Saint Laurent launches film production arm with Pedro Almodóvar Cannes short

French fashion house Saint Laurent will make its cinematic debut at this year's Cannes Film Festival as it unveils its first film title, Strange Way of Life.

Named Saint Laurent Productions, the new banner is being spearheaded by its artistic director Anthony Vaccarello, who launched the division to expand the vision he has for YSL “through a medium that has more permanence than clothes.”

First to premiere this May at the 76th Cannes Film Festival will be Strange Way of Life by Pedro Almodóvar, a Western starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal.

It marks the first of three titles set to debut at the festival this year. The new outfit is also developing projects by notable filmmakers such as Paolo Sorrentino, David Cronenberg (The Shrouds), Abel Ferrara, Wong Kar Wai, Jim Jarmusch and Gaspar Noé.

Speaking about the upcoming project last year, writer-director Almodóvar described it as: “A queer Western in the sense that there are two men, and they love each other, and they behave in that situation in an opposite way.

He continued: “What it has that most Westerns don’t… is the kind of dialogue [the genre hasn’t] ever captured between two men.” (Via Harpers Bazaar)

While no branding will be depicted, Vaccarello will design the costumes for the three films produced by Saint Laurent Productions.

He said the new feat is a continuation of Saint Laurent’s legacy which was “always linked to cinema.”