Berlin Competition Titles I’M YOUR MAN and NEXT DOOR sell globally for Beta Cinema

Munich, 11 March 2021. Munich based Beta Cinema Berlinale selling spree and a Silver Bear-Award has led to a row of deals for its competition entries I’M YOUR MAN and NEXT DOOR. The feature films from actors turned directors Maria Schrader and Daniel Brühl were sold to numerous territories throughout the world.
 
Prime Time Emmy Award winner Maria Schrader’s I’M YOUR MAN starring Silver Bear winner Maren Eggert (I Was at Home, But…), Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, Beauty and the Beast) and Sandra Hüller (Toni Erdmann) is leading the way with a flurry of sales to France (Haut et Court), Italy (Koch Media), Spain, Portugal and Latin America (Sun Distribution), Scandinavia (Edge Entertainment), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), CIS and Baltics (Volgafilm), Poland (Monolith), Hungary (Cirko Film), Czech Republic/Slovakia (Film Europe), former Yugoslavia (Discovery Film), Turkey (Filmarti Film), Israel (Nachshon), Greece (Strada Films), Taiwan (Swallow Wings), Korea (Contents Gate) and Hong Kong (EDKO Films),
 
Beta Cinema is in final negotiations with further distributors from the US, Japan, China, and the UK.
 
Alma (Maren Eggert) is a scientist at the famous Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In order to obtain research funds for her work, she is persuaded to participate in an extraordinary study. For three weeks, she has to live with a humanoid robot tailored to her character and needs, whose artificial intelligence is designed to be the perfect life partner for her. Alma meets Tom (Dan Stevens), a machine in human form in a class of its own, created solely to make her happy. A comic-tragic tale about the questions of love, longing and what makes a human being human.
 
I’M YOUR MAN, written by Maria Schrader and Jan Schomburg (Above Us Only Sky) is inspired by Emma Braslavsky’s short story. DoP Benedict Neuenfels (The Counterfeiters, Styx), Editor Hans-Jörg Weißbrich (7500, Colonia) and Letterbox Filmproduktion producer Lisa Blumenberg (Bad Banks) build the extraordinary team behind the film, which will be released by Majestic in German cinemas this summer.
 
Daniel Brühl’s directorial debut NEXT DOOR scored first deals in France (Eurozoom), CIS (Russian Report), Poland (Aurora), Hungary (Cirko Film), Czech Republic/Slovakia (Film Europe), former Yugoslavia (Discovery Film) and the Baltics (Kino Pavasaris). UK, Spain and Scandinavia are in final negotiations.
  
Daniel Brühl also stars in NEXT DOOR next to Peter Kurth (Babylon Berlin, In the Aisles), Aenne Schwarz (All is Well) and Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread). The dark comedy circles around gentrification and social inequality in Berlin. Daniel Brühl provided the original idea and developed the script in collaboration with acclaimed novelist and playwright Daniel Kehlmann (Measuring the World). Internationally renowned producer Malte Grunert (A Most Wanted Man, The Aftermath, Land Of Mine) produced with his company Amusement Park Film and Warner Bros. Film Productions in co-production with Gretchenfilm and Erfttal Film.
 
Also from the EFM slate, the striking debut by Matt Chambers THE BIKE THIEF, starring Alec Secareanu (God’s Own Country) and Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days), was sold to Beijing Hugoeast Media for China, Beta Film for Bulgaria, Discovery for former Yugoslavia and AV-Jet for Taiwan. A deal with Signature in the UK was closed after AFM at the beginning of the year. Further deals are in negotiations.
 
THE BIKE THIEF is a production of Ugly Duckling Films and Ellipsis Pictures, in association with Twickenham Studios.
 
Finally yet importantly, Beta Cinema’s sold Maggie Peren’s “Groundhog Day” meets “My Best Friend's Wedding”  topsy-turvy romantic comedy HELLO AGAIN – A WEDDING A DAY starring Alicia von Rittberg (Ballon) and Edin Hasanovic (You are Wanted) to France (ARP Selection), Spain (Alfa Pictures), Latin Amercia (Great Movies), China (Red Apollo) and CIS/Ukraine (Capella).
 
HELLO AGAIN – A WEDDING A DAY is a Sommerhaus Filmproduktion in co-production with Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany.
 
Beta Cinema’s Thorsten Ritter: “We are quite overwhelmed by the response to our films and the numbers of sales that proved possible, even in these challenging times, when distributors fall in love. We would like to thank Mariette Rissenbeeck and Carlo Chatrian for including I’M YOUR MAN and NEXT DOOR in this year’s Competition, two distinctly accessible films that can cross over to a wide audience. Also a big thank you to the EFM for making this digital event so efficient – and for providing cinema screenings where possible. They were much appreciated, too.”