Videovision Entertainment has acquired the rights for the multi-award winning film, The White Ribbon, for the South African market. Directed by Austrian Michael Haneke, the Oscar-nominated film recently won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film as well as the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The setting of The White Ribbon is the fictitious Protestant village of Eichwald, Germany between July 1913 and August 1914. Here the pastor, the doctor and the baron rule the roost over women, children and peasant farmers. The puritanical pastor gives confirmation classes and causes his pubescent children a guilty conscience over trivial offenses. He makes them wear white ribbons to remind them of the innocence and purity from which they have strayed.
Among the many awards The White Ribbon has won are: the Chicago Film Critics Association’s Best Foreign Language Film Award; Best Director, Best Film and Best Screenplay at the European Film Awards; the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography; the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography; the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematography; the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Film Not In The English Language; Film of the Year at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film and has been nominated for 14 other awards. It was nominated both the Foreign Language Film category of the Oscars, as well as the Best Achievement in Cinematography category.
Director of Acquisition and Distribution of Videovision Entertainment Sanjeev Singh says: “We are thrilled to have acquired the South African rights to The White Ribbon. Michael Haneke is an extremely talented filmmaker who has won numerous awards over the years, and we believe that The White Ribbon is his best film to date. We have invited Michael Haneke to South Africa and, based on his availability, we will schedule the release of the film later this year.’
