31/05/2016 - New arrivals for the company include the Palme d’Or winner and some runners-up

The Croisette is a venue at which Film Europe often enriches its portfolio. The company got in early this year, buying films before they were announced in the line-up (read the news), including some that did not end up premiering on the Croisette, such as Emir Kusturica’s On the Milky Road [+see also:
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film profile].

The company also continued its streak of picking up the Palme d’Or winner, as Ken Loach’s “retirement” film, I, Daniel Blake [+see also:
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film profile], which received top honours from the jury chaired by Australian filmmaker George Miller, landed on Film Europe’s slate. “It is a surprising, albeit deserving, winner. I, Daniel Blake has a very contemporary theme and a clear message while remaining civil,” Film Europe’s CEO, Ivan Hronec, said regarding the company’s new addition.

The new arrivals also include Julia Ducournau’s positively received debut feature, Raw [+see also:
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interview: Julia Ducournau
film profile], a thriller about a female sexual awakening that premiered in the Cannes Critics' Week, the Palme d’Or contender Sieranevada [+see also:
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Q&A: Cristi Puiu
film profile] by Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu as well as another competition title, Staying Vertical [+see also:
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interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile] by Alain Guiraudie. Film Europe also managed to nab the festival darling, Palme d’Or favourite and winner of the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film in Competition, the German comedy-drama Toni Erdmann [+see also:
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Q&A: Maren Ade
film profile] by Maren Ade. “It is with great pleasure that we offer this film to our audience, both as a sign of our disagreement with the jury’s decision and as a film that masterfully bridges the gap between so-called arthouse films and their mainstream counterparts,” Hronec said.

Toni Erdmann will be screened at the upcoming Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic and on Film Europe’s own festival platform, Be2Can 3, in Slovakia and the Czech Republic in October. While I, Daniel Blake is also slated for an October premiere in Slovakia, Loach’s supposed swansong will have an advance screening in June at the Slovakian festival Art Film Fest Košice, in Film Europe’s very own festival sidebar, Be2Can starter (read the news).