REEL SUSPECTS @ EFM 2021

WORLD PREMIERE



MARCH 3rd // 10:00 AM // PANORAMA

MARCH 4th // 6:15 PM // VIRTUAL CINEMA 2

Katharina Behrens, Malik Blumenthal, Jean-Luc Bubert



In a world where their femininity is considered a commodity, two sex workers fall in love with each other. Together - and yet each on her own - they experience the one moment when happiness seems possible - but their love is threatened by different ideas of life and their own abysses.



PRODUCED BY:  Flare Film Gmbh



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:  Berlinale Panorama - Official Selection

FORUM



MARCH 4th  // 10:30 AM // FORUM

Alina Korol, Victoria Lisovskaya, Valentina Yasen, Uldus Bakhtiozina, Adelia Severinova, Maria Pavlova, Ksenia Popova-Penderetskaya, Alexandra Kusotskaya, Albina Berens, Serafima Solovyeva, Ekaterina Kasatkina.



Fish stall saleswoman Polina Schukina is distraught over the disappearance of her brother Sasha. She suffers from insomnia and insensibly loses touch with reality. Firstly she accepts a gift from a strange customer then she begins to listen to everything that advertising preaches to her. Advertising promises her complete relief from anxiety and transformation into a tsarevna. She just needs to leave the room and the fairy tale begins. However the fairy tale doesn’t look like how Polina expected. She faces the secretary's impenetrable cynicism, a line of girls mad with expectations and ambitions, musty institution spirit and a bureaucracy mired in paperwork.



PRODUCED BY:  Uldus Bakhtiozin



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:  Berlinale Forum - Official Selection



PRESS SELECTION : "An actual revision of the folk tale film genre that is ever a cornerstone of the Russian cinematic lineage, Tzarevna Scaling is packed with grotesque juxtapositions of the fantastical and the trivial, the traditional and the marginal, the dramatic and the utterly funny. Vivid characters and singular setting of the picture are charged with acute satire on social reality that the millennial generation of Russians face in the lingering shade of the Soviet past, adding whole dimensions to the work that otherwise is a reflectional and very personal statement by Uldus. " - VOGUE

MARKET SCREENINGS

MARKET PREMIERE



MARCH 2nd // 11:30 AM // VIRTUAL CINEMA 32

MARCH 4th // 1:10 PM // VIRTUAL CINEMA 17

Luciano Pedro Jr, Jules Elting, Clara Pinheiro, Adelio Lima, Ane Oliva, Tavinho Teixeira, Matheus Nachtergaele



A taxi company owner’s son has an extraordinary connection with cars: he can talk to them. He makes friends with the car that saved him from a traffic accident as a child, but he also hears the old wrecks complain about the law banning cars over 15 years old from the roads. Together with his uncle, he converts the write-offs into futuristic vehicles that are conscious and speak. They then take on the status quo under King Car’s banner. However, capitalism’s zombies prove more evil than expected.



PRODUCED BY:  Sérgio Oliveira



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:  Rotterdam IFFR - Big Screen Competition



ANNOUNCEMENT: "Reel Suspects has acquired world rights to Renata Pinheiro’s sci-fi thriller “King Car,” which recently world premiered at Rotterdam in the big screen competition. The elevated genre movie revolves around Ninho, the son of a taxi company owner who has an extraordinary connection with cars and can talk to them. Ninho became friends with the car that saved him from a traffic accident as a child, and now he can also hear the old wrecks complain about the law banning them from the roads. Together with his uncle, Ninho converts the write-offs into futuristic vehicles with consciousness." - VARIETY



PRESS SELECTION: "Carro Rei, by Renata Pinheiro, participates in the Big Screen Competition, with 13 other productions competing for a spot for exhibition in art cinemas and television in the Netherlands. The main character in the film by the director of Pernambuco is Uno (Luciano Pedro Jr.), who gets his name when he is born in his parents’ first car. Since he was a boy, he has the ability to communicate with the vehicle. The two are separated by a tragedy, which also keeps Uno from his uncle, Zé Macaco (Matheus Nachtergaele). The boy ends up leaving the family’s taxi fleet to dedicate himself to agroecology. But cars, as the title says, are king for a developing country like Brazil and a symbol of social ascension. And so it exercises power over the population." - PRIME TIME ZONE

