COLOGNE, Germany — Beta Cinema found new friends for “Mein Bester Feind,” (My Best Enemy), selling the Nazi-era drama directed by Wolfgang Murnberger (“The Bone Man”) and starring Moritz Bleibtreu, Georg Friedrich and Udo Samel to Metrodome in the U.K., ERG in China and Hollywood Classic Entertainment for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. All three distributors handled Oscar-winner “The Counterfeiters” (2007) from “Mein Bester Feind” producer Aichholzer.
The film tells the story of the strange friendship between Victor Kaufmann (Bleibtreu) and Rudi Smekal (Friedrich), one the son of a Jewish merchant, the other a working class German who joins the SS. When Kaufmann is rounded up by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp, Smekal intervenes to save his life but only so Kaufmann can help him in a secret Nazi mission.
ERG also picked up Beta’s “Hidden,” another World War II drama, directed by Poland’s Agnieszka Holland (“Europa, Europa”). RAI Cinema nabbed Jo Baier’s Italian drama “The End is My Beginning” starring Bruno Ganz and Elio Germano, this year’s co-winner, with Javier Bardem, of Cannes’ best actor prize for his starring role in Daniele Luchetti’s “Our Life.”
Beta scored a rare Japanese sale with David Pinillo’s culinary flavored rom-com “Bon Appetit” with Aya Pro taking Japanese rights. Poland’s Vivarto and Mountain Pictures in South Korea also tucked into the feature, about two young cooks and a female sommelier working in a luxury restaurant in Zurich.
Japan’s New Select snatched another Beta title, “Jerry Cotton,” with New View Media taking Chinese rights to the action comedy.
