ScreenDaily takes a look at the local and independent openings in key markets this week, including Kinowelt’s Friends Forever in Germany and Italian hit Ex moving into Spain.

Germany

Now with the new CEO Wolfgang Braun onboard, Kinowelt is releasing the German-French-Italian co-production Friends Forever (Mullewapp - Das Grosse Kinoabenteuer Der Freunde) on 400 prints throughout Germany. The animated feature film is inspired by the children’s books by Helme Heine, and the voice cast features Benno Fürmann, Joachim Krol, Christoph Maria Herbst and ice-skating star Katharina Witt.

Ali Samadi Ahadi’s feature film debut Salami Aleikum was released by Zorro Film in over 20 towns throughout Germany. The culture clash, feel-good comedy set in the former East Germany, picked up two awards at last month’s International Filmfest Emden-Norderney.

Freiburg-based Kool Film opened Polish filmmaker Andrzej Jakimowski’s touching drama Tricks in 19 towns throughout Germany, including the Broadway, FAF and Neues Off cinemas in Berlin. As in other European territories, the winner of the Europa Cinemas Label and Laterna Magica at Venice in 2007 was warmly received by the critics.

Berlin-based distributor Neue Visionen handled booking and billing on behalf of Koch Media for John Maybury’s The Edge Of Love, starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Cillian Murphy. The ménage-a-trois story about poet Dylan Thomas, wife Caitlin and the singer Vera Phillips opened in over 40 towns nationwide.

France

French comedy Une Semaine Sur Deux (Et La Moitie Des Vacances Scolaires) not only has the distinguishing characteristic of having one of the longest titles in recent history, it was also released on 340 screens on Wednesday July 22 to 40,054 admissions and the second spot overall for the day. Directed by Ivan Calberac, the film stars Mathilde Seigner and Bernard Campan in the coming-of-age story of a little girl dealing with her divorced parents and her own first romance.

The sequel to cult hit Ong-Bak came out fighting on July 22 on 251 screens. Released by EuropaCorp., Tony Jaa’s Thai kickboxing film brought in 42,783 admissions on the first day. Jaa stars in Ong-Bak 2, a period piece set in 15th century Thailand.

Metropolitan Filmexport’s release of The Young Victoria went out on 181 screens on July 22, one of 15 new releases. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee and from a screenplay by Julian Fellowes, the period film stars Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend and Paul Bettany, in a look at the famed queen’s early years.

UK

Artificial Eye will give Lars von Trier’s controversial horror Antichrist a limited release from July 24. The film, which stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, was passed uncut with an 18 certificate by the BBFC.

Set in apartheid-era South Africa, Skin, a drama about a black girl born to white Afrikaner parents, is getting a West End release through ICA Films.

Guerilla gives Charles Dickens’s England a release, also from July 24. The documentary, presented by actor Derek Jacobi, examines the places Dickens lived and worked and their influence on his writing.

Spain

Warner Bros will be hoping their comedy drama How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, about a British journalist (Simon Pegg) who struggles to fit into a high profile magazine in New York, can get closer to the $7m it took in the UK than the disappointing $2.7m it managed in the US.

After a hugely successful run at the Italian box office, taking an impressive $13.7m, Fausto Brizzi’s romantic comedy Ex will be released on 100 screens in Spain by local distributor Notro this weekend. The film focuses on how several couples’ relationships are affected after they split up.

Mexico’s most expensive film to date, Tear This Heart Out, will be released by Nirvana in Spain, following a successful run in Latin American through Fox, including $9m in its home territory. Director Roberto Sneider (producer of the Oscar winning drama Freda) wrote the script, based on a book by Angeles Mastretta, about a young girl forced to marry a ruthless general, but who has an affair with a left wing activist in post-revolution 1930s Mexico.

Local distributor Alta Films will release Ana Diez’ Argentinian-Spanish-Uruguayan drama Paisito in Spanish cinemas this weekend. The film sees a young couple struggling to keep their relationship together in the middle of a military coup in Uruguay in the early 1970s.

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