MARKET PREMIERE



MARCH 2nd // 5:40 PM // VIRTUAL CINEMA 25

MARCH 4th // 6:20 PM // VIRTUAL CINEMA 15

Lauren Beatty, Greg Bryk, Katharine King So, Judith Buchan, Michael Ironside



Grey, an indie singer, whose first album was a smash hit, gets an invitation to work with notorious music producer Vaughn Daniels at his remote studio in the woods. Together with her girlfriend/lover Charlie, they arrive at his mansion, and the work begins.  But Grey is having visions that she is a wolf, and as her work with the emotionally demanding Vaughn deepens, the vegan singer begins to hunger for meat and the hunt.  As Grey starts to transform into a werewolf, she begins to find out who she really is, and begins to discover the family she never knew.  What will it take to become a great artist and at what cost to her humanity?



PRODUCED BY: Wendy Hill-Tout & Michael Peterson



US DISTRIBUTION:  Brainstorm Media



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: Fantastic Fest - In Competition, Telluride Horror Show - In Competition, Blood in the snow - In Competition



PRESS SELECTION: "Bloodthirsty is an aesthetically- and tonally-pleasing horror film with many worthwhile aspects." - WARPED PERSPECTIVES 



"Bloodthirsty offers a thrilling journey, lush in style and gore, with a dark heart throbbing hard at its core. " - PAJIBA

MARKET PREMIERE



MARCH 1st // 2:00 PM // VIRTUAL CINEMA 21

MARCH 3th // 11:00 AM // VIRTUAL CINEMA 28

Kevin Mischel (Divines), Aurélia Poirier, Geneviève Casile, June Assal, Jean-Louis Garçon, Dominique Frot, Claire Ganaye

 

The very private Leo  has issues communicating with others due to past trauma and only lives for his music. For now, not able to have a career as a composer, he works as an Uber driver and lives in his car. When Leo picks up Amélie, a deaf dancer, he sees a like-minded spirit, connected to the same remote sound universe yet cut off from the world, just like him. But Leo is hiding a dark and dangerous secret in this disturbing, provocative and compelling thriller.



PRODUCED BY: DACOR Productions



AWARDS: Best Movie @ Festival Polar de Cognac 



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: Festival Polar de Cognac  – In Competition, Frightfest Glasgow – In Competition

MARKET SCREENING



MARCH 3rd // 6:30 PM // VIRTUAL CINEMA 11

MARCH 5th // 5:15 PM // VIRTUAL CINEMA 12

Adrienne Barbeau, Marc Blucas, P.J. Marshall, Allison McAtee, Rachel McKeon, Brooke Sorenson, Monica Wyche



A fracking horror story, “Unearth” follows two neighboring farm families whose relationships are strained when one of them chooses to lease their land to an oil and gas company. In the midst of growing tension, the land is drilled, and something long-dormant and terrifying, deep beneath the earth’s surface is released. “Unearth” is about the horrifying repercussions sown by shortsighted decisions, and what our children reap from our actions.



PRODUCED BY: Lyons Den Productions, Unearth Film, AK47 Presents, Big Vision Empty Wallet.



UK DISTRIBUTION: Signature Entertainment

BENELUX DISTRIBUTION: One 2 See Movies

FRANCE DISTRIBUTION: Factoris



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: Fantasia IFF – Official Selection, Grimmfest - Official Selection, hard:line IFF - In Competition, Curtas Festival do Imaxinario – In Competition, Utopiales IFFF – In Competition, Isla Calavera IFF – In Competition



PRESS SELECTION:  "Fueled by timely societal and economic anxieties, strong performances and a convincingly genuine understanding of the subject matter, UNEARTH is a worthy slow-burn look at real-world terrors through a unique horror-tinted lens.” - RUE MORGUE 



"A timely metaphor in the midst of a pandemic" - CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND



“One of the best films of 2020 in any genre" - FILMMAKER MAGAZINE 

SECRET MARKET SCREENING



ON INVITATION ONLY

Judit Bárdos, Lucia Siposová, Jana  Kvantiková



In post-production



In spring of 1939, the Bishop in Banská Bystrica finds out that in the village of Piargy, which had been buried by an avalanche a few days ago, the Antichrist was born. The bishop calls on priest Baláž and asks him to investigate the statements of Johanka, the only survivor of the catastrophe. Baláž wants to know exactly what happened in Piargy. Did Antichrist return to the world or is it Johanka’s imagination, the only survivor from an avalanche that hit Piargy and destroyed all life? Hlinka’s Guards under the windows speak for themselves...



