EXCLUSIVE: Company racks up sales on Margarethe von Trotta’s The Misplaced World ahead of Berlinale premiere.

Paris-based sales powerhouse Wild Bunch has unveiled a packed EFM slate, including Margarethe von Trotta’s The Misplaced World, Michel Franco’s English-language debut Chronic and The Goetz Brothers’ Martyrs.

The company is already reporting strong business ahead of the Berlinale Special premiere for The Misplaced World, about a German jazz singer who discovers a family secret when she heads to New York to track down an opera singer who resembles her late mother.

It is von Trotta’s first film since her 2012 Hannah Arendt, which played successfully in theatres worldwide.

So far, The Misplaced World has been picked up for Spain (Golem Distribucion), Greece (Strada Films) Portugal (Leopardo Filmes), Hungary (Vertigo Films), Israel (Nachshon Films), Turkey (Calinos Film), Brazil (Mares Films) and Japan (Gaga Corporation). Van Trotta’s long-time distributor Concorde will release the film in Germany.

Wild Bunch co-chief Vincent Maraval is also expecting buzz around the world premiere at the EFM on February 7 of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s highly anticipated Wolf Totem (pictured) ahead of its Chinese release via the China Film Group on February 13 and in France via Mars Distribution on February 25.

“It’s Annaud’s most powerful work in years… it will captivate children and adults alike,” said Maraval of the film about an exiled young academic who develops a bond with a pack of wolves on the Mongolian Steppes. “Everyone’s fascinated by the way in which the production managed to work with the wolves.”

Most key territories have sold except for Germany, where there is strong interest from more than one party, and the UK.

New Titles

New additions to the Wild Bunch slate include Michel Franco’s first English-language feature Chronic starring Tim Roth as a talented nurse for terminally ill patients who is burdened by a guilty secret.

Franco and Roth decided to work together after meeting at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012, where the film-maker’s previous feature After Lucia won Un Certain Regard and Roth served on the jury.

“Franco had already written the script at that point but the protagonist was a woman,” said Maraval. “The pair met at Cannes and hit it off and decided they wanted to work together so Franco changed the protagonist into a man.”

The company will also launch sales on thriller Martyrs by Kevin and Michael Goetz, who are better known as The Goetz Brothers. It follows Scenic Route, about two friends who get lost in Death Valley, which was well received by audiences at SXSW in 2013.

Martyrs revolves around a young woman who hunts down the family that imprisoned and tortured her as a young child. It is inspired by Pascal Laugier’s cult classic.

Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, which produced Paranormal ActivityInsidious and The Conjuring, is producing alongside The Safran Company.

Other new titles include Romanian Cannes habitué Corneliu Porumboiu’s comedy The Treasure, about two men on a quest to discover a treasure trove supposedly buried in one of their back gardens.

First Images

Also at the EFM, Wild Bunch will show first images of Valerie Donzelli’s previously announced costume drama Marguerite And Julien starring Anaïs Demoustier and Jérémie Elkaïm as an incestuous aristocratic brother and sister.

It is based on the true story of siblings Julien and Marguerite de Ravalet who were executed in the early 17th century on charges of adultery and incest as well as a screenplay originally written by Jean Gruault for François Truffaut.

The company will also show a promo reel for Japanese Kore-eda Hirokazu’s newly titled Our Little Sister, which is described as a poetic tale of love and family ties.

It is based on Akimi Yoshida’s graphic novel Umimachi Diary about three sisters who bond with a younger half-sister on the death of their estranged father and invite her to live with them in their big house in the city of Kamakura.

Gaga is handling Asian territories.

Wild Bunch might also be in a position to unveil a few first extracts of Tahar Rahim and Adèle Exarchopoulos playing opposite one another in Elie Wajeman’s 19th century costume thriller The Anarchists. This has yet to be confirmed.

Rahim plays a police infiltrator in a race against time to stop an attack by a gang of anarchists. His mission is complicated when he falls for the girlfriend of the leader, played by Exarchopoulos.

Other previously announced titles on Wild Bunch’s EFM slate include Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s poetic Evolution, Damien Odoul’s drama The Fear, Bruno Podalydes’ off-beat comedy The Sweet Escape, Philippe Garrel’s In The Shadow Of Women and Luc Jacquet’s bio-doc Ice And The Sky about celebrated French glaciologist Claude Lorius.