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Just a few days after market kick-off in Berlin, sales and agregator outfit LevelK has closed a raft of deals on its two female-helmed pics “Sudden Outburts of Emotions” and ”Dancing Queen In Hollywood.”

The Finnish sex-positive dramedy “Sudden Outbursts of Emotions” was sold to Cinemaran for Spain and Andorra, Estin Film for Estonia, and Film Europe S.R.O for the Czech Republic & Slovakia.

The feature debut of romcom TV specialist Paula Korva turns on a couple who experiences a mid-life crisis, and a different sexual itch. Jane, believes her relationship with Mikki is stable but is taken aback when he offers to open it up. To save their love, Jane agrees to attend a sex party on an island that sparks unexpected emotions. Toplining the cast are Iina Kuustonen, Riku Nieminen, Laura Malmivaara and Minka Kuustonen. The Yellow Film & TV production opens March 7 in Finland.

“Dancing Queen...

Aaron Rookus’s “De Idylle” (Idyllic) is a vibrant, teasing work, by turns melancholic and affirming. Deep emotional scars serrate the characters. Each is battling their own burdened history, much of which is buried in expectations imposed by others, internalized, about the turn their lives can take, and what choices they have. There’s so much regret and guilt about a life led to waste, anguish, and self-deception. It’s the hopeful prayer for second chances at rearranging one’s trajectory that underpins the narrative strands.

This is very much an ensemble drama, Rookus vaulting among various members of a family. The telling resists isolated chunks of perspective; everything is woven together, one reflecting off the other. Projections and echoes shatter the uniformity of an unadventurous life, especially one navigated with balking and caution. This shuts out an entire world of radical, new possibilities.

Two of the film’s central characters,...

“We are on the way up,” a bullish Sandra den Hamer says of prospects for the Dutch film sector for 2025 and beyond. The chief executive office of the Netherlands Film Fund believes that the local film industry is at last moving forward after several difficult years in the wake of Covid, falling market share for local movies and the near invisibility of Dutch cinema at major international festivals.

Dutch films are performing better than many anticipated in 2024, growing market share to 17% from 14% the previous year. Comedy drama Loverboy: Emotions Off was the top performing local title with revenues of $4.5mn driven largely by younger cinemagoers.

Denmark-based firm LevelK has boarded international sales rights on Aaron Rookus’ Idyllic ahead of its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

Idyllic will debut in the Big Screen Competition at IFFR on Saturday, January 1. The film depicts three generations of a Dutch family as they question their lives and relationships.

It is Dutch director Aaron Rookus’ second feature, after 2023 IFFR title Goodbye Stranger.

Idyllic is produced by Maarten van der Ven and Layla Meijman for the Netherlands’ Studio Ruba, in co-production with Xavier Rombaut of Belgium’s Polar Bear, Ivo Felt of Estonia’s Allfilm and Dutch broadcaster Bnnvara.