Cannes market positive despite skyrocketing prices (3)
by Annika Pham
The selection of deals closed during a busy but expensive Cannes market continues from parts (1) and (2) of the article.
Timo T. Lahtinen, president of Smile Entertainment, which buys around 10 films per year for all media, confirmed he has bought two quality European films for Scandinavia. The first, Opium: Diary of a Madwoman by Hungary’s János Sźasz, starring Scandinavian actors Ulrich Thomsen and Kirsti Stubø, was produced by Andras Hamori (Faithless) and will be distributed this summer.
From Intandem Films Lahtinen also acquired And When Did You last See Your Father? [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by UK director Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie), starring Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent. The Scandinavian release is set for early 2008.
Smile is currently distributing The Secret Life of Words [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isabel Coixet
film profile] in Denmark and is planning a fall release for Azur & Azmar [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].
Robert Enmark, SVP head of acquisitions for Svensk Filmindustri, said his company bought six films for Scandinavia: the Australian/South African drama Disgrace, starring John Malkovich; the Coen brothers’ new film, Burn After Reading, featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt and currently in pre-production; Wong Kar Wai’s Ashes of Time Redux, sold by Fortissimo; the British WWII film Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, starring Frances McDormand and Ciarán Hinds and sold by Focus Features; and two titles from the slate of Pathé Pictures International, The Cottage by UK filmmaker Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and horror film Waz, starring Stellan Skarsgård and Melissa George.
SF had previously acquired Michael Moore’s Sicko and Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synedoche-New York, currently filming.
Among the smaller local arthouse distributors, Copenhagen-based Camera Film acquired for Denmark the successful Cannes selection Control [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Anton Corbijn, Daniele Luchetti’s My Brother is an Only Child [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniele Luchetti
interview: Riccardo Tozzi
film profile] and the Spanish horror film The Orphanage [+see also:
trailer
film profile], executive-produced by Guillermo Del Toro.
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