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RELEASES Belgium

BFD launch 2 German, 2 French titles

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In the wake of the Oscars, this week sees the release of UK director Stephen Daldry’s German/US co-production The Reader [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

The film tells the story of a young student who discovers that a lover from his youth, Hanna, was a guard at Auschwitz concentration camp. Kate Winslet plays the difficult lead role, which has earned her a string of awards, including the Best Actress Oscar. Berlinale Shooting Star 2009 David Kross (see interview) plays the student.

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Released in Belgium by BFD, The Reader has just enjoyed a successful first weekend on release in Germany. The film was co-produced by The Weinstein CO’s UK arm and Germany’s Babelberg Studios, who have worked on several ambitious US co-productions in recent years, from V for Vendetta [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
to Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film Inglourious Basterds.

BFD are releasing another German co-production: Kazakh director Sergey Dvortsevoy’s Tulpan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, which picked up the Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes and has since enjoyed success on the festival circuit.

Tulpan was co-produced by Germany’s Pandora Films, whose eclectic slate includes titles as diverse as Haile Gerima’s Teza [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Claire Denis’ 35 Shots of Rum [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Norwegian director Bent Hamer’s O’Horten [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

Also on the line-up is François Ozon’s latest film, Ricky [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
. Fond of sudden genre changes, the director launches into social realism, and veers off mid-film into a humanist fable.

On the production side, Ozon forsook Fidélité Films – who have worked with the director since his debut shorts – in favour of Claudie Ossard’s Eurowide Film Production. Cineart are releasing the title on nine screens.

This week’s other French release is Spy(ies) [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, the debut feature by former film critic Nicolas Saada (launched by Victory Productions on nine screens). Starring Guillaume Canet, Géraldine Pailhas and Stephen Rea, this spy thriller opened the latest Mons International Love Film Festival.

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(Translated from French)

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