Die Like A Man in France, Welcome in Spain

France:

Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg will be released in France on Wednesday April 28 by Mars Distribution. The indie stars Ben Stiller as a 40-something man who returns to Los Angeles to decidedly do nothing. The film also stars Greta Gerwig and Rhys Ifans.

Alexandre Arcady’s Comme Les 5 Doigts De La Main was also released on  Wednesday through ARP Selection. The distributor, which recently had a hit with Oscar winner Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire, here turns to a police thriller starring Patrick Bruel, Vincent Elbaz, Pascal Elbe, Eric Caravaca and Caterina Murino. The story follows five brothers raised by their widowed mother who pull together to avenge their father’s death.

Die Like A Man from director Joao Pedro Rodrigues goes out in France via Epicentre Films. The French-Portugal biopic tells the story of Tonia, a transsexual in Lisbon who is threatened by competition from new young entrants on the scene. The film stars Fernando Santos, Alexander David and Goncalo Ferreira de Almeida.

Germany:

Tobis has a nationwide release for Giuseppe Tornatore’s family drama Baaria with subtitled prints showing in cinemas in Berlin, Karlsruhe, Cologne and Munich.

Ten years ago at the Berlinale, Irene Langemann presented four Russian musical prodigies in her documentary Russlands Wunderkinder. A decade later, she returns to her protagonists for Die Konkurrenten – Russlands Wunderkinder 2 to see how their lives and careers have developed. GMfilms opens the film in six cinemas.

Premiered in Karlovy Vary last year, Lithuanian filmmaker Ignas Miskinis’ LowLights had its German premiere in the UCI multiplex in Düsseldorf on April 27. Distributor 3L has booked the film in nine screens in key cities.

UK:

UK production The Disappearance Of Alice Creed gets its local release nationwide through CinemaNX Distribution, from Friday April 30. J Blakeson’s thriller stars Gemma Arteton as Alice, a girl who is kidnapped by two men (played by Eddie Marsan and Martin Compston) and held for a £2m ransom.

Indie distributor Dogwoof Pictures give Claudia Llosa’s The Milk Of Sorrow a release in the West End and in key cities, also from April 30. The Spain-Peru co-production has made $1.9m worldwide to date.

UK-Denmark co-production Valhalla Rising gets a limited release in the UK, through Vertigo Films. Nicolas Winding Refn’s action adventure, set around 1000 yearsBC, follows mute warrior One Eye, played by Mads Mikkelsen.

Spain: 

Vertigo Films will release Laurent Tirard’s latest project Little Nicholas on 76 screens in Spain, before the director takes on the challenge of directing the fourth installment of the popular Asterix series of films. Based on a popular French series of children’s books, Little Nicholas takes a humorous look at the world through the eyes of a young boy. It was a huge hit at home in France taking $45.6m through Wild Bunch distribution.

John Maybury’s romantic drama The Edge Of Love arrives on 102 screens through Deaplaneta, following a lengthy, but quiet run across the rest of Europe, including taking just $2.3m in the UK. The film stars Matthew Rhys as renowned poet Dylan Thomas who is torn between two women, Caitlin (Sienna Miller) and Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley).

Universal brings Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson’s comedy The Invention Of Lying to Spanish screens, following some poor reviews and disappointing box office takings outside the UK. Gervais stars as a lonely scriptwriter caught up in an alternative universe where he is the only person that can lie, while everyone else always tells the truth.

Philippe Lioret’s moving drama Welcome has picked up several awards worldwide, including a couple of small prizes at Berlin and best screenplay at the Gijon Film Festival in Spain last year. Released by Golem on 32 prints, the film follows the journey of 17 year old Kurdish boy Bilal who treks across Europe to see his girlfriend in London, but is stopped in France by immigration laws.