Exciting line-up from Beta Cinema

by B.P.

05/02/2007 - Counterfeiters, three detectives and a dictator: contrary to the false bank notes made by the Sachsenhausen camp prisoners on the order of the Nazis in Viennese director Stefan Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiter [trailer] (see news) – which will have its international preview screening in competition on February 10 – German sales outfit Beta Cinema are offering a tantalising selection of titles to buyers at the upcoming Berlinale.

In addition to The Counterfeiter – a Magnolia Film and Aichholzer Film production starring August Diehl and Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter and one of two wholly-produced German films in the running for the Golden Bear, which goes on release in Germany through Universum from March 15 – Beta Cinema will be presenting Dani Levy’s latest film, My Führer: The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler [trailer], to foreign buyers.

The controversial comedy (see news) – co-produced by Y Filme and X Film and featuring German stars Ulrich Mühe and Helge Schneider – grossed €3.5m in its opening week after its domestic release through X Verleih on January 11.

Beta also has another title in its line-up whose touch of glamour is expected to attract distributors’ attention. Achim Bornhak’s Eight Miles High, a Neue Bioskop Film production released last Thursday through Warner, centres on Uschi Obermaier, an icon of the 1960s and 70s student revolts who later became a top model and dated several Rolling Stones band members.

Meanwhile, Florian Baxmeyer’s The Three Investigators and the Secret of Skeleton Island [trailer] – conceived to be the first in a series – also has big international ambitions.

The Studio Hamburg International English-language production recounts the adventures of three heroes who in fact already have followers the world over, as the children’s novels on which the film is based have been translated into 30 languages and sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

Other titles from the outfit include Oscar favourite Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others [trailer, film focus] (see Focus), which will open the German Cinema section; two popular Bavarian Film prize-winners, Chris Kraus’ Four Minutes [trailer] and Marcus Rosenmüller’s Grave Decisions (1.5m admissions since its release on January 18); and 11-time Goya nominee Salvador [trailer] by Spanish helmer Manuel Huerga (see interview) and starring Daniel Brühl.

The EFM will also screen Hans Steinbichler’s Winter Journey [trailer], Tobias Moretti’s Impossibly Yours, Swiss docufiction Grounding and Bully Herbig’s comedy Hui Buh: The Goofy Ghost [trailer] (over 2m admissions in Germany).

(Translated from French)