After more than 13 years at the Munich-based film company Beta Cinema, the long-standing film distribution manager Thorsten Ritter the company. Ritter had been Executive Vice President since 2012 for Acquisitions, Sales and Marketing and will be taking on "new professional challenges", according to a statement from the company.

Ritter has more than three decades of experience in the international film industry. He began his career as co-founder and co-director of the Oldenburg International Film Festivalbefore going to Bavaria Film International moved to the company. There, as Head of Marketing and later as Managing Director, he was responsible for the international campaigns for films such as "Nowhere in Africa", "Good Bye, Lenin!", "Against the wall", "Sophie Scholl - The last days" and "So dark the night".

During his time at Beta Cinema, Ritter was instrumental in positioning the company internationally. The successful productions that were distributed worldwide under his leadership include "Child's Pose", "Jack", "Sand Storm", "The Happy Prince", "Work without an author", "Styx", "System blaster", "I'm Your Man" and finally "Amrum".

In a personal statement, Ritter spoke of the "great enrichment" of having accompanied so many outstanding films on their way to international audiences. He also thanked Beta Cinema CEO Dirk Schürhoff for the many years of collaboration and the opportunity to contribute his passion for content-driven projects.

Schürhoff, for his part, honoured Ritter's commitment: "We would like to thank Thorsten Ritter for his many years of excellent cooperation, his loyalty and his contributions to the content. It was a great time and we wish him all the best for the future."

According to the company, Ritter will remain closely involved in the European film industry and plans to continue to utilise his experience in the areas of Acquisition, sales, marketing, festivals and promotion in new projects and co-operations in the future.