Music Box acquires US rights to Cate Shortland’s Lore

Music Box has acquired US rights to Australian director Cate Shortland’s upcoming picture Lore, an adaptation of Rachel Seiffert’s The Dark Room set against the backdrop of Germany immediately after World War Two.

The film revolves around Lore, a young girl left with the task of delivering herself and her four younger siblings to their grandmother on the other side of Germany after their Nazi parents are arrested by Allied Forces.

Along the way, she meets the charismatic and intriguing Thomas, a young Jewish refugee. She has to learn to trust a person she has long been taught is the enemy.

The deal was negotiated between Tanja Meissner of Paris-based sales company Memento Film International and Music Box Film’s William Schopf, who acquired the picture on the back of first images presented at Berlin.

“We were intrigued when Memento first described this project to us, and became increasingly convinced after reading Rachel Seiffert’s brilliant source novella, Cate Shortland and Robin Mukherjee’s inspired screenplay and finally seeing Cate Shortland’s striking footage, that Lore will be an important and memorable film,” said Schofp.

“We have wanted to work with Music Box for quite some time.  Over the years we have been very impressed by their taste as well as their inventive campaigns and impressive results,” Meissner said of the US distributor.

Other Berlin deals on the film include sales to Benelux (ABC), Brazil (Mares Filmes), South Korea (Linetree), Israel (Lev) and Colombia/Centra America (Cineplex).

Lore is Shortland’s second film after Somersault, the Australia-set tale of a teenage runaway which premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2004. Co-produced by German Rohfilm, Australian Porchlight Films and the UK’s Edge City Films, the picture is currently in the final stages of post-production and will be ready for Cannes.