ScreenDaily’s weekly look at the local and independent openings in key markets this week.

UK:

Optimum Releasing are Jacques Audiard’s Cannes grand jury prize winner A Prophet nationwide from Friday January 22.  The follows a young Arab man in a French prison, where he begins to build power.

Music documentary No Distance Left To Run, about the reunion of Britpop giants Blur gets a selected release through Arts Alliance Media, from Tuesday January 19. Directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, the film features contributions from band members Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree.

Germany:

Joachim Lafosse’s coming of age drama Eleve Libre is given a platform release in a subtitled print by Pro-Fun at Frankfurt’s Mal seh’n Kino.

Documentary filmmaker Christian Poveda paid the ultimate price for his portrait of one of the most dangerous gangs in El Salvador in La Vida Loca when he was killed last September. The Ascot Elite release has been booked by Real Fiction in cinemas in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg.

Detlev Buck’s Same Same But Different, a love story between a young German backpacker and a Cambodian prostitute, had its world premiere at last summer’s Locarno Film Festival, where it won the Variety Piazza Grande Award. Distributor Delphi staged premieres in Hamburg and Berlin before launching the film at more than 80 towns and cities throughout Germany.

Christian Ditters returns with The Crocodiles 2 (Vorstadtkrokodile 2), the sequel to last year’s The Crocodiles (Vorstadtkrokodile), which brought in over $4.4m (€3.1m) in takings. Constantin will give the latest installment a nationwide release. It stars Nick Romeo Reimann, Fabian Halbig, Leonie Tepe, Manuel Steitz, with Nora Tschirner, Smudo, Maria Schrader, Dietmar Bär in the adult roles.

Spain: 

Universal will release Spanish director Jose Luis Aleman’s horror La Herencia Valdemar nationwide this weekend. The film stars Silvia Abascal as an expert on old house who disappears after going to view a Victorian mansion. The following investigation finds the house is haunted by its by previous occupants. With strong backing from respected producers Origen Producciones and a decent marketing campaign from the US studio, Aleman’s film should perform well, especially in a territory renowned for producing and appreciating horrors.

Renowned French director Francois Ozon’s comedy drama Ricky hits local cinemas through Wanda Vision on 37 screens, following a surprisingly disappointing run in France where it took just $1.6m. Based on a short story by British writer Rose Tremain, Ricky is about a working class family who give birth to a special baby that sprouts wings.

New World is hoping to succeed with Henry Bean’s Thriller Noise at the box office despite disappointing results in other territories. It stars Tim Robbins as a man who takes vigilante action against all the noise in New York City. 

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