Berlin-based sales agent and distributor Picture Tree International has announced the titles that it will be showing off to buyers at the hybrid EFM (10-17 February) in various virtual and private screenings. These include upcoming releases as well as films that have recently premiered at international festivals.

Among the forthcoming highlights is the anticipated box-office hit Love Thing [+lire aussi :
interview : Anika Decker
fiche film] by Anika Decker (High Society), starring Elyas M’Barek (What We Wanted [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], Nightlife [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]). Picture Tree will present a first teaser trailer to select buyers, and the Constantin Film production is set for release on 7 July.

Also kicking off with a first teaser trailer is Alma & Oskar [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], about the legendary affair between Alma Mahler and Oskar Kokoschka. Directed by Dieter Berner (Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]), the film stars Emily Cox (Netflix's The Last Kingdom) as Mahler and introduces Valentin Postlmayr as Kokoschka. Currently in early post-production, the film is expected to be released in mid-2022 and is lead-produced by Austria’s Film AG, in co-production with Germany's Wüste Film, Switzerland's Turnus Film and the Czech Republic's Dawson Film.

Currently in post-production, with a first promo and a domestic release planned for autumn 2022, is Schächten by Austrian director Thomas Roth, who depicts the true story of a young Jewish man in post-war Vienna, whose failed trial against the killer of his family tragically shows the entanglements of society and the system in the 1960s with recent dark episodes of history and the urge for retribution by survivors.

Also released by Constantin Film on 19 May and produced by UFA Fiction is Leander Haussmann’s A Stasi Comedy, with a stellar German cast including David Kross (Ballon [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], The Keeper [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Marcus H. Rosenmüller
fiche film]), Henry Hübchen (The Kangaroo Chronicles [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]) and Tom Schilling (Fabian - Going to the Dogs [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Albrecht Schuch
fiche film]).

After its world premiere at Locarno, a record eight Swiss Film Award nominations and three gongs, including Best Director, at the recent Max Ophüls Festival (see the news), Swiss DoP Lorenz Merz's directorial debut, Soul of a Beast [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Lorenz Merz
fiche film], is set for its North American premiere at the Miami International Film Festival, ahead of its theatrical release in Switzerland by Ascot Elite in April.

Finally, Without Her by exciting first-time Iranian director Arian Vazirdaftari, whose short Like a Good Kid: Mesle Bache Adam competed in the Cannes Cinéfondation in 2018, follows in the footsteps of Asghar Farhadi with an identity story set against the backdrop of immigration. It is set to premiere at the Fajr Film Festival.

At the virtual EFM, Picture Tree International will also be screening Oliver Hirschbiegel’s The Painter (Germany), Darin J Sallam's Farha (Jordan), Johanna Vuoksenmaa's 70 Is Just a Number (Finland), Peter Dalle's Till Sun Rises (Sweden), Andreas Schmied's Chasing the Line [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] (Austria) and Sönke Wortmann's Contra (Germany).