Quarterly 2 · 2008

German Films Quarterly 2 · 2008

AT CANNES Un Certain Regard WOLKE 9 by Andreas Dresen Cinéfondation GESTERN IN EDEN by Jan Speckenbach Critics’ Week DAS FREMDE IN MIR by Emily Atef

PORTRAITS 90 Years of ARRI, Directors Pepe Danquart & Sylke Enders, Producer 23|5 Film, and Actor Andreas Schmidt GERMAN FILMS AND IN THE OFFICIAL PROGRAM OF

In Competition In Competition In Competition

PALERMO SHOOTING DELTA WALTZ WITH BASHIR by Wim Wenders by Kornél Mundruczó by Ari Folman Producer: Neue Road Movies/Berlin German Co-Producer: German Co-Producer: Razor Film/Berlin World Sales: HanWay Films/London Essential Filmproduktion/Berlin World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne World Sales: Coproduction Office/Paris

Un Certain Regard Cinéfondation Atelier

TULPAN GESTERN IN EDEN WOMB by Sergey Dvortsevoy THE OTHER DAY IN EDEN by Benedek Fliegauf by Jan Speckenbach German Co-Producer: Pandora Film/Cologne German Producer: Razor Film/Berlin World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne Producer/World Sales: Deutsche Film- & Fernsehakademie (dffb)/Berlin

Directors’ Fortnight Critics’ Week Critics’ Week

SALAMANDRA DAS FREMDE IN MIR DER KLOANE by Pablo Aguero THE STRANGER IN ME by Emily Atef THE RUNT by Andreas Hykade German Co-Producer: Rohfilm/Leipzig & Berlin Producer: NiKo Film/Berlin Producer/World Sales: World Sales: Bavaria Film Studio Film Bilder/Stuttgart International/Geiselgasteig CO-PRODUCTIONS THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2008

In Competition Un Certain Regard Un Certain Regard

LE SILENCE DE LORNA WOLKE 9 O’ HORTEN by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne CLOUD 9 by Andreas Dresen by Bent Hamer German Co-Producers: Mogador Film/ Producer: Rommel Film/Berlin German Co-Producer: Pandora Film/Cologne Frankfurt-Berlin & Gemini Film/Cologne World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne World Sales: Celluloid Dreams/Paris All photos courtesy of not contractual. Credits and world sales agents. producers

Cannes Classics Midnight Special Directors’ Fortnight

LOLA MONTEZ SURVEILLANCE LIVERPOOL by Max Ophuels by Jennifer Lynch by Lisandro Alonso German Co-Producers: Gamma Film, Oska-Film, German Producer: Lago Film/Berlin German Co-Producer: Black Forest Films/Berlin Union-Film/Munich World Sales: Arclight Films/Los Angeles World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne World Sales: Les Films du Jeudi/Paris

Critics’ Week Critics’ Week Critics’ Week

BETTER THINGS LA SANGRE BROTA SNOW by Duane Hopkins BLOOD APPEARS by Pablo Fendrik by Aida Begic German Co-Producer: Flying Moon German Co-Producer: Neue Cameo Film/Cologne German Co-Producer: Rohfilm/Leipzig & Berlin Filmproduktion/Berlin World Sales: Coach14/Paris & Barcelona World Sales: Celluloid Dreams/Paris German Films Quarterly 2 · 2008

6 portrait 90 YEARS OF ARRI MAKING YOUR VISION A REALITY

directors’ portraits 12 ON THE BORDER A portrait of Pepe Danquart 14 CONTRADICTIONS & SANDCASTLES A portrait of Sylke Enders

producers’ portrait 16 PART OF THE PROCESS A portrait of 23|5 Filmproduktion

actor’s portrait 18 SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL A portrait of Andreas Schmidt

