Our story

Philippe Godeau began his career as a distributor, distributing films such as Cyril Collard’s Savage Nights, Jacques Audiard’s See How They Fall, Brian Singer’s The Usual Suspects and Jaco Van Dormael’s Toto the Hero.

Building on these early successes as a distributor, he began producing in 1990. Since then he has produced almost 40 films. These include Le Garçu by Maurice Pialat, The 8th Day and Mr Nobody by Jaco Van Dormael.

The arrival of Nathalie Gastaldo Godeau as associate producer in 2003 was a key step in the development of the production division. She initiated the Largo Winch franchise, including the third opus Largo Winch: The Price of Money directed by Olivier Masset-Depasse (2024), as well as Guillaume Ivernel’s adaptation of The Legendaries (2025), the company’s first animated film.

PAN CINEMA maintains a special relationship with its talent, producing 5 films by Jean-Pierre Améris, including Romantic Anonymous (2010), 4 films by Alexandre Leclère and 4 films by Pierre Godeau, and recently the last 2 films by Éric Fraticelli: The Clan (2022) and Inestimable (2023).

This loyalty is always combined with the discovery of new authors, with the production of first and second films such as Beautiful Minds by Bernard Campan and Alexandre Jollien (2022) and A Child of True Love by Agnès de Sacy (2024).

PAN CINEMA’s constant aim is to select films that are both author driven and popular.

In 2022, the challenges affecting the market encouraged Philippe Godeau to return to distribution with the creation of PAN DISTRIBUTION.

He realises that forms of distribution need to be adapted to a new market that is increasingly distant from theatres. This new branch seeks to integrate the expertise acquired by carrying out distribution work very early in the process.

PAN DISTRIBUTION launched with the release of Michel Hazanavicius’s comedy Final Cut (2022), selected to open the 75th Cannes Film Festival, followed by Salam (2022), Mélanie Diam’s event documentary.

Alternating between comedy with the success of A Little Something Extra by Artus (2024), drama with Consent by Vanessa Filho (2023), and documentary with Whale Nation by Jean-Albert Lièvre (2023), PAN DISTRIBUTION’s line-up illustrates this desire for diversity, which is an essential component of the group’s DNA.

Discovering and nurturing new talent is also part of the company’s essence and one of its priorities, as with Baloji’s Omen, winner of the Un Certain Regard new voice prize at Cannes 2023.