EXCLUSIVE: New North American distributor 1-2 Special has acquired acquired all U.S. rights to Christian Petzold‘s gothic fairytale Miroirs No. 3, following its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where the filmmaker this year commemorated his first showing. The film will get a theatrical release at an undisclosed date.
1-2 Special takes over U.S. rights from Metrograph, which was going to distribute the film in North America as of last August.
Miroirs No. 3 reunites Petzold with actress Paula Beer, with whom he has previously collaborated on critically acclaimed films including Transit, Undine, and Berlin Grand Jury Prize winner Afire. In the film, Beer plays Laura, an aspiring pianist, whose life is upended after miraculously surviving a car crash. Physically unhurt but deeply shaken, she is taken in by a local woman who witnessed the accident and begins to care for Laura with motherly devotion. When the woman’s husband and adult son also give up their initial resistance to Laura’s presence, the four of them slowly build up some family-like routine. Soon, they can no longer ignore the ghosts of the past, and Laura is forced to come to terms with her own life.
Miroirs No. 3 co-stars Barbara Auer (Transit), Matthias Brandt (Afire), and Enno Trebs (Afire) and was produced by SCHRAMM FILM Koerner Weber Kaiser, in co-production with ZDF and ARTE. The film is funded by Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (BKM), Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF), and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB). The Match Factory reps Petzold’s library and negotiated the deal with 1-2 Special on behalf of the filmmaker.
Launched in February, the NY-based 1-2 Special’s upcoming slate also includes the Berlin Silver Bear winner Kontinental ’25 from Radu Jude.