20 news

in production 26 13 SEMESTERS Frieder Wittich 27 66/67 Carsten Ludwig, Jan-Christoph Glaser 28 FRAEULEIN STINNES FAEHRT UM DIE WELT Erica von Moeller 28 GEGEN DEN STROM Jan Fehse 29 GEORGE TABORIS MEIN KAMPF Urs Odermatt 30 DIE GESCHICHTE VOM BRANDNER KASPAR Joseph Vilsmaier 31 HANNA’S WORDS Andreas Struck 32 JERICHOW Christian Petzold 33 LIPPELS TRAUM Lars Buechel 33 DIE PERLMUTTERFARBE Marcus H. Rosenmueller 34 PINK TAXI Uli Gaulke 35 SCHATTENMENSCHEN Darioush Shirvani 36 THE THREE INVESTIGATORS – THE SECRET OF TERROR CASTLE Florian Baxmeyer 37 UNTER STROM Zoltan Paul 38 WERTHER Uwe Janson 39 DIE WUNDERSAME WELT DER WASCHKRAFT Hans-Christian Schmid 40 ZWISCHEN HEUTE UND MORGEN Fred Breinersdorfer

new german films 42 ALLEALLE Pepe Planitzer 43 AUGE IN AUGE – EINE DEUTSCHE FILMGESCHICHTE EYE TO EYE – ALL ABOUT GERMAN FILM Michael Althen, Hans Helmut Prinzler 44 BERLIN AM MEER BERLIN BY THE SEA Wolfgang Eissler 45 COMEBACK Maximilian Plettau 46 DR. ALEMÁN Tom Schreiber 47 DWK 5 – DIE WILDEN KERLE THE WILD SOCCER BUNCH 5 Joachim Masannek 48 DIE ENTDECKUNG DER CURRYWURST THE INVENTION OF THE CURRIED SAUSAGE Ulla Wagner 49 DIE FRAU DES ANARCHISTEN THE ANARCHIST’S WIFE Marie Noëlle, Peter Sehr 50 DAS FREMDE IN MIR THE STRANGER IN ME Emily Atef 51 GESTERN IN EDEN THE OTHER DAY IN EDEN Jan Speckenbach 52 DIE HANDWERKER GOTTES GOD’S CRAFTSMEN Siegmar Warnecke 53 ICH WILL DA SEIN – JENNY GROELLMANN THE BALLAD OF JENNY G. Petra Weisenburger 54 IM JAHR DES HUNDES IN THE YEAR OF THE DOG Ursula Scheid 55 LAUF UM DEIN LEBEN – VOM JUNKIE ZUM IRONMAN RUN FOR YOUR LIFE – FROM JUNKIE TO IRONMAN Adnan G. Koese 56 LOVE, PEACE & BEATBOX Volker Meyer-Dabisch 57 MEINE MUETTER – SPURENSUCHE IN RIGA TWO MOTHERS – THE SEARCH BEGAN IN RIGA Rosa von Praunheim 58 MEIN TRAUM ODER DIE EINSAMKEIT IST NIE ALLEIN MY DREAM OR LONELINESS NEVER WALKS ALONE Roland Reber 59 MEMORY BOOKS Christa Graf 60 NOVEMBERKIND NOVEMBER CHILD Christian Schwochow 61 DIE OESTERREICHISCHE METHODE THE AUSTRIAN METHOD Florian Mischa Boeder, Peter Boesenberg, Gerrit Lucas, Erica von Moeller, Alexander Tavakoli 62 PLATTLN IN UMTATA SHOESLAPPING IN AFRICA Peter Heller 63 SOMMER SUMMER Mike Marzuk 64 SOMMERSONNTAG SUMMER SUNDAY Sigi Kamml, Fred Breinersdorfer 65 TROUBLE – TEATIME IN HEILIGENDAMM Mind Pirates 66 DER WEISSE MIT DEM SCHWARZBROT WHITE MAN WITH BLACK BREAD Jonas Grosch 67 WOLKE 9 CLOUD 9 Andreas Dresen

71 film exporters

75 foreign representatives · imprint August Arnold and Robert Richter The young filmmakersThe young and founders of the company:

90 YEARS OF ARRI MAKING YOUR VISION A REALITY

The ARRI Group is the world's largest manufacturer and distributor development engineers, optimize the technology as well as the work- of motion picture cameras, digital intermediate systems and lighting flows. equipment. The company, with headquarters in Munich, was founded over 90 years ago by the filmmakers August Arnold and Robert PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FOR NATIONAL & Richter, and has continually introduced revolutionary technologies INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS such as the reflex mirror shutter, the ARRIFLEX 435 camera and the ARRILASER film recorder. Today, the ARRI Group is one of the key The ARRI Rental Group provides equipment and services for domes- global players in the business; the company’s 12 scientific and engi- tic and international film productions. Major hubs in Munich, New neer ing Oscars® for numerous state-of-the-art products attest to this York and London work with subsidiaries and partners across the fact. Innovation, reliability and high quality are the cornerstones of the globe to give productions access to a worldwide rental network. With company’s philosophy as well as the goals of the product develop- its state-of-the-art camera, lighting and grip equipment, and its expe- ment, manufacturing and service teams. ARRI is in the unique posi tion rienc ed team, the ARRI Group can assist even the most complex proof being manufacturer and end-user at the same time. Its subsi diaries, jects such as feature film productions shooting on tight schedules in such as Rental and Film & TV, get to test the latest tech nologies under multiple locations. Recently, such productions have included The ‘real-life’ conditions and, through an ongoing dialogue with product Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (director: Andrew Adamson, pro- german films quarterly portrait the ARRI group

