Beta Cinema stalwart Thorsten Ritter is stepping down from his role as Executive Vice President Acquisitions, Sales & Marketing after 13 years in the role.
Ritter, who joined the German company in 2012, played a played a key role in shaping Beta Cinema’s international strategy and contributed to the worldwide success of numerous award-winning productions.
Titles handled by Beta Cinema under his watch include Child’s Pose, Jack, Sand Storm, The Happy Prince, Never Look Away, Styx, Calibre, Woman at War, System Crasher, Nowhere Special, I’m Your Man, One Last Evening, With Love, Hilde, William Tell and most recently Amrum.
“It has been a great privilege to accompany so many outstanding films on their journey into the world – together with an exceptionally dedicated and cooperative team,” said Ritter in release put out the cinema division on Monday.
“My heartfelt thanks go to Dirk Schürhoff, who gave me the opportunity to bring my passion for content-driven collaboration with producers and filmmakers to Beta Cinema – and, along the way, to discover an unexpected joy in selling. Now feels like the right moment to open a new chapter,” he continued, referring to Beta Cinema CEO Schürhoff.
Ritter’s career in the international film industry spans three decades.
He cut his teeth in the cinema world as the co-founder and co-director of the Oldenburg International Film Festival.
From there, he joined Bavaria Film International, where, as Head of Marketing and later Managing Director, he oversaw campaigns for such acclaimed films as Nowhere in Africa, Good Bye, Lenin!, Head-On, Sophie Scholl – The Final Days and Let the Right One In.
Schürhoff said: “We would like to express our sincere thanks to Thorsten Ritter for his exceptionally good, long-standing cooperation, his great commitment, loyalty and substantive contributions. It has been a great time working with him, and I wish him all the very best for his personal and professional future.”
The release said that Ritter is planning to remain connected to the European film industry and use his extensive experience in acquisitions, sales, marketing, festivals and funding.
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