european film market Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Berlinale is underway with lots of exciting films to hear about. Here's what's been going down in Berlin, where all the falling snow has people thinking they're still at Sundance:

Golden Bear awards: Sir Ian McKellan (pictured) was awarded an Honorary Golden Bear, the Berlinale's top prize, at a ceremony following a special screening of his 1995 film Richard III, shown in tribute to McKellan. Polish director Andrzej Wajda is also to receive an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement during the fest.

The sun went down on Sundance without festival audience fave and jury winner Quinceañera finding distribution, but it didn't take long for the film to get picked up in the opening days of the European Film Market at the Berlinale. According to indieWIRE, Celluloid Dreams, which last year handled 40 Shades of Blue and Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know, acquired Quinceañera for an undisclosed sum.

Cinematical reviewed Quinceañera during Sundance, and also interviewed directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland.

UPDATE: Cinematical just heard from director Wash Westmoreland, who confirmed that Celluloid Dreams are handling foreign sales for Quinceañera and are "knocking out territories left and right". American rights for the film, says Westmoreland, are "still up in the air, but we have some great possibilities".

We reported during Sundance that The Night Listener, Patrick Stettner's adaptation of the Armistead Maupin novel, sold North American rights to Miramax. The film, about a radio talk show host who gets involved in the tale or horrific abuse of a young listener - and then questions whether the tale, and the boy, are even real, stars Robin Williams, Toni Collette, Sandra Oh and Rory Culkin. 

Things just keep getting better and better for the flick - the film has been added as a "surprise screening" (well, it's not so much a surprise, really, as a previously unannounced engagement) to the 2006 Berlinale, which starts today. In addition to scoring a slot a the Berlinale, Indiewire notes that even before the Berlinale's all-important European Film Market, Fortissimo Films, the flick's sales co, is reporting The Night Listener has scored sales in Germany, Israel,  Taiwan, Thailand, Czech Republic, Turkey, UK, Australia, and Scandinavia - which doesn't leave too much of the free world for the film to still conquer.