French art-house distributor, which also picked up two other Panorama titles, plans July release.

Paris-based distributor KMBO has picked up French rights to Ira Sachs’ Teddy Award winner Keep the Lights On alongside two other Panorama titles Kuma and Leave It On The Floor.
 
Prior to Berlin, KMBO also acquired Serbian director Maja Milos’ edgy Rotterdam Tiger Award winner Clip (Klip) from Wide Management.
 
“Up until now we’ve released five to six titles a year but we want to increase this to seven to eight releases a year,” commented KMBO co-head Vladimir Kokh on the recent buying spree.

KMBO plans to release Sachs’ Manhattan-set Keep The Lights On, about a documentary maker and a lawyer trying to keep their fragile relationship afloat, this July on 20 copies.

 
Kuma, the debut feature from Kurdish-Austrian director Umut Dag about a young girl sent to Vienna from Turkey as the second wife of a much older man, will hit French screens on 80 copies in June.  
 
Films Boutique is handling international sales on both Keep the Lights On and Kuma.
 
Sheldon Larry’s Los Angeles-set musical Leave It On The Floor will get an early 2013 French release as will Clip. International sales for the former title are handled by Arrow Entertainment Sales. 
 
Kokh co-founded KMBO with Thomas Moskowitz in 2007. Past titles include Mia Engberg’s Dirty Diaries, Andrzej Jakimowski’s Tricks and Garri Bardine’s children’s film The Ugly Ducking, which has racked up 100,000 entries in France to date.
 
Other upcoming releases include Ole Endresen’s King Curling, Matthew Gordon’s The Dynamiter and Sophie Shoukens’ Marieke.
 
The company also branched into production last year. It is currently co-producing Jakimowski’s Imagine (previously titled Blind Watching) and Turkish Reha Erdem’s Singing Women, which is due to start shooting in April.
 
The tale of a blind spatial orientation instructor at a top Lisbon eye hospital, Imagine is currently in post-production.  The producers are hoping for a Cannes or Venice premiere. 

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