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The popular “School of Magical Animals” movie series continues to find success both at the German box office and around the world. The third film in the franchise has risen to the top spot in German cinemas for four consecutive weeks since its September release.

According to sales agency Epsilon Film, “School of Magical Animals 3” earned over $4.2 million in its first weekend, ranking ninth worldwide. As of mid-October, ticket sales have reached $16.4 million in Germany alone. The first two movies also performed well domestically, together grossing over $36.5 million.

International audience interest in the franchise remains high. Epsilon Film has secured deals for the new movie with distributors across Scandinavia, Hungary, Poland, and former Soviet countries. The films will also air on airlines worldwide.

The movies are based on a popular book series by Margit Auer, which has been translated into 26 languages. Set in a boarding school for magic, the...

Epsilon Film has revealed the first presales deals for family entertainment film “School of Magical Animals 3” as the latest installment in the hit franchise continues to dominate the German box office. The sales agency has also secured worldwide rights to the recently filmed “School of Magical Animals 4.”

Epsilon has closed presale deals on the third installment for Scandinavia (Another World Entertainment), Hungary (Ads), Poland (Nowe Horyzonty), Cis (Voxell), Baltics (Gpi), Israel (Red Cape Distribution), Ex-Yugoslavia (Karantanija Cinemas) and Bulgaria (Pro Films). Worldwide airline rights were sold to Eagle International.

“School of Magical Animals 3” took $4.2 million on its opening weekend at the German box office after it was released on Sept. 26 by Leonine, placing it ninth in the worldwide box office rankings. By Oct. 19, it had grossed $16.4 million. The film continues to dominate the German charts, occupying the number one spot after four weeks on release.

The first two...

They’re back. Rlje Films presents the Stephen King reboot Children of the Corn by Kurt Wimmer on 500+ screens. It’s a redo of the classic 1984 slasher-horror film about kids possessed by a demonic spirit in a dying cornfield, with bloody, rampaging results.

King’s iconic short story features a 12-year-old Nebraska girl who recruits the kids in her small town for a killing spree of all the adults, and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won’t go along with the plan is the town’s only hope of survival. There are some new twists, in Wimmer’s version, the corn is genetically modified. Starring Elena Kampouris, Kate Moyer, Callan Mulvey and Bruce Spence.

The story is great, spawning numerous spinoffs beginning with Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice in 1992 followed by Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest in 1995. Most went direct to video.

There is a casual vibe to The Forger, written and directed by Maggie Peren, that reflects its hero’s stubborn optimism in the face of very real danger. This informal energy feels incongruous to the content at first, lending an uncomfortableness to this true story that proves very effective. Louis Hofmann plays Cioma Schönhaus, a young Jewish man in 1942 Berlin. In order to keep a factory job while the war’s still on, the former art student must endure an anti-semitic boss and brutal conditions so as not to be shipped away to a concentration camp. Meanwhile, his family’s apartment and possessions are set to be taken from him by the government, his parents having already been deported.

Despite all this, his demeanor is pleasant, his manner hopeful. When Franz Kaufmann (Marc Limpach) offers Schönhaus rations and shelter if he’ll forge ID cards that will usher Jews to safety,...

Louis Hofmann as Cioma Schönhaus in Maggie Peren’s daring and intriguing The Forger (Der Passfälscher)

Maggie Peren’s The Forger (Der Passfälscher), shot by Christian Stangassinger, which was a Berlinale Special World Premiere at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival, and was adapted from Cioma Schönhaus’s truly extraordinary memoir, tells the story of a young Jewish man named Cioma (Louis Hofmann) in 1942/43 Berlin. With a graphic design education, he was drafted to work as a skilled laborer in a munitions factory. Thus deemed essential for the war effort, he was spared from being “sent East” together with his entire family.

Maggie Peren with Anne-Katrin Titze on Cioma Schönhaus and the Sterntaler Märchen in The Forger: “Cioma loved German music and he loved German fairy tales, so it is my tribute to him.”

It is the unusually light, almost cheery tone and the protagonist’s trickster charm that sets this film apart.

Kino Lorber hired former AMC Networks execs Ed Carroll and Lisa Schwartz to bolster its executive suite.

