‘Je Suis Karl’: First Clip of Berlinale Film on Rise of European Fascism (EXCLUSIVE)

Christopher Vourlias European Film Promotion, a network of 37 film promotion bodies from across the continent, is gathering 29 European sales companies from nine nations under the Europe! Umbrella at the virtual edition of the Hong Kong Intl. Film & TV Market (FilMart).For the second year running the annual event has been moved online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe European Film Promotion organization is poised to return to Hong Kong’s FilMart with a virtual booth that befits this year’s online-only edition of the film rights market.

Young Europeans' swerve toward the right and far right gets another movie thrown at it with the premiere of Je Suis Karl, from German director Christian Schwochow (November Child, Cracks in the Shell).

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market had a successful 2021 online edition with the participation of 12,000 attendees from 131 countries. The industry event, which took place March 1-5, gathered 504 exhibitors — 215 of which were newcomers at EFM — from 60 countries.

Berlin’s Netflix Film MarketFor the last two years, a Netflix panel was the hottest ticket at the Berlinale Series Market Conference. But the U.S.

Christina Ricci has nabbed the lead role in Monstrous, the supernatural thriller from director Chris Sivertson and screenwriter Carol Chrest. Film Mode Entertainment is handling international sales at the virtual Berlin market in partnership with Screen Media, which has acquired the world rights outside of North America, U.K., Japan and the Middle East.

With 2012’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter sadly yet to have spawned a Marvel-style cinematic universe, Karl Marx and neck-chomping Dracula types might seen unlikely movie bedfellows. But the two collide like never before in a 2021 Berlinale Encounters title that also boasts one of the festival’s most eye-catching film loglines.

This year, more than most, Berlin's European Film Market was an opportunity to gauge the health of the global indie industry. Judging from the business done over the past week — the 2021 EFM wraps Friday — the general assessment would be: The patient is stable and the prognosis is promising.

Naman Ramachandran The Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear for best film has been won by “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” (Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc), directed by Radu Jude and produced by Ada Solomon.The international jury, made up of former Golden Bear winners, includes Mohammad Rasoulof from Iran, Nadav Lapid from Israel, Adina Pintilie from Romania, Ildikó Enyedi from Hungary, Gianfranco Rosi from Italy and Jasmila Žbanić from Jasmila Zbanic from Bosnia and Herzegovina.More to

In Dasha Nekrasova’s feature directorial debut, The Scary of Sixty-First, New York City is a desolate place. The sky is a muddy beige with no indication of sun.

Christopher Vourlias Dogwoof has taken U.K. rights to the Sundance World Documentary Cinema selection “Taming the Garden,” from Georgian director Salomé Jashi.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterLena Dunham just wrapped her first feature film as a writer-director in over a decade.“Sharp Stick,” an indie financed by FilmNation that will screen for potential buyers on Tuesday out of the Berlin International Film Festival, was shot successfully in secret and in compliance with COVID-19 protocols in Los Angeles over the past months.While plot details are under wraps, the film stars Kristine Froseth (“The Assistant,” “Looking for Alaska”), Taylour Paige

Hungary’s most recent contribution to the implacable flow of war films pouring out of Eastern Europe is a far cry from the Russian tank operas and spectacular disaster films like Battle of Leningrad. Denes Nagy’s sensitive first featureNatural Light (Termeszetes feny), bowing in Berlin competition, is the opposite of these: a slow starter high on atmosphere but low on action, whose horrific main event takes place discreetly off-screen.

Spain brings an extraordinary gamut of movie titles to Berlin. Some highlights:“All the Moons,” (Igor Legarreta)A France-Spain co-production, “All the Moons” tracks two vampires in the northern Spain during the last Carlist war.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films has come on board to handle world sales on “House Arrest,” a satirical drama directed by critically acclaimed Russian helmer Aleksey German Jr. (“Dovlatov”) that tackles Russia’s judicial system.“House Arrest” follows David, a Russian university professor who takes to social media to criticize his city’s administration and the Mayor’s dodgy dealings.

Jamie Lang A year after featuring as the European Film Market’s focus country, Chile returns with a delegate of more than 20 producers who will participate in a virtual stand, backed by ProChile and the Ministry of Culture.Bastard.

Uncharted Territory and Rise Pictures have greenlit an animated film adaptation of Igraine the Brave, a children's fantasy novel from bestselling author Cornelia Funke (Inkheart). Holger Tappe (Animals United) will direct the movie together with Oscar-winning visual effects artist Volker Engel (Independence Day).

A year into the coronavirus pandemic, executives setting up Zoom meetings and preparing to stream promos for Berlin's 2021 European Film Market — which kicks off Monday and runs through March 5 — are taking stock after 12 extraordinary months that have transformed the independent film industry. Many expect the all-virtual Berlin market will be the real test of the health of the indie biz.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBy any terms, Berlin’s 2021 European Film Market will deliver its smallest pre-sales market in years.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentRyan Gosling, Shailene Woodley, Milla Jovovich and Catherine Deneuve headline new movie projects at a 2021 Berlin market that looks set, however, to deliver a slimmed down version of prior editions.It could hardly be otherwise.