“The Golden Glove,” Golden Bear winner Fatih Akin’s film about a real-life serial killer, has been sold to multiple territories, including Japan, Spain and Italy, by German sales agent The Match Factory.
The film is scheduled to world-premiere Saturday in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Set in the 1970s, the pic tells the story of Fritz Honka, who killed at least four women in Hamburg’s red-light district. Akin’s screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by Heinz Strunk.
The film, which will be released by Pathe in France and Warner Bros. in Germany, has now been acquired by Bitters End in Japan, Vertigo in Spain, BIM in Italy, Cineart in Benelux and Rosebud in Greece. Other buyers include Vertigo in Hungary, Independenta Film 97 in Romania, Art Fest in Bulgaria, A-One Films in the Baltic states, MCF MegaCom Film in the former Yugoslavia, and Bio Paradis in Iceland.
The film’s action centers on Honka’s favorite bar, the Golden Glove. Honka, played by Jonas Dassler, seems a pitiful, ugly loser who pursues lonely women. None of the regulars suspects that this apparently harmless guy is actually a prolific killer.
The film is produced by Akin, Nurhan Sekerci-Porst and Herman Weigel for Bombero International.
Akin’s films include “Head-On” (2004), which won the Golden Bear at Berlin; “The Edge of Heaven” (2007), which won best screenplay for Akin at Cannes; “Soul Kitchen” (2009), which won the Special Jury Prize at Venice; “The Cut” (2014), which competed at Venice; and “In the Fade” (2017), which was in competition at Cannes, winning best actress for Diane Kruger, and won the Golden Globe for best foreign-language film.