PRODUCED BY: Arina, Story Scope, i/o, Radio and Television Slovakia



PRESS SELECTION: "Folk horror is really gaining a foothold in Slovak cinema. While several projects are in development (see the news about Mother of the Night and the news about Leshy), one project is already nearing the finishing line. The black-and-white period drama Piargy, directed by Macedonian-born, Prague-based director Ivo Trajkov, is currently in post-production, with the bulk of the work being done on its visuals, while eyeing February 2021 for release. Based on a 1942 short story by Slovakian writer František Švantner, a leading figure in a particular strand of modernist literature – naturism – the drama follows a mystical story about the rebirth of the Antichrist and doubles as a metaphorical allusion to the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah.." - CINEUROPA

NEW ANNOUNCEMENT

IN POST-PRODUCTION



Branko Tomovic, Gorica Regodic, Joakim Tasic, Eva Ras



After witnessing a crime in London and looking for a place to hide for a while, Arnaut is offered a job by charming yet ruthless local Vesna to look after a cemetery in a small remote village in Serbia. He soon starts to have nightmarish visions and is frequently visited by the mysterious older woman Baba Draga who guides Arnaut into the darkness. Only the village priest seems to be trying to keep him safe from the sinister intentions of the villagers.



DIRECTOR'S BIOGRAPHY : Prior to directing Branko Tomovic studied acting at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York and has worked with internationally respected film directors as Ken Loach, Paul Greengrass, Soenke Wortmann, David Ayer and Pete Travis to name a few. Through his career, Tomović has appeared in films like Remote Control, Entity, The Wolfman, The Bourne Ultimatum and Fury. He has also guest-starred in TV shows like Whitechapel, Touch of Frost, Tatort and Strike Back (with Rhashan Stone). He also had a recurring role in A Case for Two.



PRODUCED BY: Jean-Louis Alexandre, Dina Vickermann



PRESS SELECTION: "Billed as a “Serbian vampire tale”, it is a modern twist on the myth with Tomović playing Arnaut, a man who, after witnessing a crime in London and looking for a place to hide, is offered a job by charming yet ruthless local Vesna to look after a cemetery in a small, remote village in Serbia. He soon starts to have nightmarish visions and is frequently visited by the mysterious older woman Baba Draga, who guides Arnaut into the darkness. Only the village priest (Joakim Tasić) seems to be trying to keep him safe from the sinister intentions of the villagers. Serbian actor Nemanja Bajić and Jojo Rabbit star Judith Georgi round off the cast." - CINEUROPA

LINE UP

Konstantin Khabenskiy, Viktoriya Isakova, Yulia Peresild



What is one to do when one has a wife, with whom life and cohabitation are well established, and even quarrels do not exist anymore? There are memories, a common past, a lot of good things and lots of nothings, all in all it’s just life, just like everyone else’s. And suddenly love comes into the life of this man. What should one do in this situation?



There are only three characters in this film.



Veronica is a tour guide, she hosts thematic excursions “Mystical St.Petersburg”, writes poetry, though she does not consider herself a poet.



Alexander is a TV star, a comedian. The most popular late-night show host in the country. The hero of the gossip column, the winner of all kinds of People of the Year and Men of the Year and everything else. In life, a quiet henpecked, who is quite deeply depressed at the beginning of the film.



Zlata is Alexander's wife. Successful, renowned psychologist. She is very strong-willed, clear-cut, self-confident, the author of the bestseller “I Can and Will Achieve!” Veronica and Zlata are two opposites.

The film unfolds in two cities and in Alexander’s endless movements between them. Each of the cities is associated with one of the women.



Why was all this necessary? Ultimately, there are no chance encounters, coincidences, and chance intersections. These three crossed, so that, of course, each would bring changes to the other, in order to go further, to continue this path, but already becoming a little different, going through love and maybe even giving up love.



