EFM 2025: The buzz titles from Italy, Nordics and rest of the world

Italy

Coccinelle Film Sales brings Serena Porta’s documentary The Olive Tree And The Baobab, narrated by Russell Crowe, which explores the cultural and ecological significance of trees in an evolving world. Its slate also includes Czech director Jan Sebechlebsky’s Second World War drama Secret Delivery, based on the true story of children rescuing a French pilot, and euthanasia comedy Dreaming Of Lions by Paolo Marinou-Blanco, which premiered at Tallinn Black Nights.

Intramovies is selling Brwa Vahabpour’s My Uncle Jens, which has its world premiere next month at SXSW. It is about a young literature teacher whose peaceful life in Oslo is disturbed by the surprise arrival of his estranged uncle from the Iranian part of Kurdistan. Intramovies is also selling Ameer Fakher Eldin’s Berlin Competition title Yunan about an exiled writer who travels to a North Sea island to die by suicide, only to meet an inspirational elderly woman who changes his perspective.

Minerva Pictures is launching sales on Agostino, the next film from Venice regular Andrea Pallaoro. Based on the novel by Alberto Moravia, it centres on a boy who idolises his widowed mother, until a local man becomes her lover. Also on the slate is Taavi Vartia’s Finnish survival thriller Ice Skater and Stefano Sardo’s erotic thriller Close To Me, starring Riccardo Scamarcio and Mariela Garriga. Minerva will market screen the latter at EFM in association with TVCO.

The Open Reel has two Generation titles on its slate: Brazilian director Rafaela Camelo’s The Nature Of Invisible Things and Croatian director Cejen Cernic Canak’s Sandbag Dam. It is also selling two Italian titles: Matthias Lintner’s My Boyfriend El Fascista, about the evolving relationship between a left-wing filmmaker and an idealistic Cuban activist, and queer coming-of-age film A True Story by Mariano Lamberti.

PiperFilm is selling Margherita Ferri’s The Boy With Pink Trousers, the highest-grossing Italian film of 2024. The company is also handling romantic comedy Leopardi & Co by Federica Biondi, starring Jeremy Irvine, Denise Tantucci and Whoopi Goldberg; and thriller Dedalus by Gianluca Manzetti, with Luka Zunic and Matilde Gioli.

Rai Cinema International Distribution is market screening romantic comedy Madly, the latest from Paolo Genovese whose 2016 film Perfect Strangers has been remade more than 20 times worldwide. Madly explores the hidden thoughts and inner battles of its two main characters. Rai is also selling Siblings, the directing debut of actress Greta Scarano that stars Matilda De Angelis and Yuri Turci, about a woman who returns to her hometown to take care of her autistic brother.

True Colours is selling Berlin Competition title Reflection In A Dead Diamond from cult genre film directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. The fourth feature from the Brussels-based duo is an homage to 1960s Euro spy stories. Also on the slate is Liliana, a documentary by Ruggero Gabbai about the life of Italian Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre.

TVCO is screening Australian LGBTQ+ comedy Strange Creatures, directed by Henry Boffin, about two brothers who must set aside their differences to fulfil their mother’s dying wish. It is also selling Alisha Merkle and Fabrizio Dublino’s US-Italy co-production Dawn Of Cyberwarfare, a documentary about the future of war.

Vision Distribution has a market premiere for Silvio Soldini’s The Tasters — based on the novel by Rosella Postorino — which reconstructs the untold true story of the women conscripted to be Adolf Hitler’s food tasters, ahead of its release in Italy next month. Also on the slate is Gennaro Nunziante’s comedy I Am The End Of The World, which saw 1.2 million admissions in Italy in January, and Ferzan Özpetek’s comedy drama Diamanti, which hit 2.1 million admissions in Italy over Christmas.

