NEWS Winter Of Discontent


Les Films du Losange signs Crisan’s Rocker


Waked ramps up Zad slate


BY GEOFFREY MACNAB Amr Waked’s Cairo-based produc- tion company Zad is in talks with a leading Egyptian distributor to release the company’s first feature production, Winter Of Discontent, which premiered last week in Ven- ice Orizzonti. “We are very keen on launching


the film on a commercial platform,” Waked said. If the distributor does not offer enough screens, Zad will release through its own distribu- tion arm. Swipe Films has come on board to sell Ibrahim El Batout’s drama internationally. Waked, who runs Zad with Salah


Al Hanafy, also confirmed plans for the company to work on another film with El Batout, crime thriller The Cat. Also being developed are two projects from Ahmed El Hawary: an adaptation of classic novel Children Of Gebelawi, and a documentary about Egyptian musi- cian Sayed Darwish. Another new project is Ossama Fawzy’s Eclipse. Also, Zad is still looking for


French co-producers for The Exile by Atef Hetata. Waked is also hop- ing to put Ahmed Maher’s $4.1m In Which Land You Die into pro- duction next summer.


BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW Paris-based Les Films du Losange has taken on international sales and French distribution of Roma- nian director Marian Crisan’s Rocker ahead of its premiere in San Sebastian’s New Directors sidebar. “I am very happy to be working


with this young, talented director again,” said head of international sales Agathe Valentin, who also handled Crisan’s debut Morgen. Rocker is set in contemporary


Romania and follows the relation- ship between a 40-year-old musi- cian and his drug-addicted son.


The Losange team will be in


Toronto with Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner Amour, which is screening in the Masters section. The film has practically sold out bar in Africa and the Middle East. The company’s slate also


includes Belgian director Joachim Lafosse’s Un Certain Regard title Our Children (A Perdre La Raison). The film has been one of the indie buzz titles of the late summer in France, attracting more than 100,000 viewers since its release on August 22 and prompting rave reviews from local critics.


It has already sold in a slew of


territories including most recently to Canada (Axia Films), Spain (Karma), Russia (Cinema Pres- tige), Portugal (Clap Filmes), Hungary (Anjou-Lafayette) and Romania (Asociatia Culturala Macondo). The film, which will receive its


US premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 12, has not yet closed a US deal. Other titles on the Losange slate


include Arnaud des Pallieres’ Michael Kohlhaas, starring Mads Mikkelsen and Bruno Ganz.


New Premiere lights up Darkroom


BY JEREMY KAY Former Maya Entertainment sen- ior executive Elias Axume has launched sales, financing and dis- tribution company Premiere Entertainment Group. Axume, who previously served


as president of international distri- bution at Maya Entertainment, has hired former Spotlight Pic- tures executive Jack Campbell as SVP of sales and acquisitions. The pair will be here talking up a


slate that includes Britt Napier’s horror-thriller Darkroom plus Andrew Meieran’s drama Highland Park. Premiere negotiated rights for both films with Kevin Iwashina and Christine D’Souza of Preferred


Epicentre books France for


MPM’sA Month In Thailand BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW Paris-based distributor Epicentre has taken French rights for Roma- nian Paul Negoescu’s A Month In Thailand following its premiere in Critics’ Week in Venice earlier this week. “The deal was closed right after


the official screening on Monday, where the film was received very warmly,” said Pierre Menahem of Paris-based MPM Film, which is handling international sales. Menahem brokered the deal


with Daniel Chabannes and Corentin Senechal of Epicentre. The distributor will release the title on 20 prints in the spring of 2013. Following its Venice premiere,


A Month In Thailand is set to screen at a slew of festivals over


A Month In Thailand n 6 Screen International at Toronto September 7, 2012


the coming months including Zurich and Thessaloniki. The story revolves around a


bunch of wealthy young Romani- ans on New Year’s Eve in Bucha- rest. Here in Toronto, Menahem is


also representing Jem Cohen’s Museum Hours and William Vega’s La Sirga.


Producers Lab takes a bow


The Producers Lab Toronto, organised by European Film Promotion with the Ontario Media Development Corporation and TIFF, has kicked off its third edition welcoming 24 producers from Europe and Canada. Pictured in the front row: Yorgos Tsourgiannis, Ada Solomon, Rayne Zukerman, April Mullen, Patricia Fogliato; second row: Dan Wechsler, Els Vandevorst, Tine Grew Pfeiffer, Daniel Bekerman, Stephen Traynor; third row: Sarah Timmins, Lauren Grant, Rajvinder Uppal, Nicole Gerhards; fourth row: Aisling Chin-Yee, Peter Hiltunen, Anita K Sharma, Addi Knutsson; fifth row: Isona Passola, Yanick Létourneau, Donato Rotunno, Macdara Kelleher; not pictured: Fernando Vendrell and Svet Doytchinov.


Content on behalf of the producers. Axume also acquired action film


The Outsider from Christine and Mark Holder of Zero Gravity Man-


Darkroom


agement. Jason Patric and James Caan will star and the project is in pre-production. The slate includes comedy Ass Backwards starring Alicia Silverstone, inherited from Maya, as well as rom-com Save The Date with Lizzy Caplan and Mark Webber, comedy It’s A Disas- ter with Julia Stiles, and drama Between Us, also starring Stiles. “Quality films can transcend


cultural boundaries and the global market is always looking for qual- ity films. Premiere Entertain- ment’s main mandate is to provide such content,” Axume said. Premiere has also struck a part-


nership with Ryan Noto’s Digital Post Services.


The Match Factory catches sight of Jacir


BYANDREASWISEMAN The Match Factory has secured worldwide rights to Palestinian foreign language Academy Awards entry When I Saw You by Annemarie Jacir. The film starts screening in TIFF’s Contemporary World Cinema section on Sunday. When I Saw You, produced by


Ossama Bawardi for Philistine Films, follows an eccentric 11-year-old boy who runs away from a Palestinian refugee camp in search of freedom. The cast fea- tures Mahmoud Asfa, Ruba Blal and Saleh Bakri. Jacir’s Salt Of This Sea pre-


miered in Cannes in 2008 and was also the Palestinian entry for the foreign language Oscar.


Wanda takes


extreme turn Wanda Vision has come on board for Spanish distribution of action sports titles The Art Of Flight 3D and Storm Surfers 3D, both of which will screen at San Sebastian. Curt Morgan’s The Art Of Flight


3D, produced by Brain Farm and Red Bull Media House, is set in the world of snowboarding. Justin McMillan and


Christopher Nelius’ Storm Surfers 3D is about big-wave surfers in Australia. Red Bull Media House, which is


attending TIFF, handles both titles internationally. Sophokles Tasioulis, head of


cinema and international sales at Red Bull Media House, said: “Wanda has always been a pioneer in tracking and securing successful films very early on. We could not have wished for more.” Wendy Mitchell


When I SawYou TheArt Of Flight 3D


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