'Captive,' 'War Witch' start sales

MADRID -- Offered by Films Distribution, Brillante Mendoza's "Captive" and Kim Nguyen's "War Witch" folded off Berlin Competition berths to tie lower spirited initial sales. Underscoring the impact of Academy Award nominations, Films Distribution also saw sterling extra sales on Oscar challengers "Monsieur Lazhar" and "The Cat in Paris." A truth-based Filipino hostage crisis starring Isabelle Huppert inside a buzzed-about perf as you abductee, "Captive" closed Italia with Nomad Film inside a "excellent, six-figure deal," stated Films Distribution partner Nicolas Brigaud-Robert. Among Eastern European and Latin American deals, "Captive" clinched Belgium (AP Manana) and South america (Providence Filmes), plus A holiday in greece and Europe (Trigon-Film). Scandinavia has been signed, stated Brigaud-Robert. "Captive" is made by Didier Costet's Quick Prods., Mendoza's longtime producer, in a considerably greater budget than Mendoza's norm. "We handled to obtain Mendoza to more mainstream marketers: Intentions met reality," stated Brigaud-Robert. Winning Rachel Mwanza an actress Silver Bear on her perf like a girl-soldier inside a harrowing African civil war, "War Witch" closed Berlin's Competition. It offered France (Happiness Distribution), Imagine (Benelux), Europe (Agora Films) and Belgium (Against Gravity). A U.S. deal is pending, stated Brigaud-Robert. "With 'War Witch' screening so late at Berlin, any sales whatsoever in Berlin is an extremely good sign," he added. Following multiple earlier major-territory deals, "Lazhar" offered a hefty 14 more areas in Berlin, including U.K. (Soda Pictures), Mexico (Canana), Norwegian (Europa Film), Denmark (Ost For Paradise) and Korea (Aud). Introduced at 2011's Berlin, "Cat" has step-by-step tallied up 30-plus territory deals. Berlin dealings incorporated an Cinemax South America pact, Brigaud Robert stated. Films Distribution's Berlin buying and selling was "brisk and certainly above-average," he added, echoing other more powerful sales representatives rich in-profile British-language photos. Adopt Films required U.S. privileges to Jean-Marc Vallee's "Coffee shop p Flore" the 2009 week, within an already-introduced deal. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com