08/05/2024 - The German sales agent's line-up is made up of a market premiere, three market screenings and seven projects, including new efforts by Fatih Akin, Jessica Hobbs and Tom Tykwer

This year, German sales outfit Beta Cinema is heading to Cannes’s Marché du Film (14-22 May) with a rich line-up made up of a market premiere, three market screenings, along with several new projects in the works. 

Daniela Porto and Cristiano Bortone’s drama My Place is Here [+see also:
film review
film profile] is the sales agent's market premiere. The picture, winner of the prize for Best Directors and Best Lead Actress at Bari’s BIF&ST in March, is billed by Beta Cinema as “a compelling tale of women's empowerment and the pursuit of happiness, set at the time of the first feminist movement in Southern Italy.” It stars Ludovica Martino (SKAM Italia) and Marco Leonardi (Cinema Paradiso, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) in the leading roles.

The first of the three market screenings is that of Andreas Dresen’s Golden Bear contender From Hilde, With Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Dresen
film profile] (Germany). Led by Babylon Berlin star Liv Lisa Fries and Johannes Hegemann, the story zooms in on Hilde, a member of an anti-Nazi group. She falls in love with another member called Hans. The pair spends a summer together until they get caught by the Gestapo and Hilde is imprisoned while she is eight months pregnant. 

Coming up next is the market screening of another Berlinale title, Yorgos Zois's Arcadia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yorgos Zois
film profile] (Greece/Bulgaria/USA), which premiered in the Encounters section. Beta Film’s catalogue describes it as “a haunting love story starring Vangelis Mourikis and Angeliki Papoulia.”

The third market screening is that of Joachim A. Lang’s Führer and Seducer (Germany/Slovakia). In it, the helmer “puts an end to the underestimation and trivialisation of Goebbels’ Nazi propaganda without ever diminishing the responsibility of millions of Germans for the crimes of the Third Reich.”

In addition, Beta Cinema will be presenting to potential buyers and partners seven new projects.

BAFTA-winner Nick Hamm’s 14th century-set William Tell (UK), now in post-production, tells the story of “the world-famous legend of the inspiring crossbow-warrior” turned into “a big budget epic.” The cast is spearheaded by Claes Bang and Golshifteh Farahani.

Tom Tykwer’s new effort, titled The Light (Germany/UK/France), is also in post and promises to be “an exhilarating drama about a modern family on the brink.” Starring are Lars Eidinger, Nicolette Krebitz and Tala al Deen.

Prominent Hamburg-born filmmaker Fatih Akin’s latest endeavour, Amrum (Germany), is in production. Set in the final weeks of World War II on the secluded sandy island of Amrum, it centres on a 12-year-old boy who unravels his family’s secret. The main cast is made up of Jasper Billerbeck, Kian Köppke, Lisa Hagmeister, Laura Tonke and Diane Kruger.

Andreas Veiel’s documentary Riefenstahl (Germany) will offer insight into the private estate of the titular actress and filmmaker, who became world-famous with her Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will but kept denying any closer ties to the regime.

Morgan Matthews’s 500 Miles (UK/Ireland), currently in pre-production, stars British veteran Bill Nighy and Jojo Rabbit [+see also:
trailer
film profile]’s Roman Griffin Davis. Beta Cinema labels it “a warm-hearted, hilarious and touching adventure, reminiscent of Billy Elliot or About a Boy.”

Jessica Hobbs’ The Offing, based on the 2019 titular novel by Benjamin Myers and described as “a powerful ode to friendship,” stars Helena Bonham-Carter. The project is in pre-production,

Finally, Hayley Easton Street’s “international eco-thriller” The Climb (UK, also in pre-production), stars Cara Delevingne, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Hannah John-Kamen in the leading roles. Beta Cinema advertises it as “a gripping true story about a group of passionate Greenpeace activists, ready to risk life and limb to set a sign against ecocide.”