Carroll becomes chief strategy officer at the New York-based arthouse film group after three decades at AMC Networks, which included a stint as COO and overseeing series like The Walking Dead, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Schwartz, who worked for two decades at the premium cable channel, most recently ran IFC Films and becomes chief revenue officer at Kino Lorber.

The departures of Carroll and Schwartz from AMC Networks coincided with the recent exit of CEO Christina Spade and company-wife layoffs as chairman James Dolan assumed control of the restructuring media player on an interim basis.

In their new roles, Carroll and Schwartz will work with Kino Lorber chairman and CEO Richard Lorber and COO Martha Benyam to shape the film group’s content and distribution strategies and push further into digital spaces.

Click here to read the full article.

New York-based arthouse distributor Kino Lorber has acquired MHz Networks, the parent company of MHz Choice, an online streaming service dedicated to international television series.

Under the deal, announced Thursday, Kino Lorber will add its library of more than 5,000 titles to MHz Choice, which specializes in non-u.S. TV series, streaming such shows as Scandinavian crime dramas Wallander and Beck, or French period procedural Paris Police 1900. The entire staff of both MHz Networks and Kino Lorber will remain in place, with CEO Frederick Thomas and SVP of Content Strategy Lance Schwulst continuing to lead MHz Networks within Kino Lorber Media Group.

“MHz’s track record of curating best-in-class series from around the world has helped it build one of the most loyal subscriber audiences in streaming,” said Kino Lorber president and CEO Richard Lorber in a statement. “At a time when Hollywood...

Also in contention is Berlin title Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush from Andreas Dresen.

Berlinale titles Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush from Andreas Dresen and We Might As Well Be Dead from Natalia Sinelnikova are among the nine titles in the running for Germany’s submission for the 95th Academy Awards.

Dresen’s comedy-drama screened in competition at this year’s Berlinale where it picked up a Silver Bear for best screenplay and Meltem Kaptan’s lead performance. The Match Factory handles international sales.

Sinelnikova’s social satire We Might As Well Be Dead opened Berlinale sidebar Perspective...

Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release in North America for late 2022.

German sales powerhouse Beta Cinema has announced multiple deals on its Second World War drama The Forger, which will be screening in the Cannes Marché following its Berlinale premiere last February.

The film has sold to North America (Kino Lorber), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Films), China (Huanxi Media Group), Hong Kong (Edko), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Spain (Vercine), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery) and Scandinavia (Future Film).

Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release for late 2022, followed by a digital rollout on all platforms including Kino Now.

The Forger is written and directed by Maggie Peren,...

Travel within Europe is returning to normal as the coronavirus pandemic winds down. The same is not yet true in Asia, where some countries are behind the pandemic curve – Hong Kong is currently closed to all travel from nine countries – making FilMart’s online market a viable way of connecting film industry buyers and sellers without the quarantine and testing hassle.

Eight European sales companies make their FilMart debuts this week on the Europe! Umbrella! stand at this year’s third virtual edition of the Hong Kong rights market. In total, 25 European sales outfits, hailing from eight countries have signed up to use the European Film Promotion-operated platform within a platform.

For Asian distributors which did not make it to Berlin and the European Film Market the umbrella allows them to dip into several Berlinale titles where rights in Asia are still available.

These include Coproduction Office’s Berlin competition...

"Don't go looking at anybody but me." A festival promo trailer has been revealed for this German film The Forger, premiering at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival in just a few weeks playing in the Special Gala section. Based on a true story, German filmmaker Maggie Peren's new film centers on 21-year-old Cioma Schönhaus, a Jewish person living in Berlin in the 1940s. His very existence is threatened by the Nazis, but he won't let anyone take away his zest for life, especially not the Nazis. So he decides to "hide in plain sight" using the identity of a marine officer he creates, throwing himself into the city's nightlife. By day he makes fake IDs to save the lives of others, but it gets riskier and riskier. The filmmaker says this is "the story of a person who rebels against stigmatization. The regime of terror is present, but we do...

Nazi-era drama “The Forger,” starring Louis Hofmann of Netflix’s supernatural series “Dark” and the Oscar nominated “Land of Mine,” has debuted its trailer (below) ahead of its world premiere in the Berlinale Special Gala section of the Berlin Film Festival. Beta Cinema will be selling the film at the European Film Market.

