Film producers who are looking for exciting literary material for the screen should be in their element at “Books at Berlinale” on February 12, 2013. Ten novels that might make good movies will be presented at this year’s “Books at Berlinale” within the scope of the Berlinale Co-Production Market. At the breakfast following the pitch, interested producers will have the opportunity to speak with the international publishers and literary agents, or even to option film rights directly.

More than 80 books from over 20 countries were submitted to “Books at Berlinale” 2013. Works from Sweden, Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy made it into this year’s selection.

The novels selected include a number of current bestsellers and prize-winners; many of the others are new works that are to be released over the course of the year.

Their stories revolve around shady double agents, former rocks stars or even, for instance, Charlotte Brontë. The spectrum of genres encompasses thrillers and family dramas, as well as historical epics and road movies. With Carolin Walch’s “Roxanne & George”, a graphic novel will be presented at “Books at Berlinale” for the first time.

“Meanwhile the event has fans on both sides, that is, among book publishers and film producers – for here they can make and cultivate valuable and exclusive contacts each year, as well as meet one another in the informal atmosphere of the Berlinale Co-Production Market,” says Festival Director Dieter Kosslick. “We are very pleased that ‘Books at Berlinale’ has become a real networking highlight between the book and film industries.”

Organised since 2006 by the Berlinale in cooperation with the Frankfurt Book Fair, “Books at Berlinale” was and is the first market for literary material at an international A-film festival.

The event will take place in the Berlin House of Representatives within the scope of the Berlinale Co-Production Market. Its main partners are MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. The Berlinale Co-Production Market is part of theEuropean Film Market (EFM).

The following literary works have been selected for “Books at Berlinale” 2013:

(in alphabetical order by the companies presenting them)

– The Thread (Victoria Hislop), Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, United Kingdom

– The Master (Jolien Janzing), De Arbeiderspers, Netherlands

– I Called Him Tie (Milena Michiko Flašar), Kiepenheuer Medien, Germany

– All Russians Love Birch Trees (Olga Grjasnowa), Literarische Agentur Simon, Germany

– Higher Than the Sea (Francesca Melandri), Marco Vigevani Agenzia Letteraria, Italy

– West of Liberty (Thomas Engström), Nordin Agency, Sweden

– The Free World (David Bezmozgis), Place des Éditeurs, France

– Roxanne & George (Carolin Walch), Reprodukt, Germany

– Safe House (Chris Ewan), Sheil Land Associates, United Kingdom

– Centrifugal Forces (Stephan Thome), Suhrkamp Verlag, Germany