Cologne-based sales agent Media Luna International Film Sales has joined forces with four German production houses to launch an expanded theatrical sales outfit Media Luna Entertainment (MLE).

This week's Media Forum NRW in Cologne provided the backdrop for the launch of the new company which will be managed by Ida Martins, who founded Media Luna International Film Sales in 1993.

The other partners in the joint venture, all based in North Rhine-Westphalia, are:

  • D&D Film und Fernsehproduktion, an independent subsidiary of Belgium's D&D Entertainment Group, which has credits including the Badesalz comedy series for Sat1 and the Kochduell series for Vox.
  • MMC Independent, a subsidiary of Cologne-based Magic Media Company, which has focused on co-producing international features such as Gerard Corbiau's The King Is Dancing, Jena-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie Des Abesses, Alan Rudolph's Investigating Sex and Philippe Haim's Bluff.
  • Zieglerfilm Koeln, which has concentrated on producing TV movies and series, such as the weekly series Die Anrheiner for WDR Television, and is preparing the feature Nancy And Frank, based on Hans-Werner Kettenbach's novel Beyond The Horizon, to be directed in New York by Wolf Gremm.
  • TV production house Prime Productions, which produces The Karl Dall Show.

    • According to Martins, MLE will focus on four areas of activity - theatrical feature films and documentaries, TV movies and documentaries, entertainment formats and the development of projects for television and cinema.

    Taiwanese-born Andrew Chang, one of the heads of New York-based Attitude Films, is joining MLE to represent the company in the Asian market. Another as-yet-unnamed German-born sales executive is also expected to join the company from a large international sales agent in Los Angeles.

    Martins said MLE would distinguish itself from other players in the German sales scene by handling "all kinds of product that can be sold", including mainstream and arthouse; German and international; theatrical features and product made for television.

    Germany recently saw the entrance of another Cologne-based sales agent - Orfeo Films International - a joint venture between art-house film seller World Sales Christa Saredi and Germany's Pandora Films, which launched at Cannes.