2 · 2008 6 ARRI Head Office Munich

duction company: Walden Media, locations: Prague, New Zealand); Having access to such an efficient network of rental facilities puts pro- Green Zone (director: Paul Greengrass, production company: duction teams at ease, especially when that network is manned by a Working Title Films, locations: Morocco, Spain, England); and last but workforce that can assist in even the most unforeseen and com - not least the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace (director: plicated situations. In addition, ARRI is a renowned all-in-one post- Marc Forster, production company: EON Productions, locations: production house, with facilities in Munich and Berlin servicing England, Chile, Panama, Austria). As well as feature films, the ARRI acclaimed national and international film and television projects as Group has a proven track record of successfully servicing major tele- well as commercial productions. The post-pro duction division recent- vision series and dramas, as well as top-end commercials for the most ly expanded by bringing the Swiss company Schwarzfilm, based in demanding of clients. Bern, on board and by opening an additional facility in Zurich. ARRI On the set of “Der Mongole”

german films quarterly portrait the ARRI group

2 · 2008 7 Michael Carella, Mikael Salomon (photo Michael Carella, © Jan Thijs) On the set of “The Company”: Michael Zimbrich, Ben Nott,

customers can now count on high quality service in five locations FROM SCRIPT TO SCREEN: ONE-STOP SHOP across Germany and Switzerland. The collaboration of the rental and post-production departments Recently, German-international projects such as Perfume – The Story offers film productions all over the world a unique ‘from script to of a Murderer and The International have exclusively used ARRI Rental screen’ service. ARRI customers can arrive with a script and leave and ARRI Film & TV for all their rental and post-production needs. with a finished film! The ‘one-stop shop’ philosophy is possible be- ARRI continues to promote its unique ability to assist clients through cause ARRI offers consulting, planning, budgeting, assistance (in - the full filmmaking workflow by offering rental as well as post- cluding on location), equipment as well as services. This in turn en - production services. sures that the available rental and post-production resources are Michelle Dockery in the Mob Film Co./Sky TV production “Hogfather” TV production Michelle Dockery in the Mob Film Co./Sky

german films quarterly portrait the ARRI group

2 · 2008 8 ARRI Lighting Rental Munich

utilized to the fullest extent, resulting in nothing less than the best pos- lenses and accessories. Also available are digital cameras such as the sible production support. State-of-the-art technology and ARRI’s ARRIFLEX D-21, which was recently introduced at the NAB SHOW. highly competent staff, with its creative sensibilities and technological Available lighting systems include standard products such as the know-how in all areas – including camera and lighting equipment as ARRISUN 40/25, the Compact 1200 and the new True Blues range well as a nalogue and digital post-production – are the guarantors. as well as the high-end ARRIMAX – the world’s most powerful HMI light, and the new MaxMover remote automated stirrup. Besides all THE PERFECT SOLUTION FOR EACH JOB this, the company offers ARRI Motion Control Systems, stabilized remote heads and telescopic cranes, as well as the latest dolly equip- ARRI Rental offers the complete range of 16, 35 and 65 mm cameras, ment from leading manufacturers. Such equipment can be supplied Lustre Grading Suite Lustre

german films quarterly portrait the ARRI group

2 · 2008 9 Stage 1 Sound

worldwide through special in-house, tailor-made logistic solutions, Digital technology continues to set new standards and is increasingly proven by productions like The Bourne Ultimatum (director: Paul used on highly sophisticated film, television and commercial produc- Greengrass, studio: Universal pictures, locations: USA, UK and tions. These types of productions require the most advanced equip- Europe) for which equipment was supplied from various ARRI Rental ment, such as the ARRILASER film recorder and the ARRISCAN dig- outlets worldwide according to the individual location of each set. ital film scanner. In Europe, ARRI is among the market leaders when “The Chronicles of“The Chronicles Lindenlaub with an ARRICAM ST Narnia:Walter Prince Caspian” DoP Karl

