21/02/2014 - Global Screen signs several deals for the Berlinale competition title

Following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, the acclaimed German competition entry Beloved Sisters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominik Graf
film profile] by Dominik Graf has been sold by Global Screen to the first two key territories. While Music Box picked up the romantic drama for the US and Canada, the Sydney-based boutique distribution firm Curious will release the film in Australia and New Zealand.

Beloved Sisters examines a passionate love triangle between two aristocratic sisters and Friedrich Schiller, a promising young poet of his time. The unconventional relationship starts out playfully, but when one of the sisters becomes pregnant, their ménage à trois is thrown off balance. “Dominik Graf, his wonderful performers and his production team have brought the Romantic Era and the lives of Schiller and the von Lengefeld sisters to life for 21st-century audiences with captivating complexity, detail and drama,” stated Edward Arentz, managing director of Music Box. 

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, the passionate love story is Graf’s first feature-length drama for eight years. In 2002, the director showed A Map of the Heart in the Berlinale competition and, in 2006, The Red Cockatoo [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a drama about love, friendship and betrayal in former East Germany, in the Panorama section.

At the world premiere in Berlin, Graf presented the 170-minute festival version of Beloved Sisters, which has been cut down to 138 minutes for the theatrical release. The historical drama is produced by Bavaria Film in co-production with Austrian company Wega Film and Senator Film, which will release the film in Germany on 31 July.