Germany's EOS Distribution saidthat Germany's Oscar hopeful The Downfall by Oliver Hirschbiegel has nowbeen sold in more than 25 territories and demand from buyers is still strong.

Thefilm, which puts a human face on tyrant Adolf Hitler, was last week sold toSandrew Metronome for Scandinavia and to Best Hollywood for Hungary. EOS alsoconfirmed that TF1 has bought all rights for France. The film is now likely tobe released by TFM with TF1 Films' Patrick Binet seeking a release as soon aspossible in order to capitalise on the Oscar run and the current controversysurrounding the film.

EOS' Dirk Schuerhoff told ScreenDaily.comthat he has four firm offers on the table from the UK. "This is a situationwhich happens once in ten years for a German film." He said that the company isalso in active negotiations concerning a North American sale, but that theOscar qualification and nomination process meant the deal is unlikely to besealed imminently.

EOS, which recently bought Beta Film, will now changeits name to Beta for film sales purposes. The EOS label will continue to beused for production. EOS' Andreas Rothbauer will be at next week's Mifed andSchuerhoff will attend the AFM.