german films quarterly portrait the ARRI group

2 · 2008 10 DIGITAL CINEMA – THE NEW WAVE

Anticipating the needs of the cinema of the future, ARRI Film & TV is expanding its service range by adding digital cinema technologies. The latest developments in information and digital projection technology as well as in data compression continue a trend towards ‘digitalization’ of the film business at all stages. ARRI Film & TV offers a start-to-finish solution for the production of digital cinema content. For this purpose ARRI developed its own tools and integrated them into the ARRI post-production workflow. The specifications adhere to the Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) as well as SMPTE stand - ards. This workflow offers the greatest possible flexibility, quality and security to ARRI customers.

NOW AND FOREVER

In today’s world most films are finished digitally, but it is not yet possible to archive films in digital form. With its separation master service, ARRI Film & TV offers a film-based option for the long term stor- age of DI data. For this process a black & white separation master negative is used, because unlike color stock, the black & white emul- sion remains stable over many years. ARRI therefore recommends that clients shoot on film (still the best possible acquisition format), post in 4K and archive on separation masters.

ARRI Media Worldsales was founded in 2000 as a division of the ARRI Group, a world sales company selling theatrical, video and TV rights (license rights). The company specializes in German arthouse

DoP Florian Emmerich keeps up pace with Matt Damon (photo © JasinDoP Florian Emmerich keeps Boland/2007 Universal Studios) films, TV movies, miniseries and documentaries. Its portfolio includes the renowned Heimat trilogy by Edgar Reitz and its latest theatrical production is Clara by Helma Sanders-Brahms. In the TV sector ARRI Media Worldsales cooperates closely with the production company it comes to digital intermediate (DI) processes. In Germany, the com- LISA FILMPRODUKTION (which has made TV series such as Ein pany set up the first DI grading suite featuring Lustre grading software Schloss am Woerthersee). The company has also distributed further and Barco 2K projectors, allowing ARRI to offer digital color correc- high-level TV events like Queen of Cherries by Rainer Kaufmann, an tion for feature films under movie theater conditions. NDF production made in collaboration with ZDF/ARTE.

ARRI’s Berlin facility now features Europe’s largest grading cinema, with a 500 square foot screen, 23 seats and a 2K digital projector. It Full contact information for the entire ARRI group is available at has also successfully completed the transition from a film lab, focusing www.arri.de. primarily on television productions, to a fully-fledg ed post-production facility featuring cutting-edge technology. This benefits the high-end national and international productions which film in and around Berlin. But its location is not the only advantage of ARRI Berlin; it offers a wide range of services and con siderable facilities, which provide perfect conditions for the completion of sophisticated and involved productions.

ARRI’s experienced and dedicated team of color graders are well versed in analogue as well as digital post-production. The competent and motivated team honed their skills in the VFX department as well as in the related video and film post-production division. The company’s graphic designers have the know-how and the creative ideas necessary to create an impressive opening for any film. State-of-the-art

data transmission technology and sophisticated workflows assure a The Film Style Digital Camera ARRIFLEX D-21 seamless collaboration between various ARRI depart ments and facilities. Last but not least, there is also the ARRI cinema: with its 32 x 14 foot screen and 360 seats it plays a vital role in a unique production chain that incorporates coordinated color management. Thanks to the cinema’s market leading analogue and digital projectors, ARRI customers can view their project under movie theater conditions not only when it is completed, but at all stages of production.

