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RELEASES Germany / Austria

Potter wards off competition

by 

It is certainly not unusual for there to be fewer new releases during the summer season, but this week they seem to be particularly thin on the ground, due to a stroke of magic called Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(launched yesterday in Germany and Austria by Warner).

Alongside this major production, Austrian theatres today welcome just one other title: French director-actress Julie Delpy’s The Countess [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anna Maria Mühe
film profile
]
, a reinterpretation, focusing on amorous passion and vanity, of the legend of the "bloody countess" Erzébet Bathory.

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This French/German co-production, starring Delpy, Daniel Brühl, William Hurt and Anamaria Marinca, was presented in the Panorama section at the latest Berlin Film Festival (see review). Distribution is being handled by Filmladen .

Meanwhile, an unusual local production is hitting German theatres: renowned dramatist Gesine Danckwart’s debut film LifeTimeShort. This plotless film includes six monologues by six women (fighter, great lady, politician...) in a state of permanent survival, where the soliloquies feed simultaneously into a dialogue between theatre and cinema. The film is being released by It Works! Medien.

Besides another US film, German audiences will also have the chance to discover Marco Bechis’ Italian/Brazilian drama Birdwatchers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, in which a group of indigenous people rise up against the rich Brazilian landowners (distributed by Pandora).

Also on the line-up is Danièle Thompson’s French ensemble comedy Change of Plans [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, which sees Karin Viard, Dany Boon, Patrick Bruel and Pierre Arditi invited to fashionable dinner parties (distributed by Prokino). Next week, the film will be launched in Austria by Polyfilm.

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(Translated from French)

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