Potential First Cannes Title Pick-up; Shortland’s ‘Lore’ Heads to Music Box

Cate Shortland’s upcoming sophomore Lore has been picked up by a distributor other than Sony Pictures Classics. It’s a rare sight unseen buy for Music Box Films, who’ll be banking on a little Croisette glitter clout – as we mentioned earlier in the day, this will likely to find a spot at the festival — but has some competition in one other WWII related pic.

Gist: At the close of the war in Germany 1945, a group of children set out to cross a devastated country to reach their Grandmother some 900 km to the north. The eldest, Lore, is left in charge of her four younger siblings when their SS Nazi parents are taken into Allied custody. The children must make a journey that exposes them to the reality and consequences of their parent’s actions.

Worth Noting: In between her breakout film Somersault and this title, Shortland directed the TV movie The Silence.

Do We Care?: My prediction is that first-time actress Saskia Rosendahl’s star will shine bright (Abbie Cornish was discovered by the director), and if Cannes is the lieu for the film’s world premiere, we can expect Music Box to build a theatrical release strategy that includes at least one major fall festival showing.