MUBI acquires Berlinale winner “On Body and Soul”

PanARMENIAN.Net - MUBI has taken all U.K. rights to four festival favorites, including Ildiko Enyedi’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner “On Body and Soul”. The curated SVOD service, which branched out into British theatrical releasing in 2016, has also taken U.K. rights to Alain Gomis’ “Felicite,” Liu Jian’s “Have a Nice Day,” and Oliver Laxe’s “Mimosas.”

“On Body and Soul,” “Felicite” and “Have a Nice Day” all saw their world premieres at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Enyedi’s film claimed the festival’s top prize, as well as the FIPRESCI Prize and the prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Gomis’ “Felicite” landed the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

Laxe’s film premiered during the Critics Week program of last year’s Cannes Film Festival, claiming the section’s grand prize.

All four films will be released in British cinemas and on MUBI’s streaming service in 2017.

“When the film is ready you then have to let it out of your hands. You sit at home and can only hope that it will land in the hands of those that will care for it as much as you have,” said Enyedi. “It was therefore with immense joy that I found out that MUBI will look after our film. MUBI’s class, curatorial choices and their whole concept of distributing real quality is fresh, effective and impressive.”

MUBI released a number of titles theatrically in the U.K. in 2016, including Mathieu Amalric’s “The Blue Room,” Rachel Lang’s “Baden Baden,” Petr Kazda and Tomas Weinreb’s “I, Olga Hepnarova,” and Eugene Green’s “The Son of Joseph.” All films saw a limited theatrical release followed by a launch on MUBI’s SVOD service. The distributor will next release Juho Kuosmanen’s Cannes 2016 Un Certain Regard winner, “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki,” in U.K. cinemas on April 21.

MUBI also signed worldwide deals for its streaming service on a raft of titles, new and old, at the end of 2016 with Gaumont International, Match Factory, Le Pacte, Doc and Film, Open Reel, Stray Dogs, Urban Distribution or Le Bureau and Rezo International. These included films by Michel Gondry, Mathieu Kassovitz, Marjane Satrapi, Brillante Mendoza and Christian Petzold, as well as classic titles from filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard, Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman.