Charades Joins Basketball Drama "Import" Ahead of American Film Market
Charades has come on board "Import," the first feature film from Canadian director Paul Shkordoff, and will launch its international sales at the American Film Market, Variety reported. International sales means selling a finished film to cinemas and streaming services in countries outside its home market.
The drama is set in European basketball. It follows Danny Ingram, a former high-school basketball prospect whose career was derailed by injury. He travels to Eastern Europe for a second chance.
The cast is led by Jawaun Daniels, Alexis Manenti and Mouna Soualem. Daniels is an American professional basketball player who has played for clubs across Europe. The film was shot in Belgrade, Serbia, and was made in partnership with KK Partizan, a club in EuroLeague, Europe's top club competition for basketball teams. The club is featured in the film.
Shkordoff co-wrote the script with Frank Graziano. The pair developed it through TorinoFilmLab's ScriptLab, a development programme for screenwriters, in 2022. At the time of the Variety report, "Import" was in post-production, the stage where editing, sound and visual effects are completed.
Shkordoff is not new to the festival circuit. His 2020 short "Benjamin, Benny, Ben" competed at Cannes. Graziano has a Cannes link of his own: he co-wrote "Murina," which won the Caméra d'Or in 2021. That prize goes to the best first feature across all sections of the festival.
The producers are Jason Aita at Sweet George Films, Emily Harris at OPC and Rosalie Chicoine Perreault at Metafilms. The film is co-produced by Kazak Productions and Sense Productions, in association with Biscuit Filmworks and The Lift.
Sales agents like Charades use markets such as the American Film Market to show unfinished or newly completed films to buyers. Those buyers then decide which countries, and which screens, a film will reach. For "Import," that process now begins with a basketball story that moves from the court in Belgrade to the deal tables.
