03/02/2022 - The Berlin-based company will present the upcoming Love Thing by Anika Decker, Dieter Berner's Alma & Oskar, Thomas Roth's Schächten and Leander Haussmann's A Stasi Comedy

Berlin-based sales agent and distributor Picture Tree International has announced the titles that it will be showing off to buyers at the hybrid EFM (10-17 February) in various virtual and private screenings. These include upcoming releases as well as films that have recently premiered at international festivals.

Among the forthcoming highlights is the anticipated box-office hit Love Thing [+see also:
interview: Anika Decker
film profile] by Anika Decker (High Society), starring Elyas M’Barek (What We Wanted [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Nightlife [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]). Picture Tree will present a first teaser trailer to select buyers, and the Constantin Film production is set for release on 7 July.

Also kicking off with a first teaser trailer is Alma & Oskar [+see also:
film review
film profile], about the legendary affair between Alma Mahler and Oskar Kokoschka. Directed by Dieter Berner (Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), the film stars Emily Cox (Netflix's The Last Kingdom) as Mahler and introduces Valentin Postlmayr as Kokoschka. Currently in early post-production, the film is expected to be released in mid-2022 and is lead-produced by Austria’s Film AG, in co-production with Germany's Wüste Film, Switzerland's Turnus Film and the Czech Republic's Dawson Film.

Currently in post-production, with a first promo and a domestic release planned for autumn 2022, is Schächten by Austrian director Thomas Roth, who depicts the true story of a young Jewish man in post-war Vienna, whose failed trial against the killer of his family tragically shows the entanglements of society and the system in the 1960s with recent dark episodes of history and the urge for retribution by survivors.

Also released by Constantin Film on 19 May and produced by UFA Fiction is Leander Haussmann’s A Stasi Comedy, with a stellar German cast including David Kross (Ballon [+see also:
trailer
film profile], The Keeper [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marcus H Rosenmüller
film profile]), Henry Hübchen (The Kangaroo Chronicles [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Tom Schilling (Fabian - Going to the Dogs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Albrecht Schuch
film profile]).

After its world premiere at Locarno, a record eight Swiss Film Award nominations and three gongs, including Best Director, at the recent Max Ophüls Festival (see the news), Swiss DoP Lorenz Merz's directorial debut, Soul of a Beast [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lorenz Merz
film profile], is set for its North American premiere at the Miami International Film Festival, ahead of its theatrical release in Switzerland by Ascot Elite in April.

Finally, Without Her by exciting first-time Iranian director Arian Vazirdaftari, whose short Like a Good Kid: Mesle Bache Adam competed in the Cannes Cinéfondation in 2018, follows in the footsteps of Asghar Farhadi with an identity story set against the backdrop of immigration. It is set to premiere at the Fajr Film Festival.

At the virtual EFM, Picture Tree International will also be screening Oliver Hirschbiegel’s The Painter (Germany), Darin J Sallam's Farha (Jordan), Johanna Vuoksenmaa's 70 Is Just a Number (Finland), Peter Dalle's Till Sun Rises (Sweden), Andreas Schmied's Chasing the Line [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Austria) and Sönke Wortmann's Contra (Germany).