Pix cued for Euro Pool

Teuton rights trader takes tons of titles at Cannes

By ED MEZA

BERLIN -- German rights trader Eastern European Acquisition Pool picked up a slew of titles at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival, including Lionsgate's "Saw III," sci-fi thriller "Daybreaker" and "Appaloosa," starring Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris.

Berlin-based EEAP, which operates throughout Eastern Europe, also nabbed Wong Kar Wai's "My Blueberry Nights" and Emir Kusturica's "Promise Me This" from StudioCanal.

Lineup reflects company's broad assortment of product, ranging from mainstream titles to arthouse fare.

EEAP enjoyed huge success with its release of "Saw II" earlier this year in Poland, the Baltics, the former Yugoslavia and former Soviet republics.

Company also acquired TV productions, such as the third part of Dean Devlin's "The Librarian" franchise as well as Darclight's "Body Armour," starring German thesp Til Schweiger.

Meanwhile, EEAP parent A Company is expanding its European Television Dialogue confab, which will take place twice this year: in Budapest, on the eve of the Discop content mart June 21, and in Munich on Oct. 17. The conference has for the past two years taken place solely in Munich, but A Company is eager to host the conference in Budapest in view of its success in Germany.

Billed as the forum that bridges the media industries in Eastern and Western Europe, event offers a range of topics for discussion and analysis such as "Programming as the Basis of Success," "Ratings as the Currency of TV Broadcasters -- The Interplay between the Advertising Industry and Television" and "TV, Media and Democracy."

Guest speakers include Gabor Banyai of Hungary's Larella Prods.; Otto Bence, head of cultural programming at MTV Hungary; Oleksandr Bohutsky, director general of Ukraine's ICTV; Peter Kolosi, program director at RTL Klub; Jens Richter, head of SevenOne Intl.; and Ryszard Sibilski, managing director of Endemol Polska.