'Bloody Tennis' Sells to UK, Turkey and Ukraine Ahead of AFM Premiere

Nikias Chryssos' horror film "Bloody Tennis," a Fantastic Fest award winner starring Sandra Guldberg Kampp and Golden Globe nominee Helena Zengel, has sold to the U.K. and Ireland, Turkey and Ukraine ahead of its market premiere this week at the American Film Market in Los Angeles.

The Playmaker Munich, which handles international sales, closed the new deals with Blue Finch (U.K. and Ireland), Bir Film (Turkey) and Svoe Kino (Ukraine). The company had already announced sales to Shudder for the U.S., Umbrella Entertainment for Australia, BestFilm.eu for the Baltics, Plaion Pictures for Italy, Extreme Film for Japan, 9th Plan for Poland, Gulf Film for the Middle East and Njutafilms for Scandinavia. Port au Prince holds the German rights.

Where has the film already played?

"Bloody Tennis" had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on Aug. 7. It then won best director among horror features at Fantastic Fest in Austin and the Méliès d'Argent in the feature film category at Slash Filmfestival. The film also screened at Sitges, Thessaloniki and Tallinn Black Nights.

That festival record precedes the sales run now unfolding in Los Angeles — and the momentum appears concrete: more than a dozen territories sold before or during AFM. What the announcement does not say is what any of the deals were worth; financial terms remain undisclosed.

Who made the film?

Chryssos directs his third feature in English. His debut, "Der Bunker," premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Next Wave Award for best feature at Fantastic Fest. His second, "A Pure Place," was developed at the Résidence of the Cannes Film Festival and premiered at the Munich Film Festival, where it won the award for best director.

The cast runs deep beyond its two leads. Guldberg Kampp ("Foundation") and Zengel ("News of the World," "The Legend of Ochi") are joined by Tracy Gotoas ("Safe House"), Lucie Zhang ("Paris, 13th District"), Lily Taïeb ("The French Dispatch," "Bergman Island"), Elina Löwensohn ("Schindler's List"), Zlatko Burić ("Triangle of Sadness"), Juliana Vieira Guerra and Vincent Romeo.

Jim Williams, whose credits include "Titane," "Raw" and "Possessor," composed the original score. Constantin Campean served as cinematographer.

What is the story?

The film centers on Sophie (Guldberg Kampp), who is admitted to an elite tennis academy hidden deep in Southern Europe. There she must contend with the fierce brutality of her teammates and the school's increasingly sinister undercurrents, where competitive sports are taken to their extreme and only the hungriest survive.

The Playmaker Munich's statement says the film "takes the world of elite sports to disturbing new heights, filled with brutal ambition, blood-sucking leeches and hard-hitting serves." The pitch language is vivid; whether the film delivers on it is a question for reviewers as territory releases roll out.

Jonas Katzenstein and Maximilian Leo ("The Weight," "The Assessment," "Mother Mary") produced for Augenschein Filmproduktion, in co-production with Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion and ZDF – Das Kleine Fernsehspiel.

What does this change for audiences?

The breadth of the sales — Shudder in the U.S., distributors across Europe, Japan and the Middle East — means the film will reach most major markets. Viewers should watch for dated release announcements from the individual distributors as the AFM run concludes.