UK enjoys Mid-August Lunch, Hunger in Germany

UK:

Gianni Di Gregorio’sMid-August Lunch (Pranzo di Ferragosto) reaches the UK on August 14 after a series of decent runs in other European territories, including its home market Italy where the film grossed $2.5m. Arthouse distributor Artificial Eye is releasing the film, which goes out on seven screens from Friday.

Revolver Entertainment has US-Mexico co-production Sin Nombreon a limited release, also from August 14. Cary Fukunaga’s drama follows a Honduran teenager and her father who travel to Mexico in an attempt to realise their hopes of a life in America.

A series of Bollywood productions also debut, with Studio 18 releasing Life Partner, Eros International releasing Aladin, and UTV Communications releasing Kaminey.

France:

Neuilly Sa Mere scored a victory on its Wednesday (August12) release with 85,566 admissions in its first day. A comedy for the tween set, the film stars Samy Seghir, Jeremy Denisty, Rachida Brakni in a story about a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who is dropped into the luxurious world of his aunt and uncle who live in Paris’ richest suburb. Gabriel Julien-Laferriere directs the TFM release.

On a more serious note, Catherine Corsini’s Partir opened Wednesday to a strong 35,200 admissions on 253 screens. The Pyramide release stars Kristin Scott-Thomas and Sergi Lopez in the story of a well-off wife and mother who encounters a working man when she decides to return to her career. Their overwhelming passion sees her decide to leave her family. The drama also stars Yvan Attal.

Elia Suleiman’s Cannes competitor Le Temps Qui Reste went out on 101 screens on Wednesday to grab the third place opening by selling 10,447 on its first day. The Palestinian director here traces the life of a family in four parts beginning in 1948. In part autobiographical, the story was inspired by Suleiman’s father’s journals. Saleh Bakri, Yasmine Haj and Leila Muammar star in the Le Pacte release.

Germany:

Arash T. Riahi’s feature debut For a Moment Of Freedom – a tragicomedy about refugees in Ankara awaiting the outcome of their applications for asylum - was opened by Film Kino Text at cinemas with subtitled prints in Düsseldorf, Münster, Hamburg and Frankfurt and three Berlin cinemas,  as well as dubbed prints in Nuermberg and Cologne, among others.

Steve McQueen’s award-winning Hungerwas opened in Germany on Berlin’s FSK-Kino by the small distributor Fugu-Films in collaboration with Ascot Elite Home Entertainment. Fugu, who also released other Irish films such as 32A and Garage as well as Andrea Arnold’s Red Road, has booked the film in coming weeks in Kiel, Cologne, Wiesbaden, Munich and Frankfurt.

The four-hour Japanese film Love Exposure, which was shown at the Berlinale’s International Forum, is released by Rapid Eye Movies (REM) at five cinemas, while Fox release the German-French animation feature Jasper (Jasper Und Das Limonadenkomplott) in over 100 towns nationwide.

Spain:

Cao Hamburger’s Brazilian drama TheYear My Parents Went On Vacationabout a young boy left by his parents to fend for himself during the dictatorship in 1970 will be distributed by Vertigo in Spain. The film has already made a respectable $1.6m in its home country where it picked up a string of awards, but has so far failed to light up the box office elsewhere, taking just $400,000 in Italy last year.

Kenneth Bi’s Taiwanese-Hong Kong-German drama The Drummer, about a troubled young man who flees from his Hong Kong triad family to live in the mountains of Taiwan as a zen drummer, proved popular at Sundance last year where it picked up a critics award. Karma Films are distributing.