Nordics

Reliable Danish trio Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen reunite for TrustNordisk’s The Last Viking (previously Back To Reality), alongside The Killing star Sofie Grabol. The dark comedy follows a bank robber leaving prison to collect his loot. Only his brother, who has a mental illness, knows where it is — and no longer remembers. The film will have a local release in August 2025 and features in TrustNordisk’s EFM promo reel alongside Maria Sodahl’s The Last Resort, about a man who takes over a family vacation. The slate also includes monster movie Kraken, Special Gala title Late Shift starring Leonie Benesch, and Sundance queer sex drama Sauna.

LevelK will show off its sparkles in Dancing Queen In Holly­wood, the sequel to Berlinale 2023 selection Dancing Queen. Aurora Gossé returns to direct the film, as its young stars set out for Los Angeles after winning a dance competition; Thomas Robsahm produces for Amarcord. Mattias J Skoglund’s Swedish horror The Home, about a man who suspects a sinister presence in his mother’s nursing home, is selling for LevelK ahead of a launch in SXSW’s Midnight section. The company also has Göteborg Film Festival titles Live A Little from Sweden, and sex-positive comedy Sudden Outbursts Of Emotion from Finland, plus IFFR comedy-drama Idyllic.

REinvent Studios’ slate includes promos for Markus Lehmusruusu’s The Squirrel, set in a nature- and animal-free future where a man accidentally finds the last living squirrel; and Frederik Solberg’s Hana Korea, based on the true story of a North Korean defector adjusting to life in South Korea. Both were Göteborg works in progress in January. Also on REinvent’s slate are epic Finnish poetry adaptation Son Of Revenge; Jeanette Nordahl’s Beginnings, led by Trine Dyrholm and David Dencik, in Panorama; Nina Knag’s Don’t Call Me Mama; and Göteborg closing film Stranger.

The Yellow Affair has two titles in the festival: Constanze Klaue’s East Germany-set family drama Punching The World in Perspectives; and Dreamers, the directing debut of Screen Star of Tomorrow 2020 producer Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor in Panorama.

Sweden’s Eyewell is presenting two completed films: Latvia’s Soviet Milk, about a mother and daughter standing against the Soviet regime; and UK crime thriller The Under­taker starring Paul McGann.

Rest of world

From Germany, Atlas International is introducing buyers to coming-of-age drama Nawi, a Germany-Kenya co-production about a 13-year-old Kenyan girl pushed into an arranged marriage, which was Kenya’s Oscar submission. It also has a new comedy from Flanders, Dimitri Verhulst’s The Weeping Walk, which is produced through Czar Film by Eurydice Gysel and Koen Mortier, the team behind cult hit Ex Drummer.

Beta Film is selling Tom Tykwer’s The Light — the Berlinale’s opening night film — and Ina Weisse’s Panorama title Cicadas. It also has a first promo of Morgan Matthews’ road movie 500 Miles starring Bill Nighy and Roman Griffin Davis.

Epsilon Film is introducing buyers to its latest live-action canine drama, Lassie And The Wild Bear, directed by Hanno Older­dissen and due to shoot this summer. The slate also includes two animation features: The Amazing Maurice — The Waters Of Life and Nessie Junior.

Films Boutique’s slate includes Vivian Qu’s Competition film Girls On Wire, about two young women in China running from the local mafia. It also brings Georgi M Unkovski’s DJ Ahmet fresh from winning two prizes at Sundance, including the World Cinema Dramatic Competition audience award. It is the story of a teenage boy who uses music to escape from everyday life in his rural North Macedonian village. Also on the slate is Amel Guellaty’s Tunisia-set road trip Where The Wind Comes From, which also premiered at Sundance.

m-appeal has a pair of Berlin Competition titles on its slate: Dag Johan Haugerud’s Dreams (Sex Love) and Huo Meng’s Living The Land. It is also selling Night Stage by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon, which plays in Panorama.

The Match Factory has four titles in Berlin’s official selection, including a pair of Competition films: Michel Franco’s Dreams starring Jessica Chastain and Isaac Hernandez, about the romance between a young ballet dancer and a socialite; and psychological thriller Mother’s Baby by Austrian director Johanna Moder, starring Marie Leuenberger. It is also selling Panorama feature Magic Farm by Argentinian-Spanish filmmaker Amalia Ulman, starring Chloë Sevigny, which premiered at Sundance; and Generation film Paternal Leave, the feature-directing debut of German actress Alissa Jung. It is also selling Cherien Dabis’ All That’s Left Of You following its Sundance premiere.

The Playmaker Munich’s slate is led by Klaus Härö’s Never Alone, a Second World War drama about Jewish refugees that has already found audiences in Finland, and Laura Laabs’ Red Stars Upon The Field, a freewheeling drama exploring dark chapters of Germany’s history after the discovery of a skeleton. On the family front, the company is pre-selling animated features Ploey 2: The Legend Of The Winds and Pirate Mo And The Legend Of The Red Ruby.

Picture Tree International is pre-selling Canadian fantasy drama The Stolen Child by Sebastian McKinnon and Spanish supernatural crime thriller The Osha Rule, directed by Angel Gonzalez and in post-production. The slate also includes German drama Vena, about a reluctant mother-to-be trapped in a drug-fuelled relationship, and Maria Brendle’s legal drama Frieda’s Case, a Swiss film about a murder and the fight for women’s rights and political equality that follows.

Austrian documentary sales outfit Autlook has a slate of docs that premiered at Sundance last month. The list includes hybrid project Khartoum, also screening in Berlin’s Panorama Dokumente, about five Sudanese refugees coming to terms with forced departure from their home city; Amber Fares’ Coexistence, My Ass! about an irreverent Israeli comedienne who deals fearlessly with the Middle East crisis in her stand-up show; and Maia Lekow and Christopher King’s Kenya-set How To Build A Library, about two visionary women in Nairobi who set about restoring a dilapidated colonial-era ‘whites-only’ library.

Poland-based New Europe Film Sales is selling Icelandic director Hlynur Palmason’s The Love That Remains, his latest work after Oscar-shortlisted Godland. It is about a year in the life of a family as the parents navigate their separation. New Europe is co-selling (with Charades) Oscar-winning Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes’ new feature Orphan, about a young boy brought up in the aftermath of the Second World War. Also on the slate is English-language survival drama A Prayer For The Dying, directed by Dara Van Dusen and starring Callum Turner.

Fizz-e-Motion is beginning sales on serial-killer thriller Dark My Light, directed by Neal Dhand and set in a sleepy beach town, where dark secrets emerge after a severed foot washes up. The company is also selling thriller Ariella from director Michael Garsin, about a Brazilian woman who falls in love with a charming British businessman who forces her into prostitution.

The Netherlands’ Incredible Film is selling romantic comedy About Women, produced by Rachel van Bommel’s Millstreet Films (hit series Maxima). A remake of German hit Wonderfully Beautiful, it follows six women at different stages of their lives. The cast includes top Dutch talent including Hannah Hoekstra, Holly Mae Brood and Caro Lenssen.

Greece’s Heretic has Slovenian director Urska Djukic’s Little Trouble Girls, which world premieres in Berlin’s Perspectives section. It is about a 16-year-old Catholic schoolgirl’s faith and friendships being challenged by her attraction to a restoration worker during a choir retreat at a convent. It is also selling Stefan Djordjevic’s Wind, Talk To Me, a meditation on grief that world premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Hungarian company NFI World Sales is selling musical romantic comedy How Could I Live Without You?, directed by Denes Orosz and already a huge local box-office hit. Also on the slate is Peter Fazakas’s crime comedy Tonight We Kill, exploring a mysterious death at a retirement home for actors.

Israel-based docs specialist Cinephil is giving a market debut to Tamara Stepanyan’s My Armenian Phantoms, billed as “a filmmaker’s intimate journey through the untold legacy of Armenian cinema”.

The slate of Australian outfit Odin’s Eye Entertainment is headed by Blind River, a thriller starring Annalise Basso about a blind woman whose daughter goes missing on Christmas Day.

Ukraine’s FILM.UA Group is pre-selling fantasy drama Family Squad, about a gas-station worker who dies by an angel’s mistake.

• EFM 2025: The buzz titles from the UK