13/02/2008

The Montreal-based sales company Delphis Film, specialised in children’s films (60-70% of European origin), has closed several deals on the Finnish box office hit Christmas Story [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Dutch film Where is Winky’s Horses, which screened in the Generation KPlus section of the Berlinale.

Juha Wuolijoki’s Christmas Story, last year’s top-grossing local film in Finland, was sold to Flins & Piniculas for Spain and to R Films for Turkey. An English-language version of the film is currently being developed in New York and several buyers have shown strong interest, according to Xiaouan Zhou, Delphis’ vice president and head of sales.

Following its world premiere in the children’s competition section, Mischa Kamp’s Where is Winky’s Horse closed in several territories, including Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg and Italy, with DVD/TV sales signed with Telepool for Germany. A deal is still pending with France.

Another youth film selected in the Generation section, Danish title Fighter by Natasha Arthy, had almost sold to several territories at mid-market, including German-speaking territories, North America and India. A deal had been closed early in the market with Turkey. “It’s looking very exciting,” said Zhou about buyers’ responses to the film.

Set up in 2004, Delphis Films is a division of the FRV Media Company in Canada.