Based on a true story, Maggie Peren’s film centers on 21-year-old Cioma Schönhaus, who won’t let anyone take away his zest for life. He wants to discover life, but as a Jewish person in Berlin in the 1940s his very existence is threatened by the Nazis.

Since the best hiding spots are in plain sight, Cioma decides to go out into the light to escape deportation. Using the identity of a marine officer he created for himself, he throws himself into the city’s nightlife and even finds a fragile hope for love during the darkest moments of the war.

The complete lineup for the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival, taking place February 10-20, 2022, has been unveiled and it’s a major collection of some of our most-anticipated films of the year. As teased yesterday, Claire Denis’ Fire (which now has the title Avec amour et acharnement (aka Both Sides of the Blade)) will premiere in competition, alongside Hong Sangsoo’s The Novelist’s Film, Carla Simón’s Summer 1993 follow-up Alcarràs, Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini, Rithy Panh’s Everything Will Be Ok, and more.

Elsewhere in the festival is Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, Dario Argento’s Dark Glasses, Andrew Dominik’s Nick Cave & Warren Ellis doc This Much I Know To Be True, Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet, Gastón Solnicki’s A Little Love Package, Quentin Dupieux’s Incredible But True, plus new shorts by Lucrecia Martel, Hlynur Pálmason, and more. Also recently announced was the Panorama section, which will open...

Films by auteurs Claire Denis, Hong Sangsoo and Rithy Panh are part of the lineup in competition at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival.

Berlin’s 2022 selection spans 18 movies, seven directed by women, which will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears. The films originate from 15 countries, with 17 serving as world premieres. Two of the films are first features, both from women.

Artistic director Carlo Chatrian discussed the thematic throughline of “human and emotional bonds” across the selection, with the family unit serving as a key focal point in a number of movies. More than half are set in the present time, and two are within the pandemic era.

The festival hosts 12 returning filmmakers, eight of whom are in competition and five of whom already hold a Bear from Berlin.

The festival will go ahead as an in-person event, albeit with seating capacity in movie theaters reduced to 50% and without any parties or receptions.

PoetBerlinale have announced the first 62 titles selected for the 72nd edition of their festival, set to take place physically from February 10 — 20.FORUMAfterwater (Dane Komljen)Poet (Darezhan Omirbayev)The Middle AgesEurope (Philip Scheffner)A Flower in the Mouth (Éric Baudelaire)Memoryland (Kim Quy Bui)My Two Voices (Lina Rodriguez)Nuclear Family (Erin Wilkerson, Travis Wilkerson)Super Natural (Jorge Jácome)The United States of America (James Benning)Forum EXPANDEDDragon Tooth (Rafael Castanheira Parrode)Home When You Return (Carl Elsaesser)Jail Bird in a Peacock Chair (James Gregory Atkinson)Sol in the Dark (Mawena Yehouessi)vs (Lydia Nsiah)PANORAMATalking About the Weather (Annika Pinske)The Apartment with Two Women (Kim Se-in)Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (Nina Menkes)Swing Ride (Chiara Bellosi)Dreaming WallsKlondike (Maryna Er Gorbach)A Love Song (Max Walker-Silverman)Myanmar Diaries (The Myanmar Film Collective)Into My Name (Nicolò Bassetti)Nelly & Nadine (Magnus Gertten)We, Students! (Rafiki Fariala)Until Tomorrow (Ali Asgari...

The 2022 Berlin International Film Festival has revealed its first titles, including seven films that have been invited to the Berlinale Special program. You can see the full list of confirmed films below.

Those seven include Peter Flinth’s Against The Ice, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole, Heida Reed and Charles Dance, and Laurent Larivière’s About Joan, starring Isabelle Huppert, which both play as Berlinale Special Galas.

The Panorama program has unveiled 13 titles, with Generation confirming eight features, and further films set for Forum and Forum Expanded.

The Panorama strand includes Myanmar Diaries, a doc/feature hybrid from the Myanmar Film Collective that highlights violence suffered by Burmese citizens.

