The Match Factory is launching sales on “Queen at Sea” by Lance Hammer, starring Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche, and “Home Stories,” the third feature film by Eva Trobisch, ahead of their world premieres at Berlinale in the competition section next month.
The company is bringing four films to this year’s festival, all playing in competition. The lineup includes “Rosebush Pruning” by Karim Aïnouz, produced by The Match Factory, and “Rose,” the latest film by Markus Schleinzer, starring Sandra Hüller.
“Queen at Sea,” which also stars two time Academy Award nominee Tom Courtenay, marks the return to Berlin of the U.S. filmmaker Lance Hammer with his second feature, following the acclaimed debut “Ballast,” which earned him a best director prize at Sundance and six Independent Spirit Award nominations.
Hammer’s latest work explores how dementia erodes a woman’s ability to communicate her inner life. As her husband and daughter struggle to act in her best interest, they must navigate love and the fragile boundaries between care, protection, and autonomy.
Alongside Binoche and Courtenay are Anna Calder-Marshall (“Wuthering Heights”) and Florence Hunt (“Bridgerton”). The feature is a production from The Bureau and is produced by Tristan Goligher. This is the second collaboration between The Bureau and The Match Factory, which also represents “45 Years” by Andrew Haigh. The Match Factory is also handling worldwide sales for Haigh’s upcoming film “A Long Winter.”
Trobisch is a rising voice in German cinema. After her striking debut “All Good” (best debut film at Locarno, 2018) and “Ivo” (Berlinale Encounters, 2024), the director is bringing “Home Stories” to Berlinale competition, exploring family, belonging, and the search for identity. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Max Riemelt, Eva Löbau and, making her screen debut, Frida Hornemann, and is produced by Trimafilm in co-production with Komplizen Film, if…Productions, and ZDF/ARTE in collaboration with The Post Republic.
After the acclaimed “Motel Destino” (Cannes competition, 2024) and “Firebrand” (Cannes competition, 2023), Aïnouz is back in Berlin with his highly anticipated “Rosebush Pruning.” Aїnouz’s collaboration with MUBI, The Match Factory, Kavac Film, The Apartment, SUR FILM, Crybaby and Gold Rush Pictures, stars Callum Turner (“Masters of the Air,” “The Boys in the Boat”), Riley Keough (“Daisy Jones & the Six,” “Zola”), Jamie Bell (“All of Us Strangers,” “Rocketman”), Lukas Gage (“The White Lotus,” “Euphoria”), Elena Anaya (“The Skin I Live In,” “MotherFatherSon”) with Tracy Letts (“Lady Bird,” “Ford vs Ferrari”), and Elle Fanning (“Sentimental Value,” “A Complete Unknown”) and Pamela Anderson (“The Last Showgirl,” “The Naked Gun”).
“Rosebush Pruning” is written by Efthimis Filippou (“Kinds of Kindness,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “The Lobster”) and producers for The Match Factory are Viola Fügen and Michael Weber. The Match Factory represents several Aïnouz titles including “Motel Destino” (2024), “Mariner of the Mountains” (2021), “The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão” (2019) and “Praia do Futuro” (2014).
“Rose” is the third feature by Austrian director and actor Markus Schleinzer after “Michael” (Cannes competition, 2011) and “Angelo” (TIFF, 2018). “Rose” is a historical drama, starring Academy Award-nominated Sandra Hüller (“Zone of Interest,” “Anatomy of a Fall”), one of Germany’s most celebrated actors. The film tells the true and twisted tale of a deceiver of land and folk, who, defying her birth as a woman, comported herself as a man and committed many a wicked deed. The Austrian-German production is a Schubert, Row Pictures and Walker + Worm Film production. The Match Factory has previously collaborated with Row Pictures on “Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything” by Emily Atef and with Walker + Worm on “Sisi & I” by Frauke Finsterwalder.