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Munich, 4 April 2007: Beta Film presents event TV at its best to buyers from all over the world at this year's MIP TV in Cannes (16 to 20 April). The focus is on international miniseries such as The Trojan Horse (2x90’) with Greta Scacchi, Paul Gross and Tom Skerrit; The Holy Family (2x90’) with Alessandro Gassman, Ana Caterina Morariu and Franco Nero; Africa, mon amour (3x90’) with Iris Berben; and A Life So Far Away (2x90’) with Maja Maranow and Heiner Lauterbach. Other highlights in the field of family entertainment as well are: the amusingly spooky Hui Buh, the Goofy Ghost (1x102') and LasseMaja's Detective Agency (12x30'), a Swedish series about two young detectives from AB Svensk Filmindustri. Beta Film also offers broadcasters a number of successful, award-winning feature films for the first time, including the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others (1x100'), Salvador (1x90') and Four Minutes (1x100').
Event Miniseries
At the center of the suspenseful miniseries The Trojan Horse is a gigantic fraud that threatens to bring down the free world. The masterminds shy neither from brutal murders nor terrorist attacks. Searching for her son's murderer, journalist Helen Madigan (Greta Scacchi, "Salt On Your Skin") finds herself in the crosshairs of the conspirators. The Trojan Horse, one of the highlights of Canada's CBC this year, is produced by Whizbang Films and directed by Charles Binamé.
In Africa, mon amour, Iris Berben ("Rosa Roth") plays Countess Katharina von Strahlberg, who flees her unhappy marriage and escapes to German East Africa in 1914. There she falls in love with a British soldier (Pierre Besson), but they are separated by the outbreak of World War I. Up to 9.2 million viewers watched the moving three-parter (Director: Carlo Rola) on Germany's ZDF. Africa, mon amour was produced by MOOVIE the Art of Entertainment GmbH and EOS.
Italian director Raffaele Mertes ("The Bible – Esther") and Oscar-winning set designer Gianni Quaranta ("Room With A View") filmed the miniseries The Holy Family in Jordan with Alessandro Gassman ("Hamam") as Joseph and Ana Caterina Morariu ("My Best Enemy") as Mary. The Holy Family was produced by Fidia Film for RTI.
In the teamWorx-EOS production A Life So Far Away, a journey to New Zealand brings turmoil into the life of the successful businesswoman Hanna (Maja Maranow, "Ein starkes Team"). She falls in love with the farmer Wolf (Heiner Lauterbach, "Dresden"), but a stroke of fate seems to destroy all hope for a happy future in New Zealand. Also starring are Michael Greiling and Diane Siemons-Willems. Dietmar Klein ("A Time To Stay") directs.
Events for the whole family – Family entertainment from Beta Film
More than 20 million copies of the books and audio recordings of Hui Buh, The Goofy Ghost have been sold to date. In the film of the same name, comedian Michael Bully Herbig transforms himself through CGI wizardry into the bumbling ghost. The film drew over 2 million people into theaters in Germany in 2006 (director: Sebastian Niemann). Hui Buh, The Goofy Ghost also stars Heike Makatsch ("Margarete Steiff") and Christoph Maria Herbst ("New from The Wixxer").
Beta Film also presents a new, 12-part children's detective series from Sweden in the tradition of Kalle Blomkvist: LasseMaja's Detective Agency, based on the top-selling books of author Martin Widmark.
Prize-winning feature film highlights
Beta Film is presenting to TV buyers for the first time at MIP TV some of the most outstanding films from its theatrical portfolio. Topping the selection is The Lives of Others by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. After winning the Oscar as Best Foreign-Language Film, the Stasi drama is pulling many more people into the theaters all over the world. Almost 2 million people have seen the film in Germany; more than 3.5 million in the rest of the world so far.
Salvador, starring Daniel Brühl ("Good Bye Lenin") in the title role, won this year's Spanish film award "Goya" for best screen adaptation and was nominated for best film. The feature was directed by Manuel Huerga and produced by Mediapro in coproduction with Future Film.
Four Minutes, with Hannah Herzsprung and Monika Bleibtreu, was awarded the top prize at the 2006 Shanghai Film Festival. In 2007 the two leads were nominated for the German Film Prize (LOLA), whereby director Chris Kraus's film obtained altogether eight nominations. It was produced by Kordes and Kordes Film.
TV movies such as the mafia saga Men of Corleone (100') and series such as the modern ZDF crime series Profiling the Criminal Mind round off Beta Film's multi-faceted line-up.
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