“The pandemic has created distances – not only between people but also the way we see the world. Amongst the 2022 selection are films shot during the pandemic, reflecting on how it feels to be disconnected from others. It is with this first...

Other titles on the Beta EFM slate have also been doing brisk business

Munich-based sales agent Beta Cinema has reported multiple deals on its Berlin EFM slate, including brisk sales on its two Berlinale competition titles, Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man and Daniel Brühl’s Next Door.

I’m Your Man, whose star Maren Eggert won Berlin’s first gender-neutral Silver Bear acting prize for best leading performance last week, has gone to France (Haut et Court), Italy (Koch Media), Spain, Portugal and Latin America (Sun Distribution), Scandinavia (Edge Entertainment), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Cis and Baltics (Volgafilm), Poland (Monolith), Hungary (Cirko Film...

Berlinale Competition entries from two actors turned directors, Maria Schrader and Daniel Brühl, were among titles on the Beta Cinema slate at the European Film Market to prove popular among international distributors.

Schrader, an Emmy Award winner as the director of “Unorthodox,” premiered comic-tragic tale “I’m Your Man,” starring Dan Stevens (“Downton Abbey”), Maren Eggert and Sandra Hueller (“Toni Erdmann”), at the virtual market, and Eggert won the festival’s Silver Bear for leading performance. Brühl made his directorial debut with dark comedy “Next Door,” a chamber piece in which he starred alongside “Babylon Berlin’s” Peter Kurth.

“I’m Your Man” is leading the way with a flurry of sales to France (Haut et Court), Italy (Koch Media), Spain, Portugal and Latin America (Sun Distribution), Scandinavia (Edge Entertainment), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Cis and Baltics (Volgafilm), Poland (Monolith), Hungary (Cirko Film), Czech Republic/Slovakia (Film Europe), former Yugoslavia (Discovery...

‘Next Door’ is directed by Daniel Brühl and Dan Stevens stars in ‘In Your Man’.

World sales agent Beta Cinema has swooped on international rights to Daniel Brühl’s directorial debut Next Door and Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man, which will both premiere in Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival (March 1-5).

The Munich-based outfit will introduce the features to buyers at the European Film Market (EFM), which will run alongside this year’s industry-focused, online-only event.

Next Door marks the directing debut of Brühl, who also stars in the black comedy alongside Peter Kurth and Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps.

“The Bike Thief,” “Hello Again – a Wedding a Day” and “Karnawal” are among the hottest titles on Beta Cinema’s sales slate for the virtual version of the American Film Market, which starts Monday.

The Munich-based sales company will give Matt Chambers’ “The Bike Thief” its market premiere at AFM, following its world premiere this week in competition at the Tokyo Film Festival. Beta recently showed the film to select British buyers in a private screening in London and is now negotiating the U.K./Ireland deal.

The movie, starring Alec Secareanu (“God’s Own Country”) and Anamaria Marinca, explores the question of how far a father would go in present-day London to support his family when his only means to provide, his bike, is stolen.

“Hello Again – a Wedding a Day,” another completed title, is attracting strong interest too, Beta Cinema tells Variety. Hot on the heels of its appearance at Rome’s Mia market,...

Altitude’s ‘Rocks’ opens in the UK and Ireland.

France, opening Wednesday, September 16

Two French Cannes 2020 titles were the biggest openers in France this week. Caroline Vignal’s comedy-drama My Lover, My Donkey & I opened on around 460 copies for Diaphana Distribution. This second feature for Vignal stars the popular actress as a school teacher who sets off on a donkey trekking holiday in hot pursuit of her secret lover.

Emmanuel Mouret’s contemporary love-triangle drama Love Affair(s) also launched on around 460 copies for Pyramide Distribution. Camelia Jordana co-stars opposite Niels Schneider and Vincent Macaigne as a pregnant young woman...

Following the cancellation of the Munich Film Festival in April, the event was declared dead for this year. Yet a re-think has seen the creation of a Film Fest Munich pop-up festival, which will take place at a drive-in cinema and an open-air venue.

