Madonna wows Berlin buyers

Berlinale buyers were in a frenzy on Saturday night after Stuart Ford’s IM Global screened footage of Madonna’s second directorial effort, “W.E” to a limited amount of industryites.

IM Global brought the thrush-turned-helmer to the European Film Market to screen a promo reel of the pic, a parallel love story about the affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard.

Foreign buyers queued up outside the Cine Star in hopes to nab a seat to the exclusive screening, which saw Madonna provide an intimate Q&A after the footage.

Sources say that buyers were told they couldn’t bid for the pic unless they saw the footage, which had buyers scrambling to save seats for the event.

Strictly no press were allowed and attendees were not permitted to use mobile phones throughout the event.

During the Q&A, Madonna revealed that she was willing to travel to promote the pic for distribs, which apparently hit the switch for interested parties.

Bids were fielded almost immediately after the event with several international territories already expected to have closed.

Pic toplines Andrea Riseborough, Abbie Cornish, James D’Arcy and Richard Coyle and is penned by Madonna and Alek Keshishian, who directed the queen of pop in 1991’s “Madonna: Truth or Dare.”

Kris Thykier (“Kick Ass”) produces the pic alongside Hagen Bogdanski and Colin Vaines, who also produced Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut “Coriolanus,” which is screening in competition at Berlinale.

From an article by Diana Lodderhose at Variety.com.