PRODUCED BY: Magnum Film, Kinoprime, MetraFilms, TRUEMEN Pictures



DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION: The Walt Disney Company CIS



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: Tallinn Black Nights – In Competition



ANNOUNCEMENT: "Paris-based outfit Reel Suspects has acquired “The Three,” directed by critically acclaimed Armenian-Russian filmmaker Anna Melikyan. “The Three” will have its international premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and will be distributed in Russia by Disney in December."  - VARIETY



PRESS SELECTION: "The Three is a very effective romantic comedy that will not disappoint Western audiences used to seeing Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts fall in and out" - DMOVIES

Valentinas Masalskis, Petras Simonis, Sigitas Rackys, Sarunas Zenkevicius, Remigijus Vilkaitis



A famous colonel, who served in different countries for many years, finds himself in a strange situation when civil war breaks out in his native country,  he becomes a colonel fighting for one of the sides. He needs to demonstrate his skills. He doesn’t want to, but he has to fight.



PRODUCED BY: Tremora



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: Venice Critics’ Week – In Competition, Golden Apricot IFF – In Competition, Tallinn Black Nights – Baltic Competition



PRESS SELECTION: "All your life, you’ve been sent to advise other nations on how they should kill one another and now you’ve stepped onto your own mine". A terrifying introduction to the world of moral conflicts and fertile ground for perversions and the infamous "banality of evil", war is a space-time where "you obey orders without asking questions". This is the terrain that Armenia’s Marat Sargsyan has decided to cover very methodically in a dark, abyss-like atmosphere of unrelenting military routine, shifting the point of observation to a very personal angle, in this his first feature film, the Lithuanian production The Flood Won’t Come [+], which is competing in the 35^th edition of International Critics’ Week within the 77^th Venice Film Festival." - CINEUROPA



"An amazing formal revelation. A film that has no equal, capable of combining one visual and narrative invention after another. With a political and humanist approach of rare power and political lucidity. Bewildering, hard, brutal but also surprisingly lyrical. Like the incipit in the clouds, an unprecedented visionary act." - CIAK MAGAZINE

Luciana Grasso, Ricardo Islas



Montevideo, 1993. During a stormy night at the "Cine Opera", Ana, the projectionist's daughter is left in charge of the last feature, taking her father's place only for that night. In the darkness of the cinema, spectators begin to fall into the hands of a silent killer. The clever murderer manages to make the cinema a dead end. The young girl will have to face this threat if she wants to save her life and that of the present audience.



PRODUCED BY: Yukoh Films, Pensa y Rocca Producciones



GERMANY & AUSTRIA DISTRIBUTION: Alamode

KOREA DISTRIBUTION: Cinema Black

US DISTRIBUTION: Dark Star Pictures

UK DISTRIBUTION: Arrow

SCANDINAVIA DISTRIBUTION: Future Films

ITALY DISTRIBUTION: Koch Media



DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION: RBS



AWARDS: Best Iberoamerican Film @ Curtas Festival do Imaxinario



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: Sitges IFFF – Official Selection, Mar del Plata IFF – Official Selection hard:line IFF – In Competition, Ramaskrik IFF – In Competition, Celluloid Screams IFF – In Competition, Curtas Festival do Imaxinario – In Competition, Horrorthon Dublin IFF – In Competition, Soho Horror IFF – In Competition, Exground IFF – Official Selection, Isla Calavera IFF – In Competition, Feratum – In Competition, La Habana IFF – In Competition, Grimmfest Xmas Horror Nights – Official Selection



ANNOUNCEMENT: "Paris-based sales co Reel Suspects has added Uruguay-Argentina horror Al Morir La Matinee (English title TBD) to its line-up ahead of the Cannes Virtual Marche. Directed by Maximiliano Contenti, the Spanish-language movie is set in a Montevideo movie theatre (remember those?), following events after a silent killer enters the venue’s final screening." - DEADLINE 



"Grab your popcorn because this movie just got very real." - BLOODY DISGUSTING

Julia Sarah Stone (Honey Bee by Rama Rau, Weirdos by Bruce McDonald, Every Thing Will Be Fine by Wim Wenders), Landon Liboiron (Truth or Dare by Jeff Wadlow, Hemlock Grove produced by Eli Roth), Skylar Radzion, Tiffany Helm, Orin McCusker



Dark dreams trouble rebellious teenager Sarah.  Struggling at school and unable to go home, Sarah is relieved to find shelter at a university sleep study.  Hoping this will finally help her to get rid of her nightmares, she unwittingly becomes the channel to a horrifying new discovery.

