05/02/2015 - The seven hopefuls for the Golden Bear and a raft of other titles being showcased are drawing a lot of attention to the French slates

It’s game on for nine days of deals at the European Film Market of the 65th Berlinale, which gets under way today, and as usual the French international sales agents have secured themselves a substantial slice of the cake, with seven of the 19 most alluring titles – those in the running for the Golden Bear.

Elle Driver (read the news) is negotiating deals for Diary of a Chambermaid [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by French director Benoit Jacquot and Nobody Wants the Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Isabel Coixet
film profile] by Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet, Memento Films International (read the interview with Tanja Meissner) is doing likewise for Body [+see also:
film review
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interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
film profile] by Poland’s Malgorzata Szumowska, Pyramide International for The Pearl Button [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] by Patricio Guzmán, Funny Balloons for Le club by his fellow countryman Pablo Larrain, UDI for Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Di Phan Dang (read the article) and Celluloid Dreams for Taxi by Iranian director Jafar Panahi. In addition to these seven titles, there are three being sold by the German company Films Boutique (a subsidiary of Paris-based Films Distribution): Eisenstein in Guanajuato [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Greenaway
film profile] by British director Peter Greenaway, Under Electric Clouds [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] by Russia’s Alexey German and Chasuke's Journey [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Japanese filmmaker Sabu.

Doc & Film International can count three films from its slate in the various Berlinale selections: Murder in Pacot [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Raoul Peck (Panorama Special), the Canadian movie Chorus by François Delisle (Panorama) and The Valley [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] by Ghassan Salhab (Forum).

Films Distribution fully intends to make the most of the buzz surrounding The Summer of Sangaile [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alanté Kavaïté
film profile] by Lithuanian director Alanté Kavaïté, which has just swiped the Best Director Award at Sundance and will be screened in the Panorama. The line-up also includes Superworld [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Karl Markovics
film profile] by Austria’s Karl Markovics, which will be unveiled in the Forum.

Bac Films is selling Virgin Mountain by Icelandic director Dagur Kari (a Special Gala Screening).

New Morning Films has added The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills [+see also:
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film profile] by Marcin Malaszczak to its slate, a co-production between Germany, Poland and the USA that will be presented in the Forum.

Reel Suspects is pinning its hopes on Portrait of the Artist [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by French filmmaker Antoine Barraud (Forum) and the Thai film The Blue Hour by Anucha Boonyawatana (Panorama).

Wide Management’s line-up (see the news) looks set to trigger some good deals, with the Swiss-German feature Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stina Werenfels
film profile] (Panorama), two films selected in Generation Kplus (My Skinny Sister [+see also:
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interview: Sanna Lenken
film profile] by Swedish director Sanna Lenken and the US title Golden Kingdom by Brian Perkins) and HomeSick [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jakob M Erwa in Perspektive Deutsches Kino, while the specialist Wide House division is selling Misfits [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jannik Splidsboel (Panorama Dokumente), Nuclear Nation II by Atsushi Funahashi (Forum) and Finding Gaston by Patricia Perez (Culinary Cinema).

Outplay has high hopes for the Swedish feature Dyke Hard [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Bitte Andersson (Panorama) and My Name Is Anne Marie Schwarzenbach [+see also:
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film profile] by Véronique Aubouy (Panorama Dokumente).

Among the movies on show in the Panorama, Alpha Violet is handling sales for the Russian title Pioneer Heroes by Natalya Kudryashova (see the news), Premium Films is selling Necktie Youth by Sibs Shongwe-La-Mer (a co-production between South Africa and the Netherlands) and Versatile is taking care of sales for the US production Nasty Baby by Sebastian Silva.

Sarrazink is selling its production The Story of Judas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche, which will have its world premiere in the Forum.

Evidently choosing to focus its efforts more on the upcoming Cannes Festival, Wild Bunch only has one film in its showcase this year at Berlin: The Misplaced World by German director Margarethe von Trotta, which will enjoy a Special Screening.

Lastly, MK2 International (and its first-rate line-up – read the article) is selling Jia Zhang-ke, a guy from Fenyang by Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles (Panorama Dokumente).

In addition to the titles in selection, French sales agents have a huge range of ammunition at their disposal at the market, including outfits like Pathé International (read the article), Indie Sales (read the news), Le Pacte, Les Films du Losange, StudioCanal, SND (read the article), TF1 International, Gaumont, EuropaCorp, SBS, Rezo, Alfama Films, Coproduction Office and Kinology. Cineuropa will report further on the aces up their sleeves as the EFM progresses.

(Translated from French)