03/06/2014 - The firm’s acquisition slate has grown in size with 18 titles from the festival

Film Europe Media Company has snapped up a Palme d’Or winner once again. The company has repeated last year’s success of acquiring rights to a film before it had been crowned with the top prize. Following Blue is the Warmest Colour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Abdellatif Kechiche
film profile], Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s opus Winter Sleep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
film profile] is set to be distributed in Slovak and Czech cinemas. “We have been following the film for the last few months, and the contract was signed a few days ago [before the ceremony]. I thank cinemagoers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for their support, which has enabled us to take risks and buy winners at Cannes before they have even received this award,” commented Film Europe CEO Ivan Hronec on the major achievement of bringing the Turkish maestro’s three-hour psychological drama on board the company´s portfolio.

The distributor of European cinema for the Czech Republic and Slovakia by no means tightened its belt while on the Croisette. Other new arrivals are the Jury Prize-awarded Goodbye to Language [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by veteran filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard and the Best Screenplay winner Leviathan by Andrei Zvyagintsev. Turist (Force majeure) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile], the latest feature by the Swedish observer of human behaviour, Ruben Östlund, which examines the cowardice of a father who leaves his family behind after fleeing from an avalanche, has also found its way onto Film Europe’s slate.

Other sections were not left untouched: the list of new acquisitions also includes the Marion Cotillard starrer Two Days, One Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile] by the Dardenne brothers, noted for their naturalistic and unsentimental style. Nor did the distributor pass up on what is rumoured to be the last film by veteran British social realist Ken Loach, Jimmy´s Hall [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Ken Loach
film profile]. Furthermore, Olivier Assayas’s contemplation on the film industry, Clouds of Sils Maria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Charles Gillibert
interview: Olivier Assayas
film profile], starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloë Grace Moretz, is also now on the outfit’s menu.

Film Europe is preparing to launch the new acquisitions across a variety of distribution channels: regular screenings in cinemas, on DVD and VoD platforms, and on its very own Film Europe Channel. In the meantime, the firm has begun preparations for its ambitious Be2Can project, a festival showcasing competition titles from Berlin, Cannes and Venice. The intention behind this unprecedented plan is to bring a taste of A-list festivals to Slovak and Czech cinemagoers. Film Europe plans to screen not only films from its own stable, but also features that already have a domestic distributor as well as films without a distributor at all. “Be2Can will also be about systematically reflecting the tastes and selections of two of the most important and influential festival directors, Thierry Frémaux and Dieter Kosslick,” Hronec said. The event will take place in the Czech Republic from 24-29 September and in Slovakia from 30 September-10 October.

Film Europe Media Company is solely dedicated to European cinema, distributing films in movie theatres, on VoD and on TV channels. Last year, the company opened its very own cinema, Cinema Film Europe, in a historic building in Bratislava, Slovakia.