Starting on July 15 and running through to the end of August, the festival will show seven German films as world premieres. These include Maggie Peren’s “Hello Again,” which will be distributed by Warner Bros., veteran director Klaus Lemke’s “A Call Girl For Ghosts” and the opener, actor Kida Khodr Ramadan’s directorial debut “In Berlin Wächst Kein Orangenbaum.”

Variety can also exclusively reveal that the festival will end on Aug. 26 with the German premiere of Ulrich Thomsen’s “Gutterbee,” with the Danish actor and director in attendance.

Munich Festival Artistic director Christoph Gröner says the decision to cancel the German film festival this year,...

Sales agent Beta Cinema is launching its Cannes Market slate, which is headlined by psychological thriller “Corvidae,” with a playful and novel approach. The company has produced an entertainment show, in the style of a late-night chatshow, featuring its sales team pitching its films and presenting exclusive clips from them. Variety has been given an exclusive sneak peek at the show before it goes live on Friday.

Beta Cinema CEO Dirk Schürhoff is the charismatic host of chatshow “The Beta Cinema Show,” filmed at the company’s offices in Oberhaching, near Munich, while Thorsten Ritter, exec VP acquisitions, sales and marketing, leads the house band on electric guitar. Its sales executives beam in their reports from around the world, while the kangaroo from the hit film “The Kangaroo Chronicles” assists. The tone is fun and tongue-in-cheek, but it’s a serious attempt to add a bit of showbiz pizzazz to the virtual market format.

Germany’s film industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, but the sector remains teeming with opportunities for domestic and international productions and looks set to spring back into action in the coming months.

Boasting 10 federal and regional film funders with more than €330 million ($359 million) for film and TV production and a number of major studio and VFX facilities, the country has become a favorite location for international producers.

Warner Bros.’ “The Matrix 4” and Sony Pictures’ “Uncharted” were all set to shoot at Studio Babelsberg near Berlin before work stopped amid the Covid-19 outbreak in March. While the studio initially let go hundreds of film crew members following the shutdown, it has since reinstated them after securing financial assistance from the federal labor agency, staving off a potential legal dispute.

Other recent international projects that lensed in Germany include Abel Ferrara’s Berlinale screener “Siberia,” starring Willem Dafoe,...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: Brad Pitt, Keira Knightley, George Clooney, Carey Mulligan, Rachel Weisz, Gerard Butler and Ryan Gosling are heading to Toronto for the 36tht international film festival, which kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 8.

The fest today confirmed the hundreds of celebrities that will be attending the can’t-miss event, promoting films and making the rounds as the annual awards season starts to take shape.

Davis Guggenheim, Francis Ford Coppola, Alexander Payne, Luc Besson, Oren Moverman, Malgoska Szumowska, Bennett Miller, Sarah Polley, Jessica Yu, Michael Winterbottom and Werner Herzog are just a few of the filmmakers who have confirmed their attendance.

Celebrities making the trek include Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling, Clive Owen, Jon Hamm, Shahid Kapoor, Michael Fassbender, Michelle Yeoh, Freida Pinto, Glenn Close, Matthew Goode, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Salma Hayek, Viggo Mortensen and Woody Harrelson. Musicians U2, Pearl Jam and Neil Young also are expected to...

Toronto - The 36th Toronto International Film Festival® welcomes hundreds of guests this year. Filmmakers expected to present their world premieres in Toronto include: Davis Guggenheim, Francis Ford Coppola, Alexander Payne, Agnieszka Holland, Guy Maddin, Luc Besson, Bill Duke, Oren Moverman, Malgoska Szumowska, Bennett Miller, Darrell Roodt, Sarah Polley, Jessica Yu, Michael Winterbottom and Werner Herzog.

Actors expected to attend include Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Clive Owen, Gerard Butler, Jeon Do-Yeon, Jon Hamm, Shahid Kapoor, Michael Fassbender, Michelle Yeoh, Freida Pinto, Glenn Close, Matthew Goode, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel Weisz, Ryan Gosling, Salma Hayek, Viggo Mortensen and Woody Harrelson. Musicians include: U2, Pearl Jam and Neil Young.

The Festival also welcomes thousands of producers and other industry professionals bringing films to us.

The following filmmakers are expected to attend the Toronto International Film Festival:

Adam Shaheen, Adam Wingard, Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr., Agnieszka Holland, Akin Omotoso,...

