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BERLINALE 2025 EFM

Luxbox to sell two Golden Bear contenders at Berlin

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- The French international sales agent will be betting on Kontinental ‘25 by Radu Jude and The Message by Iván Fund in competition

Luxbox to sell two Golden Bear contenders at Berlin
Kontinental ’25 by Radu Jude

The year 2025 begins under the best auspices for Luxbox (lead by Fiorella Moretti). In competition last year in Berlin with Who Do I Belong To [+see also:
film review
interview: Meryam Joobeur
film profile
]
and in Cannes with the award-winning All We Imagine as Light [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the French international sales company will return to the European Film Market (13 to 19 February) at the Berlinale with two Golden Bear hopefuls in its lineup: Kontinental ‘25 by Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude and The Message by Argentinian director Iván Fund.

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Familiar with the Berlinale, where he won the Golden Bear in 2021 with Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile
]
and a Silver Bear for Best Directing in 2015 with Aferim! [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile
]
, and where he had started out with The Happiest Girl in the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
in 2009 in the Forum (a section in which he’s also presented Uppercase Print [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
and The Exit of the Trains [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrian Cioflâncă
film profile
]
in 2020), the prolific Radu Jude has also shined in Karlovy Vary in 2018 (Crystal Bear with "I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians" [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) and in Locarno (Special Jury Prize with Scarred Hearts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile
]
in 2016 and with Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile
]
in 2023). Starring Eszter Tompa, Gabriel Spahiu, Adonis Tanța, Oana Mardare and Șerban Pavlu, his new opus, Kontinental ‘25 (written by the filmmaker himself), centres on Orsolya, a bailiff in Cluj, the main city in Transylvania. One day she must evict a homeless man who lives in the basement of a building, an act that will have tragic consequences and will trigger a moral crisis that Orsolya tries to overcome as best she can… The production is led by Saga Films (Romania) with RT Features (Brazil), Bord Cadre Films (Switzerland), Sovereign Films (UK) and Paul Thiltges Distributions (Luxembourg) in co-production.

Luxbox is also selling The Message, the 8th fiction feature (since 2009) by Argentinian filmmaker Iván Fund who reaches the competition of one of the biggest festivals for the first time, after getting noticed in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard in 2010 with Los labios and in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori in 2021 with Dusk Stone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iván Fund
film profile
]
. Written by the director and his compatriot Martín Felipe Castagnet, the script of The Message plunges into the Argentinian countryside where the special gift of a teenage girl gives her opportunistic guardians the idea of offering consultations with an animal medium in order to earn their living. In the lead roles are Mara Bestelli, Marcelo Subiotto, Anika Bootz and Betania Cappato. The production will be handled by Argentinian outfits Rita Cine and Insomnia Films, with Blurr Stories (Argentina), Amore Cine (Spain), Panes 360 Contenidos (Spain) and Animista Cine (Uruguay) in co-production.

Jennyfer Gautier’s Luxbox sales team will also pre-sell the feature Marie & Jolie by French-Tunisian filmmaker Erige Sehiri (appreciated in Directors’ Fortnight in 2022 with Under the Fig Trees [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Erige Sehiri
film profile
]
), currently in post-production. Starring Aïssa Maïga, Laetitia Ky and Deborah Naney, this production brings together Tunisian outfit Henia Production and French company Maneki Films.

Also worth noting in the lineup is Red Rocks by Bruno Dumont (produced by French outfit Tessalit Productions with Italian company Nightswim, Belgian outfit Novak Prod and Portuguese outfit Rosa Filmes) which should go into production this year.

(Translated from French)

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