Zurich-based Ascot Elite Entertainment has unveiled a raft of new acquisitions, including the first ever Swiss science-fiction thriller Cargo by feature debutants Ralph Etter and Ivan Engler.


The acquisition of rights to all German speaking territories are for:
the action thriller The Tournament, starring Robert Carlyle, Ving Rhames, Kelly Hu and Ian Somerhalder, from AV Pictures;

UK director Julian Gilbey's thriller Rise Of the Footsoldier, the true story of Carlton Leach, one of the most notorious hooligans and criminals in British history, from Carnaby International;

Billy Corbin's unique action documentary Cocaine Cowboys, on the Miami drugs scene of the 1970s and 80s, from HDNet;

the Thai psychological thriller 13 by Chookiat Sakveerakul from Sahamongkolfilm International;

Tom Vaughan's endearing comedy Starter For Ten, starring James McAvoy, from HBO Enterprises;
and

Green Street Hooligans 2, the sequel to the 2005 box-office hit by Lexi Alexander, from sales/production company Odd Lot, which will go into production in April and see the feud between rival gangs from West Ham and Millwall continued as a gritty prison thriller.

In addition, Ascot Elite has picked up Ralph Etter and Ivan Engler's science fiction thriller Cargo which is currently in production in Switzerland with a cast including Yangzom Brauen (from Aeon Flux), Michael Finger, Regula Grauwiller, Martin Rapold, Claude-Oliver Rudolph and German newcomer Anna Schwabroh.

The story of Cargo is set in a world where the most of humanity lives in outer space in overcrowded space stations. The film's action is centred on the derelict spacecraft Kassandra which has been built over three floors and an area of over 3,000 square metres in an industrial building in Oberwinterthur, near Zurich.

With a budget of $7.87m (Euros 5m) - much higher than for the average Swiss production- the unique and ambitious production by Marcel Wolfisberg's Ebikon-based Atlantis Pictures Ltd. is being shot in standard High German, as opposed to Swiss German, and will be released theatrically by Ascot Elite in Switzerland in early 2009.

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