North American deals have signed by Berlin‘s m-appeal for Michiel ten Horn’s The Deflowering of Eva van End and Michael Mayer’s Out in the Dark.

New York-based Film Movement beat off competition to pick up US and Canadian rights for the edgy satire from feature debutant ten Horn after its world premiere in Toronto.

There are now plans to release The Deflowering of Eva van End theatrically in the second quarter of 2013.

“This is hands down one of the funniest films we have seen in a long time,” said Rebeca Conget, Film Movement’s VP of acquisitions and distribution.

In addition, m-appeal has sold the black comedy to Turkey’s first digital platform, Digiturk.

Out in the Dark sales

Meanwhile, Michael Mayer’s politically charged love story between an Israeli and a Palestinian, Out in the Dark – which also premiered in Toronto - has been sold to Breaking Glass Pictures for the US and Canada, as well as to France (Outplay), Germany (Pro-Fun Media), Benelux (ABC Distribution) and Brazil (Vinny Filmes).

A deal has also been closed with Spain’s Surtsey Films, which is planning a theatrical release in the second half of 2013.

Marathon von Praunheim project

In addition, m-appeal has taken on international sales for Rosa von Praunheim’s latest project, Rosa’s World (Rosas Welt), which consists of 70 new titles including short and medium-length features and documentaries, with a total running time of 20 hours.

Von Praunheim has been working on this marathon project for the past two years in time for his 70th birthday on Nov 25.

The films will be presented as world premieres in 13 separate programmes at this week’s Hof Film Days (Oct 23-28).

A 700-minute selection from Rosa’s World will be shown by the Berlin-Brandenburg public broadcaster rbb on Nov 24 from 8.15pm to 8.25am, while Basis Filmverleih will later release the films into German cinemas.

Hof Film Days

Hof’s 46th edition – as ever under the direction of Heinz Badewitz, the film world’s second longest serving festival director after Chicago’s Michael Kutza – opens on Tuesday evening with Daria Onyshchenko’s graduation film Eastalgia from Munich’s Academy for Television & Film (HFF)

No less than 25 German feature films and documentaries – more than a third of Hof’s programme (excluding the shorts) – have been selected, including debuts by Stefan Hering (Abseitsfalle), Pola Shirin Beck (Am Himmel der Tag), Boris Kunz (Drei Stunden), Carsten Pütz (Die Tage dazwischen), and a film homage to mentor and friend von Praunheim, Rosakinder, by Chris Kraus, Tom Tykwer, Julia von Heinz, Axel Ranisch and Robert Thalheim.

International titles screening will include Stefan Ruzowitzky’s US production Deadfall, Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio, Barbara Albert’s Die Lebenden and Ben Lewin’s The Sessions.

Topics