German world sales company Bavaria Film International (BFI) and X-Filme Creative Pool, producer of the Berlinale's opening film Heaven, have agreed to expand their existing working relationship.

"Our goal is to intensify the co-operation with X Filme on an informal basis, which could go over and above the world sales business to include greater co-operation with the distribution arm X Verleih", said BFI managing director Michael Weber, "and also see us helping to look in Europe for partners who are interesting for X-Filme".

As part of the new agreement between the two companies, BFI will handle international sales for the new films by X-Filme partners Wolfgang Becker (Good Bye, Lenin!) and Dani Levy (Väter) as well as Horst Sczerba's Herz, the X-Filme co-production of the children's film Mozart - Kleiner Erbe Auf Vier Pfoten and X Verleih's pickup of Fatih Akin's Solino (produced by Wueste Film).

BFI's co-operation with the Berlin-based production powerhouse began at the Berlinale in 1998 with the handling of Becker's Life Is All You Get (Das Leben Ist Eine Baustelle) and was followed by Tom Tykwer's Wintersleepers before the international breakthrough with Tykwer's Run Lola Run.

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