- Audience Award at Busan International Film Festival
- First Busan Award ever for a wholly German film
- Asian distribution deals close to closing
Kronberg im Taunus, Oct. 12, 2015 – The PANTALEON Entertainment AG (XETRA: PAL) comedy "Highway to Hellas" won the Audience Award at Busan International Film Festival in South Korea on the very first festival outing for the film, which will be released in Germany by Warner Bros. in November.
Busan International Film Festival is Asia’s most influential film festival. Featuring 304 films from 75 countries around the world, the event drew a record number of 227,000 visitors over 10 days. The award for the film with the best festival audience rating in the "Flash Forward" section went to "Highway to Hellas".
Not only is it the first award for a wholly German-produced film in the festival's twenty-year history, it's also one of the rare instances a German comedy was able to take home an audience award at a major international festival outside of Europe.
The award has heightened buzz among numerous Asian distributors. Negotiations for local rights are currently underway and look to be inked soon, with the goal of getting Asian theaters on the "Highway to Hellas" as well.
"Our success in Busan was a pleasant surprise which we didn't expect at all," said PANTALEON Entertainment AG CEO Dan Maag. "We're thrilled the Asian audience loves 'Highway to Hellas' so much, and think we may have an international breakout hit on our hands. We are in intensive talks with local distributors right now to bring this great comedy to local Asian markets as soon as we can."
"Highway to Hellas" is a contemporary culture-clash comedy based on the Greek debt crisis, starring top German comic Christoph Maria Herbst (star of the German version of "The Office") as a Teutonic banker sent to a Greek isle to make sure the collateral on a credit application really exists. Produced by Dan Maag, Marco Beckmann and Matthias Schweighöfer and directed by Aron Lehmann, the film will be released in Germany by Warner Bros. on November 26, 2015.
About PANTALEON Entertainment AG:
PANTALEON Entertainment AG is a media enterprise mainly focused on theatrical films. PANTALEON Entertainment AG and its subsids are mainly active in the development and production of theatrical feature films, and the exploitation of the rights to those films, mainly through leading international film distributors in Germany and abroad, over all links of the distribution chain. The foundation for PANTALEON Group was laid in 2009 with the incorporation of PANTALEON Entertainment GmbH in Berlin. As of 2015, PANTALEON has established itself as one of the leading
German production houses for theatrical feature films and innovative entertainment formats. PANTALEON Group is headquartered in Kronberg by Frankfurt. From its
offices in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt, it has produced a slate of blockbusters, including some of the most successful German films of recent years. For more information, please see www.pantaleonentertainment.com
Disclaimer:
Following information is not a sales offer and does not comprise solicitation of offers to bid on or purchase shares of PANTALEON Entertainment, but serves informational purposes only. This press release may include statements and information about future events, designated by terms such as "will", "want", "plan", "believe", "expect", "intend", "anticipate", "estimate" or similar terms. Such forwardlooking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that can not be guaranteed and carry an inherent risk of change or inacurracy. Actual results achieved by PANTALEON Entertainment can differ widely from expectations expressed herein. PANTALEON Entertainment AG assumes no responsibility for updating or correcting such forward-looking statements in case of varying results.