Bavaria climbs on Norwegian Mountain

by Annika Pham

12/02/2011 - Thorsten Ritten, managing director of Munich-based sales company Bavaria Film International (BFI), has boarded the Norwegian film The Mountain, screening today at Panorama Special in Berlin.

“It is a very strong film, very concentrated, very intense and yet accessible. A real mature work that reminded us of Urszula Antoniak’s Nothing Personal [trailer, film focus], which worked so well for us,” Ritter told Cineuropa. Ole Giæver’s feature debut focuses on two women’s attempt to deal with a traumatic experience and their grief by climbing a mountain where the accident took place.

Innocent Saturday by Russian writer/director Alexander Mindadze (Berlin Silver Bear winner for The Play for a Passenger), screening on Monday as a world premiere in official competition. The Russia/German/Ukraine co-production deals with nuclear and terrorist threats seen through the eyes of a young couple.

Also screening on Monday as a world premiere is Above Us Only Sky [trailer] by German debut filmmaker Jan Schomburg, selected at the Panorama Special. Produced by Pandora Film, the drama focuses on Martha (Sandra Hüller), a woman who desperately tries to hold on to the memory of her husband who has disappeared.

Other titles on Bavaria’s European Film Market’s line-up include Chris Kraus’ The Poll Diaries [trailer, film focus], screening as part of the new GERMAN CINEMA / Lola@Berlinale sidebar; and the Icelandic Oscar entry Mamma Gógó [trailer] by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, which will open in the Czech Republic through CinemArt on March 31.