain Legrand and Vivien Aslanian at Marvelous Productions. Warner Bros. will release it in France.

“Kanun” is a thriller directed by Jérémie Guez whose credits include “Brothers by Blood” and “A Bluebird in My Heart.

As many as 85 films and a record 55 market premieres will screen at the Rendez-Vous in Paris, a week-long event organized by French promotion org Unifrance.

The event will open on Monday with the world premiere of “Simone: A Journey of the Century,” a biopic of Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who became health minister of France and championed the 1975 law that legalized abortion in France. Directed by Olivier Dahan (“La Vie en rose”), the movie is headlined by Elsa Zylberstein, who completely transformed for the role. Other Angle has sold it to Samuel Goldwyn for North America, along with a string of international deals.

The lineup of market premieres includes Cédric Klapisch’s music-filled movie “Rise”; Patrice Leconte’s detective film “Maigret” with Gérard Depardieu; Fred Cayavé’s World War II-set drama “Farewell Mr. Haffmann” with Daniel Auteuil; Louis-Julien Petit’s social comedy “The Kitchen Brigade”; Jérôme Bonnell’s romantic...

As part of its 70th anniversary, the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg (Iffmh) is presenting its new Grand Iffmh Award for the first time, honoring two filmmakers at the top of their game, Andrea Arnold and Guillaume Nicloux. Iffmh will also pay tribute to producer Bettina Brokemper and director Claude Lelouch with Homages.

All four will be on hand for this year’s festival, where they will hold masterclasses and discuss their work.

“This year we’re trying to find a balance between tradition and innovation, so with our Homage we are paying tribute to the tradition of cinema with Lelouch, and radical cinema, which Lelouch has done and which Brokemper is also producing,” says Iffmh director Sascha Keilholz.

Keilholz described Brokemper “one of the most important German producers,” in part for her ability to find different solutions to make different types of films. She does not limit herself to only...