The year 2025 begins under the best auspices for Luxbox (lead by Fiorella Moretti). In competition last year in Berlin with Who Do I Belong To [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Meryam Joobeur
scheda film] and in Cannes with the award-winning All We Imagine as Light [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the French international sales company will return to the European Film Market (13 to 19 February) at the Berlinale with two Golden Bear hopefuls in its lineup: Kontinental ‘25 [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude and The Message [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Iván Fund
scheda film] by Argentinian director Iván Fund.

Familiar with the Berlinale, where he won the Golden Bear in 2021 with Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Radu Jude
scheda film] and a Silver Bear for Best Directing in 2015 with Aferim! [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Radu Jude
scheda film], and where he had started out with The Happiest Girl in the World [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] in 2009 in the Forum (a section in which he’s also presented Uppercase Print [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] and The Exit of the Trains [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Adrian Cioflâncă
scheda film] in 2020), the prolific Radu Jude has also shined in Karlovy Vary in 2018 (Crystal Bear with "I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians" [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]) and in Locarno (Special Jury Prize with Scarred Hearts [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Radu Jude
scheda film] in 2016 and with Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Radu Jude
scheda film] in 2023). Starring Eszter Tompa, Gabriel Spahiu, Adonis Tanța, Oana Mardare and Șerban Pavlu, his new opus, Kontinental ‘25 (written by the filmmaker himself), centres on Orsolya, a bailiff in Cluj, the main city in Transylvania. One day she must evict a homeless man who lives in the basement of a building, an act that will have tragic consequences and will trigger a moral crisis that Orsolya tries to overcome as best she can… The production is led by Saga Films (Romania) with RT Features (Brazil), Bord Cadre Films (Switzerland), Sovereign Films (UK) and Paul Thiltges Distributions (Luxembourg) in co-production.

Luxbox is also selling The Message, the 8th fiction feature (since 2009) by Argentinian filmmaker Iván Fund who reaches the competition of one of the biggest festivals for the first time, after getting noticed in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard in 2010 with Los labios and in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori in 2021 with Dusk Stone [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Iván Fund
scheda film]. Written by the director and his compatriot Martín Felipe Castagnet, the script of The Message plunges into the Argentinian countryside where the special gift of a teenage girl gives her opportunistic guardians the idea of offering consultations with an animal medium in order to earn their living. In the lead roles are Mara Bestelli, Marcelo Subiotto, Anika Bootz and Betania Cappato. The production will be handled by Argentinian outfits Rita Cine and Insomnia Films, with Blurr Stories (Argentina), Amore Cine (Spain), Panes 360 Contenidos (Spain) and Animista Cine (Uruguay) in co-production.

Jennyfer Gautier’s Luxbox sales team will also pre-sell the feature Promised Sky [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Erige Sehiri
scheda film] by French-Tunisian filmmaker Erige Sehiri (appreciated in Directors’ Fortnight in 2022 with Under the Fig Trees [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Erige Sehiri
scheda film]), currently in post-production. Starring Aïssa Maïga, Laetitia Ky and Deborah Naney, this production brings together Tunisian outfit Henia Production and French company Maneki Films.

Also worth noting in the lineup is Red Rocks by Bruno Dumont (produced by French outfit Tessalit Productions with Italian company Nightswim, Belgian outfit Novak Prod and Portuguese outfit Rosa Filmes) which should go into production this year.