Russian distributor Volga enters sales arena

Russian distributor Volga Films, whose acquisitions include The Hunger Games franchise, The Artist and Paddington, is entering the international sales arena with local-language supernatural horror Queen Of Spades: The Dark Rite.

Deals have closed with Line Tree Entertainment for South Korea and Purple Plan Pte for Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos while negotiations are underway for the UK, Germany, Japan, Turkey and Middle East.

Volga releases in Russia this week.

Queen Of Spades: The Dark Rite – about a group of teenagers who follow an ancient ritual of summoning an ominous entity known as the Queen of Spades - is the first of three sales titles the company has picked up to date.

The firm will predominantly sell local-language fare but is selling Eastern Europe rights to US family-sci-fi Earth To Echo, which it picked up from Relativity, and may add additional English-language titles for international sales in the future. 

London-based Anna Krupnova will act as a full-time sales consultant for Volga, reporting to LA-based CEO Sergei Yershov, who is attending the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).