15/01/2007

The simultaneous release of two other major titles this month – The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile] by Stephen Frears (Concorde) and Gus Van Sant’s Last Days (Alamode) – did not prevent Dani Levy’s latest film, Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (lit. "The Really Real Truth About Adolf Hitler") – an eagerly-awaited satire released last Thursday by X Verleih (see news) – from climbing to top position in the box office, with 45,000 admissions on its first day.

As pointed out by its producer Stefan Arndt (X Filme, co-producer with Y Filme), after the debates and controversy aroused by the film on treating such a theme (the final defeat of the Hitler regime) in a comedy, German audiences seem to have made up their own minds.

This success comes as good news for Beta Cinema, who have acquired world sales rights to the film, which the outfit will premiere in less than a month at the EFM (European Film Market) at the Berlin Film Festival.

It is not the first time that Beta has set itself the challenge of taking under its wings productions with sensitive political content. One of the most recent was the East German Stasi film The Lives of Others [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile] (see Focus), which continues to attract foreign distributors, and Oliver Hirschbiegel’s drama Downfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernd Eichinger
interview: Joachim Fest
interview: Oliver Hirschbiegel
film profile] (2004), which also dealt with Hitler’s downfall and was pre-sold to over 140 territories.

Dirk Schuerhoff of Beta Cinema said he is delighted, because “Mein Führer has great international potential. The worldwide media interest in the first German comedy about Adolf Hitler is gigantic." The US, France, Italy and the UK have now shown their interest.

(Translated from French)