With a total of 50+1 films from around the world, the Contemporary World Cinema programme could very well be a film festival in its own right. Once again loaded in Cannes North American premieres from, the section also includes world preem titles: Xiaolu Guo's UFO in her Eyes, Lynn Shelton's Your Sister's Sister (starring Emily Blunt see pic above), Nacho Vigalondo's Extraterrestrial and Christophe Van Rompaey's Lena. Among Cannes titles we can vouch for, which will play out in the section and happen to tell us that this world is not healthy state of affairs we have Andrey Zvyagintsev's brilliant Elena, Gerardo Naranjo's Miss Bala , and Markus Schleinzer' Michael. Here's the full list: Always Brando Ridha Béhi, Tunisia World Premiere After meeting Anis Raache, a young Tunisian actor who bears a stunning resemblance to young Marlon Brando, Tunisian master Ridha Béhi decided to write a film casting the two.

As noted in previous lineup announcement entries, (Visions, Wavelengths, Future Projections, Galas and Special Presentations), the Toronto International Film Festival (September 9 through 18) has released some of its most anticipated lineups today. We're taking them one at a time, first posting them program by program with descriptions provided by the festival — and then returning over the coming hours and days to add links and further notes. Here's the lineup for the Contemporary World Cinema program.

Karim Aïnouz's The Silver Cliff. A phone message from her husband propels Violeta into the streets of Rio until sunrise. Telling their teenage son that a last minute trip has come up, she sets out to find her husband. Rio at night is her sole companion as she struggles to face his abrupt and sudden change of heart, but the beach also provides renewal, unexpected meetings and a window to a whole other world.

Ozcan Alper's Future Lasts Forever.

Tiff has just announced the final batch of films slated to hit the fest in September. The number of additions is overwhelming. We just posted the complete line-up for the Gala and Special Presentation programs. Now comes the massive wave of movies in the Contemporary World Cinema program. Here is the press release.

Toronto – The Contemporary World Cinema programme delivers 51 cinematic gems from around the globe at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival®. Offering a variety of filmmakers’ voices and perspectives from around the world, the lineup draws from Brazil, China, South Africa, France, Iran, Morocco, the Netherlands, Israel, Portugal, Russia, Canada and more. This snapshot of global trends in cinema also features the North American premieres of new films by directors such as Andrey Zvyagintsev, Gerardo Naranjo, Sion Sono, Asghar Farhadi, Karim Ainouz, Ole Christian Madsen and Cristián Jiménez

Always Brando Ridha Béhi, Tunisia

World Premiere

After meeting Anis Raache,...

After three separate announcements (here, here and here), the Toronto International Film Festival has announced the final line-up for their Galas and Special Presentations, as well as a few other categories. Most notable is Andrea Arnold‘s Fish Tank follow-up Wuthering Heights, the next film from Timecrimes director Nacho Vigalondo, as well as Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos’ Alps.

We also get Whit Stillman‘s Damsels in Distress starring Greta Gerwig and Geoffrey Fletcher’s Violet & Daisy starring Saoirse Ronan and James Gandolfini. In what should be a little fun we have Gary McKendry‘s Killer Elite starring Robert De Niro, Clive Owen and Jason Statham. We also get Owen’s horror flick Intruders and Joel Schumacher‘s Trespass starring Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage. Check out the full line-ups below.

Galas

Closing Night Film

Page Eight David Hare, United Kingdom

International Premiere

Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) is a long-serving M15 officer.

On behalf of IFC Films, we are happy to announce the upcoming release of two films from acclaimed German director Dennis Gansel: We Are The Night, a sexy and suspenseful thriller about a young woman initiated into a trio of beautiful female vampires, and The Wave, a story of a high school experiment in fascism gone badly wrong.

Both films are making their way to U.S. audiences following commercially successful runs in Europe and will have nationwide VOD releases and a limited theatrical run.

Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Entertainment said, “We are thrilled to be introducing Dennis Gansel to U.S. audiences with the release of these two exciting films. Gansel is a smart and entertaining filmmaker with the rare ability to blend big themes, realistic young characters and strong filmmaking techniques into very commercial movies. With vampires at the forefront of popular culture, We Are The...

