European Film Promotion (EFP) welcomes nine world sales companies from five European countries to EFP’s EUROPE! Hub at the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART) which runs from 17 to 20 March 2025.
World Sales TrustNordisk, Filmax, The Playmaker, NFI World Sales and Picture Tree International, are amongst those companies heading to Hong Kong’s FILMART to seek distribution in Asia for the newest European titles. Their various line-ups include heartwarming family stories, history-driven features, action and suspense thrillers.
Such as multi-award-winning Tomorrow I Die by Nikol Cibulya (Hungary / NFI World Sales) in which pregnant Irma is possessed by strange thoughts. Barcelona-based Filmax brings along The Hanged Woman by Miguel Ángel Lamata (Spain), the story of Rosa, who commits suicide because her heart was broken by her boyfriend and who haunts him by remaining in his garden as a ghost, determined to teach him a lesson. Kraken by Pål Øie (Norway), dragging audiences into Norway’s deepest fjord, is part of TrustNordisk’s catalogue of action films.
History-driven dramas by women directors are represented by The Playmaker (Red Star Upon The Field by Laura Laabs / Germany) and Anton Corp (A Prayer for the Dying by Dara van Dusen/ Norway). Both feature length films are debuts. Laabs takes on a cinematic journey that leaves audiences questioning their connection to the past. Its four-act structure weaves historical drama with comedy, offering a fresh perspective on how the past continues to shape our present. Red Star Upon The Field won Best Feature Film Award at this year’s Filmfestival Max Ophüls. Dara van Dusen’s epic Western, starring Academy nominee John C. Reilly, from the producers of The Worst Person in the World and Sick of Myself tells the story of Scandinavian settlers in Wisconsin in the 1870s, who are forced to make harrowing decisions in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Based on true events, Hana Korea by Frederik Sølberg (Denmark, South Korea / REinvent International Sales) is a powerful narrative of a young North Korean refugee’s pursuit of happiness, struggling to find her own place in a hypermodern society that demands sacrifice and surrender. Sharon Choi, known for her collaboration with Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho on Parasite (2019), has joined the film as co-writer.
The French-Spanish-Belgian-Japanese co-production Ravens by Mark Gill (K5 International) depicts Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase, celebrated for his work documenting domestic life with his wife Yoko and best known for his 1986 book “The Solitude of Ravens”. The film is a poignant love story, revealing how a life devoted to photography can both consume and destroy love.
Distributors looking for family films at EFP’s EUROPE! Hub should pay attention to Prank by Benjamin Heisenberg (Germany / Picture Tree International), a heartwarming comedy about friendship where one crazy day changes everything. The 3D animation Miss Moxy by Vincent Bal & Wip Vernooij (The Netherlands, Belgium /Studio 100 Film) follows the travails of a domesticated cat which gets lost during a holiday and must find its way back home through the South of Europe with the help of a comical dog and an old wise bird.
***Click HERE for EUROPE! Hub participants***
The EUROPE! Hub at the FILMART is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union and EFP members German Films and ICAA - Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (Spain).
