strip berlinale 15-2-12:Opmaak 1 10-0


FROM THE NETHERLANDS WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 15


NEWS Rooks Nest takes off


SNACKBAR Dir: Meral Uslu Prod: Lemming Film (feature, 83´) Wed Feb 15, 09:30 CinemaxX 16 (EFM) Sun Feb 19, 15:00 Haus der Kulturen der Welt 1


BY ANDREAS WISEMAN Julia Godzinskaya and Michael Sackler’s new UK production outfit Rooks Nest Entertainment (in Berlin with My Brother The Devil) will develop, produce and pro- vide equity backing for US and interna- tional projects with budgets up to $5m. The company has invested in Francesca


Gregorini’s Emanuel And The Truth About Fishes, starring Jessica Biel, Kaya Scodelario and Alfred Molina; US indie drama Blue- bird from Lance Edmands, and Sophie Fiennes’ The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology.


HAF/Fox finalists named


THE GANG OF OSS Dir: André van Duren Prod: Sigma Pictures Sales: MountainRoad Entertainment Group (feature, 111´) Wed Feb 15, 11:00 CineStar 4 (EFM)


Fox International Productions and the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) have unveiled the five finalists for the inaugural annual HAF/Fox Chinese Film Development Award. The winner will receive $13,000 (HK$100,000) and a development contract from Fox, while the runners-up may be offered a first-look deal. The finalists are Diaoshuiyan Murder


Case by China’s Zhang Tianhui; Two Graves from Hong Kong short-film producer Sammie Lau; Close Protection by established Hong Kong film-maker Lawrence Lau (Gimme Gimme); Coffee Sweet from up-and-coming Taiwanese talent Wang Hsi-chieh; and Crazy Mother from China’s Zhu Minjiang. More than 80 submissions were sent in from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas Chinese film-making communities.


Liz Shackleton Rooks Nest produced the $1.6m-budg-


eted urban drama My Brother The Devil with Gayle Griffiths’ Wild Horses Films. Pacha Pictures is handling sales and is reporting strong interest from US distributors. “We have a very clear business plan and


budget range,” says Sackler, who also runs creative agency Hi Fly Nest. “There was start-up capital and we have used the money to get to scripts very quickly. We are self-sufficient and quicker than some com- panies. While we are unlikely to fund a film entirely, we will hedge our bets.”


Appeal sparks with Aussie deal


BY GEOFFREYMACNAB Rebecca Thomas’ Electrick Children is gen- erating a buzz with buyers. The film, which premiered in Generation 14plus last week, has now gone to Rialto for Australia. The deal was confirmed by Anne Wied-


BFI head of exhibition Clare Stewart with Gayle Griffiths, one of the producers of Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother The Devil, at the BFI/British Council Valentine’s Day brunch celebrating British film at the Berlinale.


LUFF readies ninth edition in June


NOVA ZEMBLA Dir: Reinout Oerlemans Prod: Eyeworks Film & TV Drama (feature, 108´) Wed Feb 15, 11:30 CineStar 2 (EFM)


BY WENDYMITCHELL The London UK Film Focus (LUFF) has set the dates of its ninth edition for June 25-28. Applications are now open for emerging tal- ents in the Breakthrough strand. More than 120 buyers are expected to


attend the Film London event at BFI South- bank, with about 50 films presented by UK sales companies. Last year’s event gener- ated some $11.5m worth of sales. Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film


London, said: “LUFF is a vital part of the UK’s export strategy and ensures a wide array of British film talent reaches an inter- national audience. “LUFF is not only incredibly important


in promoting our film-making talent but supports a number of UK businesses, espe- cially the UK sales agents. I’m delighted to be working with the BFI, the Mayor of Lon- don, UK Trade & Investment and Film Export UK to deliver this important event.”


Taiwan book forum agrees Filmart tie-up SÜSKIND


Dir: Rudolf van den Berg Prod: Fu Works Sales: Beta Cinema (feature, 117´) Wed Feb 15, 11:30 CineStar 6 (EFM)


eye film institute netherlands at the EFM Martin-Gropius-Bau Stand 9 Ph: +49 30 767646-408


international@eyefilm.nl www.international.eyefilm.nl


n 2 Screen International at the Berlinale February 15, 2012


BY LIZSHACKLETON Taiwan’s Book Meets Film Forum is joining forces with Hong Kong Filmart to create a platform to bring the worlds of Chinese film and publishing closer together. The concept is similar to the tie-up


between the Frankfurt Book Fair and Ber- lin’s European Film Market, which held the Books At Berlinale event here yesterday. The Book Meets Film Forum will attend


this year’s Filmart (March 19-22) for the first time, where it will set up one-on-one meetings between production companies


and the publishers of 16 selected Chinese books. The forum will also have a stand at Filmart and hold a reception to introduce itself to the film and TV industry. The selected books will include the latest


graphic novel from Jimmy Liao, The Rain- bow Of Time, and short story The Heart Sutra written by Lust, Caution author Eileen Chang. The forum is also in talks with the Hong


Kong Asia Film Financing Forum projects market, which takes place during Filmart, to co-organise an event in 2013.


lack of M-Appeal, which is handling world sales. This follows from the sale to Revolver/ Picturehouse of the film for the UK earlier in the market. Starring Julia Garner and Rory Culkin, Electrick Children is about a Mor- mon girl who has a life-transforming experi- ence after listening to a rock-music cassette. The film has also been selected for SXSW. The Berlin-based company has also sold


Rosa von Praunheim’s King Of Comics to Spain (Good Films) and So Hard To Forget and My Last Round to Benelux (ABC Distri- bution).


BERLINBRIEFS


Carano thrills with Cargo’s Blood While Gina Carano comes to Berlin for Haywire, Cargo Entertainment is handling her new film In The Blood, to be directed by John Stockwell. The revenge thriller, which will shoot in Puerto Rico, is produced by Movie Package Co’s Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield (The Messenger). Bennett Yellin and James Robert Johnston wrote the script.


TLA makes pact with Poland TLA Releasing has signed a strategic deal with Polish LGBT distributor Tongariro Releasing for the acquisition and day-and- date release of content, so local audiences will see films in line with the US and UK. The first title to be released under the pact will be Oliver Hermanus’ Beauty, which will be distributed simultaneously in Poland and the US. The deal also launches the Polish VoD streaming service Outfilm.pl.


Cohen Media finds The Other Son Cohen Media Group has taken US rights to Lorraine Levy’s The Other Son (Le Fils De L’Autre), starring Emmanuelle Devos. The deal was negotiated by Cohen CEO Charles S Cohen and Raphael Berdugo, managing director of Paris-based Cite Films.


Electrick Children


Nick Wall


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