Swiss independent distributor Ascot Elite has picked up three new titles including Stephen Daldry's Bernhard Schlink adaptation The Reader, which began shooting in Berlin and Goerlitz this week with Nicole Kidman, David Kross and Ralph Fiennes.

Senator Entertainment will be releasing The Reader theatrically in Germany and Austria.

The other two new Ascot titles are Frank Darabont's Stephen King adaptation The Mist, starring Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Alexa Davalos, and Larry Charles' docu-comedy Religulous with comedian Bill Maher which is scheduled to be released in the US next Easter and is already being billed as 'the new Fahrenheit 9/11'.