Goran Stolevski’s ‘Housekeeping for Beginners’ sets sales with New Europe starring Annamaria Marinka; The film follows the achieved focus features ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ and ‘Off An Edge’ – EFM

Exclusive: Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has boarded Goran Stolevsky’s international sales Housekeeping for Beginners Top Romanian actress Annamaria Marinca stars as a motherless, gay woman who suddenly finds herself responsible for her partner’s two young daughters.

The drama is one of the most noteworthy productions to come out of Southeast Europe this year and brings together hot indie producers from three continents.

Australian-Macedonian director Stolevsky’s star has been on the rise since Focus Features pre-acquired world rights to his first feature, the Serbian mountain-shot horror You won’t be aloneThe cast features Marinka, Noomi Rapace and Alice Englert

Following its Sundance debut, the film opened theatrically in the United States in April 2022 through Universal. Focus Features also pre-acquired Stolevsky’s Australia-set second feature of an age which opens in the US on February 17.

Marinka stars as Dita, whose castle in the Skopje hills is the unlikely home of a wild group of LGBTQ people, among them her moody friend Toni and her new, much younger boyfriend Ali.

When her partner Suada is diagnosed with a terminal illness, the mentally cold Dita is forced to promise to raise her lover’s two daughters: one a cheeky toddler, the other a moody, increasingly rebellious teenager.

Dita does not want to be a mother and girls do not want to be her daughter. But to save this patchwork family, she must act fast, considering marrying the only available man around due to the country’s legal stance on same-sex marriage and adoption.

Working between Romania and the UK, Marinca is one of Romania’s most famous actresses. She won a BAFTA TV Award in 2005 for Best Actress in a Mini-Series Sex traffic While his Romanian credits include Christian Mungiu’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days.

More recent credits include Channel 5 Last date.

inside Housekeeping for Beginners was shot last year and is now in post-production and will be ready for a festival launch in mid-to-late 2023.

“We are thrilled to be part of this project, which brings together a group of producers with the most exciting directorial voices and excellent credits in world cinema today – a team we can not only count on to deliver but also call friends,” said New Europe CEO. Jan Naszewski.

The film was produced by Marija Dimitrova at Skopje-based Liszt Productions and Klaudia Smija-Rostorovska at Warsaw-based Madents, with Beata Reženiczek (Madants), Ankika Tilic at Kinorama (Croatia), Milan Stojanović (Serbia) and Basali at Sense Productions. In Industria Film (Kosovo).

Recent credits include Rising Macedonian producer Dimitrova Sisterhood Includes recent films from Polish production powerhouse Madants My neighbor, Adolf, The Silent Twins And Pamphyr.

Co-producers are Kristina Borjesson at Film i Väst (Sweden), Jonas Kellagher at Common Ground (Sweden) and Australia’s Causeway Films (talk to me, You won’t be alone), Beverly Hills-based Tango (drop, strange, After the sun) and New Europe Film Sales.

Tango’s Tim Headington, Leah Buman, Anna Leocha; New Europe Film Sales’ Marcin Laukzaj, Naszewski, along with Film i Vast’s Anthony Muir and Rebecca Beckman serve as executive producers.

The production was supported by North Macedonian Film Agency, Croatian Audiovisual Center, Film Center Serbia, Polish Film Institute and Kosovo Cinematography Center.

In a joint statement, the producers said: “It was a unique joy to make what turned out to be a complex co-production structure, bringing together a tapestry of diverse social and cultural groups, reflecting the film itself.

“We believe household It is an emotionally engaging and visual feature that addresses important issues of social inequality We hope teams located on three continents will help this movie reach an international audience, melting some hearts with Skopje’s story of empowerment.”

Goran Stolevski said that the feeling of being in a family reigned through the making of the film.

“What a gift it was to work with this tireless, strong, always smiling crew and this luminous, selflessly giving cast, many of them acting – and lighting up the screen – for the first time,” he said. “The sense of family was evident both on and off screen. It is a story and an experience that we will all treasure for life.”

Further titles on New Europe’s EFM slate include the Berlinale Panorama title Silver Haze And Matria as well as the Berlinale Generation 14plus selection Delegation.

The company will also market Screen Sundance World Cinema dramatic titles girl And continue pre-selling Ula Selim’s upcoming sci-fi film eternalwhich was a hit in the Nordic film market.