Christa
Saredi can't hide her enthusiasm as she talks about
George Washington, the first feature
from wunderkind American director David
Gordon Green, which screened in the Forum
earlier this week. The film arrived in Berlin without
a sales agent attached, but has been one of the
few genuine buzz titles in the festival.
After
seeing it earlier this week, Saredi pounced. She
is, she says, more selective than ever about what
she'll put on her slate. "I'd rather have two films
too few than one too many," she says. "It's a tough
market situation for the type of films I like
the quality films."
Halfway
through the EFM, Canadian and Israeli buyers were
closing in on another of Saredi's titles, Bakhtiar
Khudojnazarov's epic tragi-comedy Luna Papa.
Chosen as the official Tadjik submission for the
72nd Academy Awards, the film had gone to 40 territories
prior to the EFM and is still selling.
"There
is a big interest in the US," says Saredi. "They
are all afraid because it is foreign language, but
I think we will end up with a US distributor for
sure." Also on Saredi's EFM slate is Dev Benegal's
Bombay-set Split Wide Open, which
has now sold to the Czech Republic (CinemArt).
Berlin's
new market premises certainly meet with Saredi's
approval. "The old market place was too small. To
work here is very good. We finally have comfortable
screening rooms."
