New Europe Film Sales has added U.K. distributor Signature Entertainment to the slew of global buyers won over by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s “Beautiful Beings,” which has racked up awards from Poland, Bulgaria, Italy and Taiwan, since its first bow at the last Berlinale Panorama.
Earlier deals were closed with the U.S. (Altered Innocence), Hungary (Vertigo), Benelux (Arti Film), Germany/Austria (Salzgeber), Spain (Filmin), and CEE (HBO).
Billed by Variety reviewer Jessica Kiang as an “Icelandic coming-of age, radiant with violence and tenderness,” Guðmundsson’s drama revolves around a young boy raised by a clairvoyant mother who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders.
“It’s about the importance of parental support and guidance and how that can influence youngsters and their decision-making,” said the director.
Guðmundsson is among a handful of standout Icelandic voices on New Europe Film Sales’ roster, together with Hlynur Pálmason and Valdimar Jóhansson, whose respective works “Godland” and “Lamb” screened at this week’s Norwegian Int’l Film Festival in Haugesund as nominees for the coveted Nordic Council Film Prize.
Iceland’s 2021 Oscar submission “Lamb,” starring Noomi Rapace, was an instant hit with world buyers following its Cannes’s Un Certain Regard entry in 2021, selling worldwide for New Europe Film Sales including to the U.S. (A24).
The Denmark-produced “Godland” is gearing up for similar world exposure, on the heels of its world launch at this year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard, with a deal pending with the U.S., according to New Europe Film Sales’ acquisition manager Marcin Łuczaj. Earlier deals were sealed with Jour2Fete for France, New Horizons for Poland, Imagine for Benelux, and Palace for Australia-New Zealand.
Pálmason’s gripping tale of a young Danish priest travelling to a remote part of Iceland in the late 19th century is next due to bow in a Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema slot.