Eleven new books to be pitched at the Berlinale Co-Production Market on February 11

Berlin, Germany, 21-1-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — On February 11, at “Books at Berlinale”, film producers will have a chance to discover eleven new literary works that would make good movies. The selected novels will be presented and pitched at theBerlinale Co-Production Market. At the get-together afterwards, invited producers will have an opportunity to meet with right-holders – international publishers and literary agents –, and to make and cultivate contacts in the book world or perhaps even to option film rights directly.

Festival Director Dieter Kosslick: “In the past years, ‘Books at Berlinale’ has established itself worldwide as the first market for literary material at an international ‘A’ film festival. We would now like to expand the idea of a network between books and film further, and open the event to more producers interested in literature, who no longer need to belong to the rather exclusive circle of Berlinale Co-Production Market participants.” Producers who are active in the field of literary film adaptations or would like to be, and want to take part in this event, may register, along with other publishers and literary agents, until February 4 at books@berlinale.de.

Over 120 books from more than 25 countries were submitted to this year’s “Books at Berlinale”. The eleven books selected – all of which are new publications, bestsellers and / or prize-winners – come from publishers and agencies in Great Britain, Germany, France, Turkey and the Netherlands.
These works cover different themes, genres, places and periods:
From the dramatic abduction of an actor couple by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il in the 1970s, to a tragicomedy about an older man in the Netherlands, who pretends to have Alzheimer’s to escape his marriage; from a football match in former East Germany, to a gang smuggling illegal immigrants in Turkey; and from rock bands in 1960s Berlin, to the dark world of illegal websites.

“There is something here to fit every producer’s budget and interests,” says Sonja Heinen, head of theBerlinale Co-Production Market. “Of course, first and foremost, we chose books based on whether we thought they were compelling and could be adapted for the screen.”
“Books at Berlinale” has been organized by the Berlinale in collaboration with the Frankfurt Book Fair since 2006.

The event will take place in the Berlin House of Representatives within the scope of the Berlinale Co-Production Market. Its main partners are the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. The Berlinale Co-Production Market is part of the European Film Market (EFM).

The following literary works have been selected for “Books at Berlinale” 2014:
(listed in alphabetical order by the companies presenting them):

• The Latecomer (Dimitri Verhulst), Atlas Contact Publishers, Netherlands
• Back Up (Paul Colize), Agence Astier – Pecher, France
• A Kim Jong-Il Production (Paul Fischer), Curtis Brown, Great Britain
• Melanie (Carel Donck), De Arbeiderspers, Netherlands
• The Eduard Einstein Case (Laurent Seksik), Éditions Flammarion, France
• This Place Holds No Fear (Monika Held), Eichborn / Bastei Lübbe, Germany
• Love, Love Me Do (Mark Haysom), Eve White Literary Agency, Great Britain
• More (Hakan Günday), Kalem Agency, Turkey
• Twelve Metres (Andi Rogenhagen), Literarische Agentur Kossack, Germany
• Daughter of the Flowers (Vanessa da Mata), Literarische Agentur Mertin, Germany
• Czernin or How I Learned to Understand World War I (Hans von Trotha), Nicolai Verlag, Germany