IN JULY

The well-liked opening film of the festival and a top 10 hit in Germany when it opened in late August, writer-director Fatih Akin's "In July", his second feature, is a fairly traditional romance in the guise of an offbeat road movie.

Moritz Bleibtreu of "Run Lola Run" plays tall, handsome and lovestruck Daniel. Unfortunately for the equally attractive and romantically inclined Juli, which is German for July and the month in which the story takes place, Daniel is not on a quest to win her heart.

The story begins in Hamburg, Germany, and features misadventures in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Physics professor Daniel tries to reach Istanbul, Turkey, for a rendezvous with a beautiful girl he's only seen once or twice. He picks up carefree Juli, played by Christiane Paul, as a traveling companion. The pair met earlier on the sidewalk, when he bought a ring from her. She has chosen him for his manly awkwardness and big heart. He's doesn't pay attention to her, but he can't get along without her.

Unpredictable in a few places and always watchable because of the charismatic duo of Bleibtreu and Paul, "In July" has a terrific soundtrack and a few magical cinematic moments that define true love and prove more effective than the usual mainstream approach.

THE STATE I AM IN

A strong role for up-and-coming actress Julia Hummer (who has a small but memorable part in "Gigantic"), "The State I Am In" is a tense coming-of-age drama about the rebellious daughter of rebellious parents.

Clara (Barbara Auer) and Hans (Richy Muller) are always saying that things will get better. With teenage daughter Jeanne (Hummer), they are hiding out on the coast of Portugal, waiting to move to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and assume new identities.

Although it's never clearly established what past crimes they are guilty of, Jeanne's mom and dad set out to rob a bank in Germany. While Jeanne is a knowing part of their plan, she increasingly resists their attempts to stop her from having a boyfriend. A surfer she meets on the beach, Heinrich (Bilge Bingul), says he's just a "McJobber who loves Brian Wilson," but Jeanne falls in love as best she can. Believably complicated and unable to escape participation in the bloody finale, she is scarred but still standing at the end of director Christian Petzold's tightly wound fourth feature.

FORGET AMERICA

Set mostly in the German town of Aschersleben, this semicomical romantic triangle finds David Marek Harloff) and Benno (Roman Knizka), two best friends who are stuck in a rut, both falling for Anna (Franziska Petri), a would-be actress from nearby Halle. The first solo feature from Munich-based director Vanessa Jopp, "Forget America" is fairly tame but involving. The screenplay by Maggie Peren certainly gives plenty of frustrating moments to lead character David, a photographer who initially lets Benno get the upper hand and spends the rest of the movie regretting it.

The three actors are engagingly attuned to the young and moderately reckless milieu, which includes Benno's business selling vintage American cars and David's dingy life at home with a skinhead younger brother and disabled father. Anna comes in and out of their lives, spending most of her energy on violently emotional Benno while giving David discouraging signals over his obvious infatuation with her. All three unexpectedly underachieve in their dream careers. In the resulting tension, Benno starts to self-destruct, causing Anna to drift toward David.

GIGANTIC

Co-produced by Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run") and directed by one of the actors in that film, Sebastian Schipper, "Gigantic" is an X Filme Creative Pool production that bowed stateside at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. A bit loopy in the storytelling department -- a lot of comedy, adventure and drama is packed into the film's one long night -- "Gigantic" is satisfying enough to interest festival audiences. The character-driven piece follows three male friends in Hamburg, Germany. One of the friends is leaving for faraway places and probably is never coming back.

Walter (Antoine Monot Jr.) owns a big muscle car that transports him and pals Ricco (Florian Lukas) and Floyd (Frank Giering) on a round of adventuring that includes several run-ins with a troupe of angry, Elvis-themed circus performers. Ricco is the noisy daredevil of the group, but reliable Walter and gloomy Floyd -- the one leaving -- are not ones to walk away from a challenge.

They get their wish to experience "gigantic" things when a high-stakes Foosball game with a formidable opponent named Snake goes their way. The game is a lengthy, imaginatively executed sequence. The melancholy sentiments of the night climax when their underage, party-girl companion Telsa (Julia Hummer) almost dies from alcohol poisoning.

David Hunter...