EXCLUSIVE: French director Gilles de Maistre’s upcoming movie The Desert Child has sold to a slew of territories for Studiocanal, following its sales launch at the European Film Market in February.
Currently in post-production for a 2026 release, the drama retells the true story of a youngster raised by ostriches in the Sahara.
First deals include to Baltics (ACME), Benelux (Distri7), Eastern Europe (Prorom), ex-Yugoslavia (Karantanija), Indonesia (PT Prima), Israel (United King), Italy (Rai), Switzerland (Ascot Elite) and Turkey (ATV).
The Desert Child follows Maistre’s hit Autumn and the Black Jaguar, which grossed $30M at the international box office, and upcoming release Moon The Panda, which hits French cinemas in April.
It follows 14-year-old Sun who publishes a story inspired by a bedtime story told by her late grandfather about a child called Hadara, who is saved by a group of ostriches when he becomes separated from his family in a storm, and is then raised in the desert amid a host of wild animals, including his best friend, a desert fox.
When she is invited to the Sahara by a local community who has heard about her book, she meets Kharouba, a Nomad girl of her own age, and realizes there may be much more to Hadara than just a character in a bedtime story.
As with most of Maistre’s previous features, which also include The Wolf and the Lion and Mia and the White Lion, the The Desert Child involves working with children and real-life animals, in this case ostriches and young Fennec foxes.
The movie is produced by Studiocanal and de Maistre’s Mai-Juin Productions, a Mediawan company. Studiocanal is handling international sales and will also release the film theatrically in France.
