Beta Cinema closes deals on Princess Lillifee

The animated yarn about the “magical fairy princess that all girls dream to be” has now gone to Benelux (Dutch Filmworks) and Israel (Shapira.)

These deals follow on from the announcement earlier this week that Beta had sold all US rights to Music Box for North Face, Philipp Stoelzl’s film about Toni Kurz and Andi Hinterstoisser’s audacious but doomed attempt to scale the Eiger during the mid-Thirties.

US buyers are also prowling round another Beta title, Florian Gallenberger’s John Rabe, which won winner of four German film awards including Best Picture and Best Actor.

Meanwhile, Beta is in final negotiations with an Italian buyer for Anonyma: A Woman In Berlin. The film was sold in the US to Strand, who are are planning a summer release. It has now gone to over 20 territories. The German sales outfit is also in talks with British distributors for opulent costume drama, Effi Briest, based on the classic 19th century novel by Theodor Fontane and starring Julia Jentsch.

Speaking in Cannes, Beta Managing-Director Dirk Schuerhoff is cautiously optimistic about the market conditions. He said: “If you have good films, you can still sell them. With weaker films, if it’s a little bit risky to release them or put money in, distributors are still hesitating.”

He predicted that distributors will eventually regain their confidence. “[The market] will change again.”