Charades Picks Up Basketball Drama 'Import' From Cannes Alum Paul Shkordoff Ahead of AFM

Charades, the sales company behind "Club Kid," has come aboard "Import," the first feature film from Canadian director Paul Shkordoff. Shkordoff's 2020 short "Benjamin, Benny, Ben" competed at Cannes. The company will begin international sales at the American Film Market next month.

The drama unfolds in the intensely competitive world of European basketball. Shkordoff wrote the script with Frank Graziano, who co-wrote "Murina." The film is currently in post-production and was shot in Belgrade, Serbia.

American pro basketball player Jawaun Daniels, who has played for clubs across Europe, leads the cast. He appears alongside Alexis Manenti of "Les Misérables" and Mouna Soualem of "The Little Sister."

The story centers on Danny Ingram, a former high-school basketball prospect whose hopes of a professional career were derailed by a serious injury. Seeking a second chance, he travels to Eastern Europe, where recruiters turn him away. Desperate to keep playing, Danny hides his injury and meets Nima, a Syrian nurse who cares for the local migrant community and offers him a much-needed job. When a chance to play for Partizan finally appears, he must decide how far he will go to chase his dream.

Charades co-founder Pierre Mazars said the film brings a fresh perspective to a sport whose global image has long been shaped by U.S. dominance. "In Serbia, basketball is more than a game, it's a religion," he said. He added that Shkordoff "captures its singular and fierce atmosphere, bringing to the screen a powerful and universal story that reaches far beyond the boundaries of sport."

Shkordoff said the film examines the relationship between professional ambition, physical limitations and personal identity. "Central to this film lies the harsh reality that in sports, the body can become aware of what the mind refuses to accept," he said. He described work as a shortcut to defining who we want to be, and said that when it is no longer available, "it can feel like the identity we've been building for ourselves no longer exists."

The production was made in partnership with KK Partizan, one of the EuroLeague's most iconic clubs, which is known for its loyal supporters and appears in the film.

"Import" follows a string of acclaimed shorts from Shkordoff. "Benjamin, Benny, Ben" was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and was programmed by Barry Jenkins in Telluride's Calling Cards section. It earned a Canadian Screen Awards nomination for best live-action short and won best Canadian short film at Toronto. His next short, "Twelve Hours," premiered at TIFF in 2021. He developed "Import" through TorinoFilmLab's ScriptLab program in 2022. Graziano's earlier credit, "Murina," directed by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, won the Caméra d'Or in 2021.

The producers are Jason Aita of Sweet George Films, Emily Harris of OPC, and Rosalie Chicoine Perreault of Quebec-based Metafilms, the company of Sylvain Corbeil, which was behind "Mommy" and "Universal Language." Co-producers are Jean-Christophe Reymond's French banner Kazak Productions, known for "Titane," and Milan Stojanović's Serbian company Sense Productions, in association with Biscuit Filmworks and The Lift. Backing comes from Telefilm Canada, Eurimages, the CNC's Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, the Île-de-France Region, SODEC and Ontario Creates.