30/05/2011

Munich-based international seller Beta Cinema, headed by Dirk Schuerhoff, signed almost 24 deals on the Croisette, mainly with key territories.

Wolfgang Murnberger’s My Best Enemy [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile], a blend of historical drama and comedy of appearances starring Moritz Bleibtreu, which was presented out of competition at Berlin (see review), won over US distributor Sundance Selects.

Yasemin Samdereli’s comedy about the history of Turkish-German immigrants Almanya – Welcome to Germany [+see also:
trailer
interview: Yasemin Samderely
film profile], which also screened out of competition at Berlin (see news) before attracting over 1m German cinemagoers, was bought by Moonlight Films (Benelux), Lightbox (Greece), BMP (South Korea) and Swallow Wings (Taiwan). The latter company also picked up this year’s major German box office champion, Til Schweiger’s Kokowääh [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (rights to which are still being negotiated for Spain), and Ralf Huettner’s German Film Award winner Vincent Wants to Sea [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which also sold to Chinese distributor Champs Lis.

Sebastian Grobler’s Lessons of a Dream [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring Daniel Brühl, about the arrival of English football in Prussia, sold to Japan (Gaga) and drummed up a lot of interest from America. Meanwhile, this year’s major Spanish Goya Awards winner, Black Bread [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Augustí Villaronga, sold to Japanese distributor Alcine Terran and China’s Champs Lis.

Bjoern Richie Lob’s documentary Keep Surfing, about river surfing in Munich, was bought by VAS Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand.

Beta Cinema also clinched some successful pre-sales, in particular for Agnieszka Holland’s forthcoming film In Darkness, starring Benno Fürmann. The title about Polish Jews who survived World War II by hiding in the sewers was pre-sold to the UK (Metrodome), Australia and New Zealand (Roadshow Films), Mexico (Cine Video), Hong Kong (Edko) and China (Champs Lis). These pre-sales can be added to those previously secured with Sony Classics (United States), Alta (Spain) and Lev Cinemas (Israel).

Tim Fehlbaum’s post-apocalyptic thriller Hell, produced by Roland Emmerich, was pre-sold to Russian distributor Carmen Film and Chinese distributor Champs Lis.

(Translated from French)