Bavaria selling Antoniak's Code Blue

by Liza Foreman

11/05/2011 - Munich-based Bavaria Film International has taken on sales duties for the Directors' Fortnight title, Code Blue [trailer] from the Dutch director Urszula Antoniak.

Code Blue follows Marian, a middle-aged nurse, who devotes herself to her patients like a Mother Teresa. Sometimes she even takes on the role of a redeemer, by helping the gravely ill to the soothing order of ultimate silence. When she gets linked to a neighbor in an act of common voyeurism, she becomes fascinated by him. Faced with the fragility of these newfound emotions, Marian falls for him.

The film stars the Belgian actress Bien de Moor as the emotionally disturbed nurse and the German actor Lars Eidinger (Everyone Else [trailer, film focus]) as her love interest.

“Despite its touchy subject matter, Code Blue is one of those films that will linger with the audience long after the projection. We are confident that the film will be one of the must-see-titles from up-and-coming European directors this year at Cannes,” said Thorsten Ritter, head of Bavaria Film International.

Bavaria also handled sales duties on Antoniak’s last film, Nothing Personal [trailer, film focus]. “We are very proud to continue our collaboration with Urszula Antoniak, an extremely talented director with a strong handwriting. Driven by Frédéric Boyer’s enthusiastic immediate reaction to the film, the Director’s Fortnight could not be a more perfect platform for Bavaria Film International to launch this courageous picture,” said Ritter.

Code Blue was produced by the Dutch production outfit IDTV Film (R U There [trailer, film focus], Black Butterflies [trailer]) and Family Affair Films (Nothing Personal, The Other Side of Sleep [trailer]) in co-production with VPRO and Zentropa Films.

Code Blue is the third collaboration between producer Frans van Gestel of IDTV Film and Bavaria Film International, after Mijke de Jong's Joy [trailer] and Paula van der Oest's Black Butterflies.