UK opens The September Issue, Storm brews in Germany

UK:

Local production Fish Tank debuts in the UK from September 11, through arthouse distributor Artificial Eye. Writer-director Andrea Arnold’s film follows a 15-year-old girl (played by Katie Jarvis) whose life is affected when her mother brings home her new boyfriend.

Momentum Pictures will open the Oscar Wilde adaption Dorian Gray, with a saturated release from September 9. Prince Caspian star Ben Barnes takes the eponymous lead, alongside Colin Firth and Rebecca Hall, in the story of eternal youth and its cost.

Momentum also gives fashion documentary The September Issue a limited release. RJ Cutler’s film follows Vogue magazine’s legendary editor-in-chief Anna Wintour in her preparations for the 2008 autumn fashion issue.

Germany:

Lars von Trier’s controversial Cannes competition film Antichrist, which was shot solely on location in North Rhine-Westphalia, is being released by MFA on 53 prints. The drama, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe, was first shown in Germany at a special avant premiere at the end of June during the Medienforum NRW in Cologne.

Kaspar Heidelbach’s Berlin 36, which is inspired on the true story of the Jewish athlete Gretel Bergmann in the run-up to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, has been booked by X Verleih into 95 cinemas. The film had appropriately received its premiere in Berlin during the recent World Athletics Championships in August.

Hans-Christian Schmid’s political drama Storm, which was in competition at this year’s Berlinale, is being launched by Piffl Medien on 50 prints. Last month, Schmid attended the Sarajevo Film Festival and Talent Campus to present the film, which was partly shot at locations near and in the Bosnian capital.

Lebanese filmmaker Simon Le Habre’s award-winning documentary The One Man Village had been pitched at Locarno’s Open Doors co-production gathering in 2007 and shown at the Berlinale this year. German co-producer Mec Film is initially presenting the film on six digital screens before going on tour around Germany.

France:

Le Coach, from director Olivier Doran, was the widest debut on Wednesday in France with 345 screens showing the comedy. It also came in first place on its opening day, with 32,868 admissions to beat out fanboy title Gamer. The Mars Distribution release stars Richard Berry, Jean-Paul Rouve and Anne Marivin – along with a cameo by Olympic swimming star Laure Manaudo as herself – in a story about a star coach whose debts get the better of him. After his wife leaves him, he has no choice but to accept a job coaching another coach.

Iranian film About Elly (Darbareye Elly), opened on Wednesday on 45 screens. Released by Memento Films Distribution, the drama follows a group of friends having a joyous time on vacation until one of them, Elly, disappears. Director Asghar Farhadi won a Silver Bear in Berlin for the film this year and also took the best narrative feature prize at Tribeca. Stars include Golshifteh Farahani, Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti and Mani Haghighi.

Adrift (A Deriva), released by Universal Pictures International France, stars Vincent Cassel and Debora Bloch as a famous novelist and the American woman he has an affair with whilst on vacation near Rio. The infidelity is discovered by Cassel’s 14 year old daughter who goes through a series of painful and exciting discoveries on her coming-of-age journey. With 42 screens reporting, A Deriva picked up 1,212 admissions on its first day on release this week.

Spain:

Alta Films will release Daniel Sanchez Arevalo’s highly anticipated new comedy drama Fat People (Gordos) on 176 copies, following its great reception at the Venice Film Festival last week. Arevalo’s latest film is about a group of fat people learning to deal with prejudices and emotional problems, starring Antonio De La Torre and Raul Arevalo, and follows the success of his first feature DarkBlueAlmostBlack, which won awards at Venice and made $1.5m in Spain back in 2006.

Horror specialist Patrick Lussier’s latest title My Bloody Valentine 3D will be released by TriPictures nationwide this weekend. The film follows the exploits of a young man who returns to his home town ten years after a valentine massacre only to find he is the suspect. Box office figures have so far been pretty healthy, taking $10m in the UK and $9m in Italy.

Local distributor Aurum will be hoping to match or better the $1.3m School Of Rock took in Spain back in 2003, with Todd Graff’s music drama Bandslam about a group of kids who set up a rock band to compete in the battle of the bands competition. Aurum has the film on 125 prints in the territory.