Berlin Unveils Co-Pro Market, Perspektive Deutsches Line-Ups; China’s Maoyan Secures Investment – Global Briefs

Tom Grater

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The upcoming 70th Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the line-up of 36 features that will comprise its co-production market. Run as part of the festival’s European Film Market, its respected industry strand, the event looks to place international projects with co-producers, film funds, and sales reps. Filmmakers with projects in the line-up this year include Adina Pintilie, who won Berlin’s Golden Bear in 2018 with her feature Touch Me Not, Milko Lazarov, whose Aga premiered in Berlin in 2018, and Radu Jude, who screened his feature Aferim! In Berlin in 2015. Across the selection there are 15 projects with female directors, equating to 42%. More than 1,500 organized meetings will take place during the co-pro market this year between February 22 and 26.

Also today, Berlin has unveiled a compact program of eight films for its Perspektive Deutsches Kino strand, which highlights new works from Germany. Screening will be four features – including Michael Venus’s Sleep (Schlaf), which stars Toni Erdmann lead Sandra Hüller – as well as four documentaries. All eight films compete for the Compass-Perspektive-Award, which comes with a $5,600 (€5,000) prize.

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Maoyan Entertainment, a growing major force in China’s entertainment industry, has received investment from Asian equity firm FountainVest Partners, which has taken a significant minority stake in the company. Maoyan operates the leading ticketing app in China and has grown into a multi-faceted entertainment company operating a variety of services. In 2019, the outfit teamed with Chinese major Tencent to expand its offerings, including partnering on a video streaming platform. Maoyan is also investing in production and has backed north of 100 films across the last few years, including recently Ip Man 4: The Finale, The Rescue and Detective Chinatown 3. FountainVest also has stakes in Endeavor China and IMAX China, among others.

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