Berlinale Film ‘Every You Every Me,’ About Falling Out of Love With Your Partner, Picked Up by Be For Films (EXCLUSIVE)

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor The line sprawling along the corridors and staircases of De Doelen, the heart of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, alerted passersby that there was a star in town. The actor in question? German thesp Sandra Hüller, at the festival to support Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” and to give an in-depth talk about her career and latest projects. Hüller, who landed her first Oscar nomination for best actress last week for Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” said she is “definitely not” used to the growing attention.

Liberation which is coming to screens later this year through Signature Entertainment in the UK.Starring Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones), Katrine Greis-Rosenthal (A Fortunate Man), Morten Hee Andersen (Herrens veje), Peter Kurth (Babylon Berlin), Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration), Liberation is directed by Anders Walter (I Kill Giants) from a script he co-wrote with Miriam Nørgaard (The War Show). Here’s the official synopsis.This historical drama will make you question how far you’d go to help someone in need. When a folk high school is turned into an internment camp for German refugees, the headmaster couple Jakob and Lis and their children are thrust into an impossible situation. Should the family help the refugees – or stand firm in the Danish resistance against the Germans? Signature Entertainment presents Liberation on Digital Platforms 29th January.

Nick Holdsworth There is a certain inevitability about a film inspired by Hermann Hesse’s novel “Steppenwolf,” first published in German in 1927, and two famous Westerns of the 1950s — John Ford’s “The Searchers,” and Howard Hawks’ “Red River.” In acclaimed Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s latest film — also called “Steppenwolf” — two characters who are essentially loners existing outside of the usual moral boundaries of the world come together united in a common task: to save a small boy who has gone missing. The world premiere of “Steppenwolf” is slated for International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Big Screen Competition.

open letter from the Strike Germany movement, which called for a boycott of state-funded cultural events, claiming that the “use of McCarthyist policies” suppressed “freedom of expression” in relation to displays of solidarity with Palestine and criticism of the Israeli state.The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism cites examples including “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” and “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”.Strike Germany claimed that the IHRA definition was “increasingly becoming official state policy, effectively censoring criticism of the state of Israel and anti-Zionist perspectives from the German cultural sphere, furthering a dangerous false equivalency that ultimately harms the fight against anti-Semitism”.A post shared by STRIKE GERMANY (@strikegermany)As of Monday (January 22), however, the clause has been dropped. “I must take the legal and critical voices that saw this clause as a restriction on the freedom of art seriously,” said Joe Chialo, Berlin’s culture senator, in a statement (via The Art Newspaper).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Thomas Cailley’s supernatural drama “The Animal Kingdom” and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning “Anatomy of a Fall” are leading the race at the 49th Cesar Awards with 12 and 11 nominations, respectively. Triet’s movie, which just garnered an impressive five Oscar nominations, and “The Animal Kingdom,” which opened at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and won a prize, will vie for for top Cesar awards, including best director and film.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Totem Films, the Paris-based sales and production company known for arthouse breakouts such as “Compartment No. 6” and “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry,” has boarded sales on “My Favourite Cake” by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha. The Iranian writing-directing duo’s latest feature was just announced in competition at the upcoming Berlinale.

Ghostpoet has described the new German culture strike as “misdirected”, while also declaring his support for Gaza.In recent weeks figures from the arts and entertainment industry have voiced their support for the Strike Germany movement in response to the government’s “use of McCarthyist policies that suppress freedom of expression” related to showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.An open letter from the movement claims that Palestine solidarity protests have been “mislabeled as anti-Semitic and banned” while activist spaces are “raided by police, and violent arrests are frequent”.It adds that Strike Germany is a “call for international cultural workers to strike from German cultural institutions”.However, British artist Ghostpoet – real name Obaro Ejimiwe – has expressed scepticism over the strike’s “wave of blanket cancellations”.In an Instagram post shared last week, the Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter wrote that while he shares the anger over “Germany’s unforgivable support of Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians”, it will not “achieve the desired results”.A post shared by Ghostpoet (@ghostpoet)He added that the strike is “misdirected”, because many of the affected institutions are “spaces for dissent against these genocidal policies” but are the ones “paying the price for the government’s position”.Other shortcomings he claimed to be hindering the strike included that there was “no mutual aid plan” that would help provide financial, political, legal and logistical support to strikers, while also noting that arts and culture workers in Germany were “not a cohesive category”.He said most were freelancers whose income depended on exhibitions, gigs and events.“Ultimately, instead of bearing

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall continued its prize-winning run on Monday at France’s 29th Lumière Awards clinching Best Film and Best Screenplay, while its German star Sandra Hüller won Best Actress.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Match Factory has secured the rights for Berlinale Competition title “Dying,” by German director Matthias Glasner. Wild Bunch will be distributing the film in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. Glasner credits include Golden Bear nominees “Gnade” (2012) and “Der Freie Wille” (2006).

The Berlinale put out a statement expressing its sympathy for the “victims of the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East” and making it clear that its 74th edition would be a place for filmmakers on all sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, at its press conference on Monday.

Brian Brobbey has addressed reports linking him with a move to Manchester United - but the 21-year-old says he will be staying in the Eredivisie with Ajax.

So, here we are in mid-January, and though we’re staring down the barrel of a tough year ahead, it’s not all wintry doom and gloom on an international box office (and combined global) level. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights to Lenny and Harpo Guit’s new feature “Heads or Fails,” the duo’s follow-up to Sundance comedy “Mother Schmuckers.” Now in post, “Heads or Fails” tells the story of Armande Pigeon, a queen of shenanigans in Brussels who struggles to make ends meet because she can’t stop gambling on everything, always ending up on the wrong side of luck. When she teams up with Ronnie one night, everything changes – they win it all.

EXCLUSIVE: German Films, the agency that promotes German cinema globally, has unveiled the seven participants for the ninth edition of its annual Face to Face campaign, which include talents who have worked on projects ranging from television series such as Deutschland ‘89 and Kafka to feature film Turning Tables. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Salaud Morisset, the Paris- and Berlin-based sales and production outfit, has closed deals on “Excursion,” Una Gunjak’s feature debut which won the Jury Special Mention at the Locarno Film Festival. Salaud Morisset, which also co-produced “Excursion,” has closed sales deals with Angel Films (Denmark), Filmin (Spain), Zero em Comportamento (Portugal), Access Cinema (Ireland), JUNO11 Distribution (Hungary), Hakka Distribution (Tunisia), Fivia (Slovenia), MCF MegaCom (Montenegro & North Macedonia), No Blink Film (Bulgaria) and Silver Screen (Romania).

Following the success of the official opening season of Aviva Studios, Factory International has announced a captivating line up for its 2024 spring programme at the city's landmark venue.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Jean-Claude Van Damme, the global martial artist turned action hero whose 2021 movie “The Last Mercenary” was a hit on Netflix, has another film on the horizon. He will star opposite Michaël Youn (“BDE”) in “Le jardinier,” another high-voltage action-comedy reuniting him with “The Last Mercenary” director David Charhon.

Cinema export agency Unifrance’s annual international box office report for 2023 revealed on Tuesday that Russia was the top market in terms of admissions for French cinema last year.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Treasure,” a father-daughter road trip drama starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry, has sold worldwide rights to Bleecker Street and FilmNation Entertainment. The movie, formerly titled “Iron Box,” will have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Bleecker Street and FilmNation Entertainment, which recently teamed on “Waitress: The Musical,” will co-distribute the movie theatrically later this year in the U.S.

French cinema saw its fortunes rise at the international box office in 2023 after three difficult Covid-19 and post pandemic years, according to the annual report of export agency Unifrance released on Tuesday.