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Three films premiered in the Locarno Int. Competition and one premiered on the Piazza Grande have been picked up just after the Festival
The New York based sales company VisitFilms picked up the international rights of Shirley Adams, a truly moving first time feature from Oliver Hermanus, an up and coming South African director who is now in residence at the Cinéfondation. The film premiered in Locarno in the Official competition at the 62nd Locarno Film Festival and was produced by Jeremy Nathan & Michelle Weatlley, executive producer Centropolis, London Film School & Dv8 films. The 25 year old Hermanus said "it’s about race, and crime in post apartheid South Africa, but at its core it is simply a film about a woman, named Shirley Adams”.
After the international premiere in the Filmmakers of the present competition of the Locarno Festival, the sales company Wide Management picked up the international rights of Men on the Bridge, first feature directed by Asli Özge and produced by Fabian Massah, which won the ‘Best Film’ awards in both Istanbul and Adana Film Festivals. Men on the Bridge will continue within the festival circuit at events such as Toronto, London, Sarajevo, Reykjavik.
Ozge added that Men on the Bridge want to focus how the fear of an uncertain future shapes the daily lives of young people in today’s Istanbul”.
Özge is currently working on her follow-up feature Asphyxia, which has received the script development award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival's Balkan Fund. The project is also selected for the Nipkow Programm, a fellowship programme supported by Media and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.
For the first time attending the Locarno Film Festival, the Austrian based sales company EastWest Film Distribution picked up the A Real Life (Au voleur) directed by Sarah Leonor and produced by Michel Klein and Laetitia Fèvre and the associate producer Jerôme Larcher, which premiered in the official competition in Locarno fest.
Leonor added that A Real life treads a thin line between naturalism and stylization, this balance imposing itself instinctively during the shooting. "I have the feeling I found a cinematographic language that suits me, condensed and intense".
And last but not least, after the enthusiastic premiere screening on the Piazza Grande of Locarno, the french sales company Films Distributions bought the international rights of the "Variety Piazza Grande Award" Same Same but different directed by Detlev Buck, based on the autobiographical report by Benjamin Prüfer and produced by Claus Boje with David Kross who gained international recognition with the "The Reader" beside Kate Winslet, directed by Stephen Daldry and with Apinya Sakuljaroensuk wich debuted in 2007 in "Ploy", written and directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and she received several prizes and was awarded „Best Supporting Actress“ at the Asian Film Award.
Same Same but different tells an unusual, modern love story. A young German falls for a Cambodian girl and stays by her side, even though she is HIV positive. Buck ad "Since film school I always wanted to shoot a movie about true love. Not only a love interest sidekick within another story but just about love. For years I couldn’t find the right story for my film. Until now. With the true story of Benjamin and Sreykeo I have found what I was looking for."