22/05/2008

Christophe van Rompaey’s Moscow, Belgium [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], shown at the Critics Week in Cannes (see the news), was a standout title for Bavaria Film International (BFI), who closed a handful of key territories early in the market.

The romantic comedy was sold to Senator (German/Austria/Switzerland), BAC Film (France), Mongrel Media (Canada), Mostra International de Cinema (Brazil) and Lietunos Kinas (Lithuania). Other deals were pending for the UK, Scandinavia and the US.

Bavaria’s other Critics’ Week entry, The Stranger in Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (read the article), has sold to Vivarto (Poland) and MIC (Brazil).

Other titles introduced at the 2008 Berlinale, such as the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: John Nordling
interview: Tomas Alfredson
film profile], continued to attract buyers, from Russia (Maywin Media, who also picked up Amos Kollek’s Restless [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Poland (Vivarto), Vietnam/Malaysia/Indonesia (Suraya Film) and Brazil (MIC). Tomas Alfredson’s winner at the Tribeca Film Festival has proved a crossover film for Bavaria, with deals still being negotiated with France, the UK and Germany.

Doris Dörrie’s Berlinale 2008 competition entry Cherry Blossoms-Hanami [+see also:
trailer
film profile] sold to Canada (Mongrel Media), Brazil (MIC), India (Alliance Lumière) and Russia (Maywin Media), Alliance Media also acquired Til Schweiger’s Rabbit Without Ears, the animated film Lissi and the Wild Emperor, Milcho Manchevski’s Shadows and Albertina Capri’s La Rabbia [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. The Finnish title Black Ice [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kai Nordberg
interview: Petri Kotwica
film profile] by Petri Kotwica was sold to Thailand (Seven Seas).

“It’s been a good market for us,” commented Thorsten Ritter, managing director of BFI. “It was great to have Moscow, Belgium as a locomotive for our slate.” Ritter also stressed the higher sales possibilities on German films, covering the widest possible creative range. “We have filmmakers like actor-turned-director Til Schweiger who is a real maverick, making commercial films with an arthouse sensitivity. Buyers want more accessible films now, and the diehard arthouse films targeting a very small market are just getting harder to sell. “