24/02/2006

Six of the twelve films released yesterday are from across the Atlantic (five US films and one Argentinean title), four are German productions and co-productions (including The Elementary Particles) while the remaining two also come from the "Old Continent."

The Elementary Particles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Franka Potente & Moritz Ble…
interview: Oskar Roehler
film profile] (Elementarteilchen), Oskar Roehler's adaptation of Michel Houellebecq's highbrow novel about two brothers who have nothing in common except their discovery of love and the notion of a couple (see February 11 article), is being distributed by Constantin Film Verleih. Last week, this feature (produced by Bernd Eichinger and Oliver Berben for Constantin Film Produktion), earned actor Moritz Bleibtreu a Silver Bear in Berlin.

Fratricide (Brudermord), by Turkish-born director/producer Yilmaz Arslan (who now lives in Mannheim), also a story about brothers albeit a less introspective and more tragic one, has a more uncertain future. Indeed, despite the Silver Leopard win in Locarno (see August 17 article), this co-production between France and Luxembourg has not yet found a distributor, forcing Arslan to release it himself until it does.

MFA Film Distribution(24 Bilder) is launching Gernstls Reisen – Auf der Suche nach dem Glück, a feature adapted from part documentary/part “on the road” TV show for which Franx X. Gernstl has been travelling throughout Germany meeting regular people for twenty years. Finally, Mitosfilm is distributing Last Minute by Marina Caba Rall, a B&T production about two airport cleaning women who help a prisoner escape.

The two other non-American films coming out this week are Putevoditel, a Ukrainian film in episodes directed by Aleksandr Shapiro (distributed by Freunde d. dt. Kinemathek) and Sky Fighters by Gérard Pirès, a French Top Gun, distributed by 3L.

(Translated from French)