PRODUCED BY: Mark Smith (Copperheart Ent.) Steve Hoban (Copperheart Ent.), Nicholas Bechard, Vincenzo Natali.



US DISTRIBUTION: IFC Midnight

GERMANY & AUSTRIA DISTRIBUTION: Koch Media

FRANCE DISTRIBUTION : ARP Sélection

UK & IRELAND DISTRIBUTION: Lightbulb Film Distribution LTD

RUSSIA & CIS DISTRIBUTION: Kinologistika

ITALY DISTRIBUTION: Koch Media

BENELUX DISTRIBUTION: Remain in Light

SOUTH KOREA DISTRIBUTION: Movement Pictures

SCANDINAVIA DISTRIBUTION: Njuta Films

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZELAND DISTRIBUTION: Lightbulb Film Distribution LTD

PORTUGAL DISTRIBUTION : Vendetta Filmes

LATAM DISTRIBUTION : Ledafilms



DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION : Raven Banner Entertainment



AWARDS: Silver Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature, Audience Award for Most Groundbreaking Film @ Fantasia IFFF, Blogos de Oro @ San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy, Best Fantastic Film @ Curtas Festival do Imaxinario, Being Different Best Director and Best Actress @ Molins del Rei, Best International Film @ Feratum



FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: Fantasia IFF - In Competition, Sitges IFFF - In Competitionn Cairo IFF - In Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Just Kids - In Competition, Mar del Plata iFF - In Competition, /slash IFF - In Competition, hard:line IFF - In Competition, Ramaskrik IFF - In Competition, San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy - In Competition, Abertoir Horror IFF - In Competition, Trieste Science+Fiction - In Competition, Molins del Rei IFF- In Competition, Fancine - Official Selection, Isla Calavera - In Competition, Curtas Festival do Imaxinario - In Competition, Feratum - In Competition, Phenomena IFF - In Competition, Splat! IFF - In Competition, Utopia Tel Aviv IFFF - In Competition, Gérardmer IFFF – Official Selection



PRESS SELECTION:  "Reel Suspects has scored a raft of sales on Anthony Scott Burns’s sci-fi thriller “Come True,” an elevated genre film which world premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival and had its U.S. premiere at the Nightstream virtual festival.” - VARIETY 



"We have been long time fans of Anthony Scott Burns here at Screen Anarchy. His collection of short films have been dropping jaws over the years and we are thrilled that he has a new film coming out. Come True, the sophomore feature film from the Canadian filmmaker will have its world premiere during the digital version of the Fantasia Film Festival in a couple weeks. It's premiere will be on August 30th. The first teaser came out this afternoon and whoah nelly, does this pique our interest."- SCREEN ANARCHY



"A masterful display of tonal control, Anthony Scott Burns’ second feature lulls the viewer into an unsettling, trancelike mood, and then accents it with sharp characters and an unpredictable narrative arc. More atmospheric than focused on jump scares — which isn’t to say the film isn’t supremely unnerving when it chooses to be — Come True recalls past horror auteurs but suggests that this Canadian filmmaker has his own spooky, slow-burn rhythm."- SCREEN DAILY

CLASSICS

RESTORED IN HD - ONE OF THE FIRST LGBTQ MOVIES OF THE HISTORY OF CINEMA

Edwige Feuillère, Simone SIMON, Marina de BERG, Yvonne de BRAY, Suzanne DEHELLY, Marie-Claire OLIVIA, Gabriel SARDET, Danièle DELORME



A finishing school is run by a woman of great charm. Her partner has become a languishing neurotic and is insanely jealous of her. A youthful, innocent girl who needs love arrive.



PRODUCED BY: Memnon



PRESS SELECTION: "Olivia is the newly restored revelation by filmmaker Jacqueline Audry, one of the very few female directors working in French cinema at the time, and she seems to be even less known today than she was then, which is to say not at all. In the thirties, Audry had started out as a script girl and as a directorial assistant to filmmakers such as Max Ophüls and Jean Dellanoy, and had begun directing her own films in the forties, including multiple Colette adaptations. Olivia, her fifth feature, is a work of bold, barely repressed sensuality, in which the simmering, unspoken, but ever-present love between women threatens to boil over into drama of Dido and Aeneas proportions." - FILM COMMENT