18-09-2011

Sponsoring Gets International Distribution

By Katarzyna Grynienko

    WARSAW: After a successful screening at the Toronto IFF, the new drama from Małgorzata Szumowska Sponsoring was sold to over a dozen countries including UK, Spain, Brazil and Hongkong.

    Sponsoring is an international co-production between Zentropa International Poland, Zentropa International Köln (www.zentropa.dk), the French company Slot Machine (www.slotmachine.fr), and Canal+ (www.canalpluscyfrowy.pl). The film follows the story of a journalist working on article about prostitution and who is immersing herself in the world of love for pay. The lead is played by Academy Award-winner and César-winner Juliette Binoche. The cast includes Krystyna Janda, Joanna Kulig, Andrzej Chyra, Anais Demoustier (winner of the Crystal Globe for Best Actress at this year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for her role in Sweet Evil), and Louis-Do de Lencquesaing.

    The Polish distributor of the picture is Kino Świat (www.kinoswiat.pl), and the local premiere is set for the beginning of 2012. After the screening in Toronto in the "Special Presentations" section the film generated a lot of interest from international distributors. "The rights for distribution were bought by Artificial Eye (www.artificial-eye.com) from UK, Golem from Spain, Folkets Bio (www.folketsbio.se) from Sweden, Four Corners/Wild Bunch (www.wildbunch.biz) from Benelux, Imovision (www.imovision.com.br) from Brasil, Frentic (www.frenetic.ch) from Switzerland, Wise And Wise from South Korea and Palace Films from Australia (www.palacefilms.com.au)," Tomasz Jawor from Kino Świat told FNE.

    Sponsoring will also be presented in Venezuela (Cines Unidos), Israel (Shapira), Greece (Videorama) as well as former Yugoslavia ( Megacom), Hongkong (First Distributors) and in Taiwan (Joint Entertainment). The distributor is also negotiations with companies from North America and Japan.

    Highly praised for her drama 33 Scenes From Life, Szumowska is thought to be one of the most interesting Polish filmmakers of the younger generation. She had recently moved into production of her new title Nowhere, a co-production between Mental Disorder 4 and CANAL + (www.canalpluscyfrowy.pl).