02/02/2015 - The German international sales agent will be presenting a strong line-up at the European Film Market in Berlin

With the historical drama 13 Minutes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by German director Oliver Hischbiegel (Downfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernd Eichinger
interview: Joachim Fest
interview: Oliver Hirschbiegel
film profile]), German international sales agent Beta Cinema will be presenting a hot Berlinale title that is due to be screened out of competition. The film tells the true story of Georg Elser, who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller on 8 November 1939. With this act, he could have changed world history and saved millions of human lives if only he had had 13 more minutes at his disposal. But Hitler left the location earlier than expected, and Elser was arrested and killed shortly before the end of the war.

Beta Cinema is also handling the Romanian competition entry Aferim! [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile] by Radu Jude, a film that was staged by the same producer as Child’s Pose [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Calin Peter Netzer
film profile], the Golden Bear winner at the 2013 Berlinale. His new movie has been injected with infectious humour and stirring cynicism. Aferim! is set in 19^th-century Romania, where a policeman and his teenage son travel across the country in search of a fugitive Gypsy slave.

In the Forum, award-winning filmmaker Sacha Polak (Hemel [+see also:
trailer
interview: Sacha Polak
film profile]) will be presenting his road movie Zurich [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], about a woman who wanders along Europe’s motorways in order to leave her past behind her. When she meets a lorry driver and joins him on his journeys, it becomes clear that her urge to get involved with the trucker scene is a result of the pain caused by the ultimate betrayal that has befallen her.

Another highlight on Beta Cinema’s slate is the TV drama series 1992 by Giuseppe Gagliardi, which is featured in the Berlinale Special programme. Starring Italian actors such as Stefano Accorsi, the ten-episode series is set in the midst of the political turmoil in Italy as the Mani Pulite (“Clean Hands”) investigation begins to fight corruption. The story focuses on six ordinary people whose lives are intertwined with the political, civil and social upheaval. 

Meanwhile, the premieres at the European Film Market include the Indian family drama Umrika by Prashant Nair, the children’s action-adventure Famous Five 4 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Mike Marzuk, the German teen rom-com Bibi & Tina 2 by Detlev Buck (Hands off Mississippi [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Tough Enough [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), the political drama We Are Young. We Are Strong. [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Burhan Qurbani, about the violent riots in freshly reunited Germany, as well as the Israeli crowd pleaser The Farewell Party [+see also:
film review
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interview: Tal Granit & Sharon Maymon
film profile] by Sharon Maymon and Tal Granit. 

Among the upcoming features in Beta Cinema’s line-up are the survival thriller Colonia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Florian Gallenberger, starring Daniel Brühl and former Harry Potter star Emma Watson, and the tragicomedy Coconut Hero [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Florian Cossen (The Day I Was Not Born [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), about a teenager who rediscovers his zest for life after receiving a terminal medical diagnosis.