Following hot on the heels of the recently wrapped Berlin Film Festival, this year’s online edition of the Hong Kong Intl. Film & TV Market (FilMart) will include a host of buzzy titles and award winners gathered under the Europe! Umbrella, which brings together 29 European sales agents in a virtual pavilion organized by European Film Promotion (EFP).
Beta Cinema will be presenting two Berlin competition titles which already closed a flurry of deals during the European Film Market. Emmy Award-winning director Maria Schrader’s (“Unorthodox”) wry romcom “I’m Your Man” (pictured), starring Dan Stevens (“Downton Abbey”), Maren Eggert (“I Was at Home, But…”) and Sandra Hueller (“Toni Erdmann”), earned stellar reviews and a leading performance Silver Bear for Eggert. The company is also repping the dark comedy “Next Door,” the directorial debut of German star Daniel Brühl, who plays a version of himself in the film.
Also with two Berlinale competition selections on offer, Films Boutique will look to close sales on Maria Speth’s documentary “Mr. Bachmann and His Class,” which earned the director a Silver Bear Jury Prize in Berlin, and Bence Fliegauf’s “Forest—I See You Everywhere.” Also on the company’s slate is “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,” from directors Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri, which premiered in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary competition, and Marc Bauder’s cinematic documentary “Who We Were,” which premiered in the Berlinale Special section in Berlin.
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Brussels-based sales outfit Be For Films will be showcasing “Azor,” Andreas Fontana’s thriller set in the world of international banking, which recently played in the Encounters sidebar of the Berlinale, as well as Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas’ Panorama player “The World After Us.” The company will also be presenting Hans Herbots’ upcoming thriller “Ritual,” a Belgium-Germany co-production which began shooting this month.
Among the titles on M-Appeal’s slate is “Celts,” from Serbian director Milica Tomović, which had its premiere in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section. Picture Tree International will be presenting “Mission Ulja Funk,” by Barbara Kronenberg, which screened in the Generations sidebar. And Denmark’s LevelK will be selling “Hive,” from Kosovo’s Blerta Basholli, which swept the Grand Jury Prize, Best Director Award, and Audience Award after premiering in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic competition.
Les Films Du Losange is selling “Suzanna Andler,” a 1960s set romance drama starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, from acclaimed French director Benoit Jacquot. The film premiered in competition in Rotterdam and will screen next month at the Hong Kong Intl. Film Festival. Spanish sales agent Latido Films will be offering “The King of the Whole World,” a musical drama directed by Oscar-nominated director Carlos Saura.
Among the sales companies joining the Europe! Umbrella for the first time are Paris-based Reel Suspects, which will be presenting Henrika Kull’s “Bliss,” a love story about two sex workers in a Berlin brothel, which had its festival premiere in the Berlinale’s Panorama section. Also on its slate is “Out of This World,” a new thriller from French director Marc Fouchard.
Other newcomers include Germany’s Rise and Shine World Sales, which will be promoting the Austrian documentary “Vienna Symphony,” by Iva Svarcová and Malte Ludin; Spain’s Feelsales, which is repping the Italian-German documentary coproduction “Hong Kong, Ga Yau,” by Marco Di Noia; and Poland’s Media Move, who will be looking to drum up interest in the Serbian drama “Loan Shark,” by Nemanja Ceranic.
FilMart is taking place online from March 15-18.
