It's been far too long between drinks for Australian helmer Cate Shortland but her long-awaited sophomore effort, the ambitious German-language post-WWII drama "Lore," is now gearing up for its unveiling with Music Box Films acquiring the North American rights.
An adaptation of Rachel Seiffert's novella "The Dark Room," the film features a cast full of young, relative unknown Euro thesps led by newcomer Saskia Rosendahl who plays the daughter of an SS commander who must lead her four siblings on 900km journey across the war-ravaged country to their grandparents in Hamburg. Things get interesting, though, when they run into a charismatic and intriguing Jewish refugee named Thomas and are forced to trust the one person they've always been taught is the enemy in order to survive. Sounds pretty great.
“I’ve not worked with Music Box before, but we’re keen to be in their catalogue," producer Liz Watts told mUmbrella. "They’ve done a lot of foreign films, they did the original 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' films release. They’re very good at the boutique handling of foreign films in the US. We will work with Memento in regards to presenting it. It is German language film in a US market. It will be an appropriate release."
No word on what type of release their looking at but we may see the film much sooner than expected. Shortland's accomplished debut "Somersault," which catapulted the careers of Sam Worthington and Abbie Cornish, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004's Cannes Film Festival, and a return to the Croisette this year is seemingly on the cards as the film noted to be "ready" for the festival. A trailer is also being promised for May, but for now here's a handful of images from the film, which look very promising. [mUmbrella/ScreenDaily/SpielFilm/Memento]
