German distributors Neue Visionen and Salzgeber & Co. Medien each acquired a raft of new titles at this year’s European Film Market (EFM).

Once in a Lifetime (Les Héritiers)

Berlin-based Neue Visionen continued the run of French titles in its line-up by securing the rights to Eric Besnard’s comedy The Sense Of Wonder and Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar’s tragicomedy Once In A Lifetime, currently riding high in the French box office, from TF1 International.

Last year saw Neue Visionen post over 3.5 million admissions at the German box office with the Christian Clavier comedy Serial (Bad) Weddings, and it will release its next French comedy, Jean-Paul Rouve’s Les Souvenirs with Serial star Chantal Lauby, in German cinemas on March 23.

In addition, Neue Visionen picked up Japanese film-maker Naomi Kawase’s CineMart 2014 project An-Sweet Red Bean Paste from German co-producer Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion and Assad Fouladkar’s German-Lebanese comedy Halal Sex from producer Razor Film Produktion.

Moreover, the company committed to two projects at the presales stage:

  • Raoul Peck’s historical drama The Young Karl Marx, starring August Diehl and Alexander Fehling, to be co-produced by Berlin/Leipzig-based Rohfilm (Zurich) with backing from MDM and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg;

  • Stéphane Robelin’s comedy Flora63, starring Pierre Richard, to be produced by Hamburg-based Detailfilm with France’s Ici et La Productions.

Neue Visionen was also one of the partners with production outfit ma.ja.de Filmproduktion in the launching of a new German sales company Pluto Film at this year’s Berlinale.

From Greenaway to Dyke Hard

Fellow Berlin distributor Salzgeber & Co. Medien GmbH had a equally successful EFM, securing the German theatrical rights to Peter Greenaway’s Competition title Eisenstein in Guanajuato from sales agent Films Boutique.

Salzgeber also picked up three titles from the festival’s Panorama section: Alanté Kavaïte’s Sundance winner The Summer Of Sangailé (Films Distribution), the Thai film How To Win At Checkers (Every Time) (m-appeal) and Bitte Andersson’s John Waters-inspired comedy Dyke Hard (Outplay).

Other acquisitions included David Lambert’s award-winning All Yours (Outplay), Fina Torres’ women’s drama from Venezuela Liz In September (CMG), and Mexican film-maker Luiz Urquiza’s Perfect Obedience (Media Luna New Films).

Universum goes animated

Munich-based Universum Film acquired German rights to Mamoru Hosada’s latest animation film, the coming of age tale The Boy And The Beast, which will be released theatrically in Germany in 2016.

 

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