Awarded a Silver Bear at last year's Berlin International Film Festival, Aimee & Jaguar, the true story of a love affair between two German women during World War II, is launched in Cannes by Heather Playford-Denmans's International Pictures London.

While her first in-house productions are currently being packaged, UK sales director Heather Playford-Denman, of International Pictures London, is at Cannes with "her most ambitious slate to date", including the prize-winning German feature, Max Färberböck's Aimee & Jaguar, which deals with the controversial subject of lesbian love between an Aryan and a Jewish woman during the Nazi regime.

Based on Erica Fischer's book, which has now been published in 14 countries, Aimee & Jaguar tells of the real-life love affair between German women Lilly Wust and Felice Schragenheim, which blossomed in Berlin in 1943-1944. One married with four children, the other Jewish and a member of the underground resistance, their relationship was forced to end when Felice was captured by the Gestapo.

Directed by Färberböck, who also wrote the script with Rona Munro, and starring Juliane Köhler and Maria Schrader, who were jointly awarded the Best Actress Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, the $9 million production was picked up by Playford-Denman for world representation. "I saw the film and loved it - to me it was the most important film in the festival," she said.

Also at Cannes, International Pictures London is screening Norwegian director Karin Julsrud's feature debut, Bloody Angels, which was a late survivor on the shortlist for this year's Directors' Fortnight. "Since Budbringeren (Junk Mail) and Insomnia, I have not seen a better Norwegian feature which also has a capacity for foreign travel," says Playford-Denman. Norsk Film A/S produced the $2.2 million chiller.

"Our priority, both when selecting projects for production, and purchasing films for world distribution, will be to work with features by mainly European auteur film-makers, who never seem to get short of good stories," adds Playford-Denman, who, as sales manager for FilmFour International, has collaborated with such directors as Stephen Frears, Ken Loach, Shekhar Kapur and Mike Leigh. "In the international marketplace buyers are less interested in the nationality of a film than in the quality of the film itself. Be it a production from Norway or any other part of Europe, as long as it has a good script, a good director, a good cast and is able to capture your imagination, there will always be a distributor somewhere who is willing to share your excitement. Over the years you get to know the network," she concludes.

International success

Joining Channel 4 Television in 1983 to assist in setting up the station's emerging sales arm, which was to become a driving force in world film sales, Playford-Denman has contributed to the international success of such films as My Beautiful Laundrette, Raining Stones, Trainspotting, Bandit Queen, Brassed Off and Shallow Grave.

In 1997 she set up BV International Pictures with Norwegian distributor Bjørg Veland, where she assembled the first slate of product including Pål Sletaune's Budbringeren (Junk Mail) and Karim Traidia's De Poolse Bruid (The Polish Bride), both of which were selected for the Critics' Week at Cannes. Budbringeren sold to more than 40 countries.

Having disbanded that relationship at the end of last year, Playford-Denman established the London-based sales company International Pictures London with Richard Hurst as director of business affairs. She also attached a production arm - Mogirl - to the operation, headed by Davina Stanley, to supply five to six international, English-spoken features annually.

Most recently a director of business affairs with Channel 4 International, Hurst has served as a director of Capital Radio, the UK's premier commercial radio group, and of Rediffusion, a pioneer of British commercial television. He is also a council member at RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art). At the British Film Institute, Davina Stanley has been organising and programming festivals, including London.