BETA CINEMA PICKS UP BERLINALE ENTRY CICADAS BY INA WEISSE, STARRING NINA HOSS

Beta Cinema announced today that they will handle international sales for CICADAS (ZIKADEN), a German-French production set to world-premiere in the Berlinale Panorama section. CICADAS marks the highly anticipated reunion of writer-director Ina Weisse and renowned actress Nina Hoss, following their critically acclaimed collaboration on The Audition. CICADAS tells the story of Isabell (Nina Hoss), whose life takes a turn when the enigmatic Anja (Saskia Rosendahl), a single mother and her young daughter, Greta, weave themselves into her life. When her aging parents increasingly need more help and her complicated marriage with Philippe (Vincent Macaigne) takes another peak, Isabell’s sense of control falters…

Ina Weisse is a German actress, screenwriter and director. Her directorial debut The Architect starred Josef Bierbichler, Matthias Schweighöfer and Sandra Hüller and premiered at the Berlinale in 2009. The documentary The Neue Nationalgalerie about Mies van der Rohe’s world-famous work followed in 2017. The gripping drama The Audition premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2019 and went on to screen at numerous film festivals worldwide, procuring the Best Actress Awards to Nina Hoss at the film festivals in San Sebastian and Stockholm. As an actress, Ina Weisse also is highly popular throughout Germany, looking back on a career spanning more than 30 years, including outstanding performances in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s two-time Academy Award nominated Never Look Away (2018) and Rainer Kaufmann’s award-winning drama Unexpected (2014). 

Writer and director Ina Weisse states, "What intrigues me are the nuances in how the two women approach each other—watching, retreating, eyeing each other with suspicion, then slowly drawing closer again. It’s about their mutual unmasking across social barriers and also about the broader question of what happens to people as they get increasingly older. How do their children care for them without giving up their own lives?"

German actress Nina Hoss stars in the leading role. She is best known for her multi-award-winning performances in Christian Petzold’s movies Yella, Barbara and Phoenix as well as in Todd Field’s Tar, next to Cate Blanchett. In CICADAS, she shares the screen with Saskia Rosendahl, who collected numerous awards for her outstanding performance in Lore (2013) and was to be seen in Fabian: Going to the Dogs (2021), Never Look Away (2018), No One’s with the Calves (2021) and Babylon Berlin. Popular French actor Vincent Macaigne (Anne Fontaine’s The Innocents, Pablo Larrain’s Maria, Olivier Assayas’ HBO series Irma Vep) stars as Isabell’s husband.

Thorsten Ritter, EVP Acquisitions, Sales & Marketing at Beta Cinema states, “We are proud to add CICADAS to our Berlinale line-up, a highly accomplished drama with outstanding performances, captured by excellent director of photography Judith Kaufmann. The film’s universal topics and a constant, palpable, subliminal threat will appeal to buyers world-wide, who also can rely on Nina Hoss’s international fanbase.”

CICADAS is produced by Lupa Film (producer Felix von Boehm and Katrin Jochimsen) in co-production with 10:15! Productions and ZDF, with the support of arte. The production was funded by MBB, FFA and CNC Mini Traité and DFFF. CICADAS is lensed by Judith Kaufmann (The Teacher’s Lounge, Four Minutes, 13 Minutes) and edited by Hansjörg Weissbrich (September 5, I’m Your Man, Unorthodox). DCM is releasing the highly atmospheric drama to the German-speaking territories in summer 2025. Beta Cinema, who also handle world-sales for this year’s Berlinale Opening Film, Tom Tykwer’s The Light, will kick-off sales on CICADAS at EFM.