Beta Cinema clinches successful sales after EFM

by B.P.

03/03/2010 - Arvin Chen’s award-winning gangster comedy Au Revoir Taipei, which was presented in the Berlinale Forum section and at the market by German seller Beta Cinema, continues to attract interest from international distributors.

The film, co-produced by Wim Wenders, has been sold for Germany (Arsenal), Austria (Polyfilm) and Switzerland (Trigon). Negotiations are underway with other European territories, as well as with Asia and the United States.

The demo of Goethe! by Philipp Stölzl, the acclaimed director of North Face [trailer] (which is currently enjoying a successful run across the Atlantic), earned the film several pre-sales. This title, produced by Christoph Müller (Sophie Scholl [trailer]) and starring Alexander Fehling (Inglourious Basterds [trailer]), Moritz Bleibtreu (The Baader Meinhof Complex [trailer]) and Burghart Klaussner (The White Ribbon [trailer, film focus]), has been bought by Greece (Nutopia), the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Hollywood Classic Entertainment). Negotiations are at an advanced stage with Italy, France and Benelux.

Other titles represented by Beta Cinema are doing well, in particular Alain Gsponer’s My Words, My Lies - My Love [trailer], starring Daniel Brühl and Hannah Herzsprung (sold for Australia and South Korea; imminent sales in France, Italy and Spain); Simon Verhoeven’s Men in the City (Murena International will distribute it in Russia and the Baltic countries); and John Turturro’s Neapolitan musical documentary Neapolitan Songs (sold before completion to French company Wild Side Films, sales under negotiation elsewhere in Europe and in Japan).

Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo [trailer, film focus] and Uberto Pasolini’s Machan [trailer] will be released in Russia, while Swedish company Svensk Film has bought the Scandinavian rights to German animated film Princess Lillifee [trailer], as well as closing a pre-acquisition of the film’s sequel, Princess Lillifee and the Unicorn.

Two other titles are well on their way to sealing prosperous pre-acquisitions: Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s Hidden and Claudio Cupellini’s A Quiet Life, starring Toni Servillo and Juliane Koehler, whose first demos are expected to be shown at Cannes.

(Translated from French)