german films quarterly portrait the ARRI group

2 · 2008 11 Pepe Danquart (photo © Jim Rakete/photoselection) ON THE BORDER DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT DIRECTOR’S A portrait of Pepe A portraitDanquart of from 1978-1988.In1983,the andvideocollective the MWFfilm asanauthor-director-producer within films docu-dramas andshort Workshop Freiburg (MWF).Hemadearound 30documentaries, theMedia frommemberof 1975-1981andwasafounding University Pepe Danquart is not my thing,” says thing,”says is notmy ture filmmaker, orthetheaterman.Puttingpeopleinto compartments anddirectororfea- asanartist ratherthanthedocumentary myself beenontheborder,“I’ve always crossing between genres, andregard Studies at the University of Freiburg where hemetMiriam Quinte of Studies attheUniversity Communication continuedwhenhebeganstudying His interest infilm during histeenageyears. andpaintingledhimto make hisownSuper8films photography 2 ·2008 filmsquarterlygerman studied Media&CommunicationatFreiburg Pepe Danquart whose interest asachildfor mark on the documentary film scene.” film mark onthedocumentary editor. aestheticandleftour years anew wehaddeveloped After five orcommissioning afunder of withoutthefilter radical andsubjective recalls.Danquart “We wasfresh, like mad,everything shotaway video,” own Super8sceneandlaterdiscovered themediumof Freiburg theMedienwerkstatt in1977.“Wefounded established our Rothemundwithwhomhe andBertram (who laterbecamehiswife) In the course of 15yearsproduced theMedienwerkstatt over 30films In thecourseof Atkin; the gangster comedy thegangstercomedy Atkin; AlidaValli, MiraSorvino, Martinez, Spain andstarring Olivier Feodor and Documentary category for for category Documentary anominationattheEuropeanreceived FilmAwards intheBest Bridgewater, ChristinaBranco, andSheilaChandra.Lastyear, he (2002), writtenbyAndreJessyeDeedee Hellerandstarring Norman, Grimme Prize-nominatedmusicalfilm andtheAdolf Hader; andJosef Huebchen,CorinnaHarfouch, Henry thriller astheinternational films by followed trilogy sports Saison thefilm Mostar duringthewarmaking by spendingtwoyears from 1994-1996intheBosniantownof category. Short AwardAcademy intheLive-Action this Hefollowed an received andsubsequently festivals shown atcountlessfilm 1993), whichhaditspremiere attheBerlinalein1993beforebeing Berlin where hemadetheshort 1991, Pepe andmadethemovefrom Freiburg leftthecollective to was presented totheMediaWorkshop its“entire for output”.In FilmCriticsAssociation theGerman prizeof national documentary email: [email protected] ·www.charade-agentur.com 55 93 77 +49-30-32 4·fax 93 77 phone +49-30-32 Joseph-Haydn-Strasse 1·10557Berlin/Germany Charade Kuenstleragentur Contact: Schattenschwester (TV, 2000), maker 1995), documentary, 1995), aFemale Bandit Devi–Rebellionof Phoolan drama, 1991), include: inHamburg.Hisotherfilms Fine Arts of andtheAcademy Wuerttemberg inLudwigsburg, FilmAcademy inBerlin,theBaden- suchasthedffb schoolsinGermany various film work asadirector-writer, hasalsotaughtFilmDirecting Danquart at FilmAwards.from the2008German his for Apart Best Documentary andwasnominatedinthecategory FilmAwardBavarian thisJanuary documentary FilmAwardhis aGerman intheBestDirectorfor category ceived To theLimit Itinerary Alsace–Notesfrom Film aGerman , 1996)whichpremiered inBerlin1997.In2000,here - (essay film, TV, film, (essay 1996), Home Game A Day of PassionA Dayof … AndOtherEmissions ( Old Indians NeverOld Indians Die Am Limit (currently indevelopment). (currently Hell onWheels C(r)ook To theLimit ( Heimspiel Playboys Black Rider Semana Santa Semana , 2007).Hehasalsodirected such · AntjeSchlag (2004) withMoritzBleibtreu, In the Heart of Light In theHeartof (commercial, 2006),and (short, 1998), (short, Off Season Off , 2000), the first of his of , 2000),thefirst ( Hoellentour director’s portrait which picked upa ( Daedalus Schwarzfahrer (documentary, TV, (video, 1992), (2002), shotin (co-director, Release ( , 2004) (docu- Nach - , 12 as a filmmakers’ collective, but Danquart then made a break with the Schattenschwester which will be produced by Berlin-based workshop with the making in 1989/1990 of Daedalus, a science Ziegler Film. “It is a very important project for me about a borderline fiction film with documentary elements which – for the first time – personality disorder. It is based on the diary of a young girl during her bore his name as director. stay in a clinic. There is a parallel to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and the secret diary of Laura Palmer, but this here is a real case. The young Soon after, he made the move to Berlin … with the idea for a short woman reappraised her own childhood and the abuse in the past film which was realized as Black Rider and premiered at the while she was in the clinic. It is the drama of a woman who is fighting Berlinale in 1993. The film was then shown at countless film festivals for her life, and this moved me so that I really wanted to make it into around the world and received an Academy Award in the Live-Action a film. It will be quite demanding for me both in the narrative plot as Short category the following year. well as the visual realization to be able to present the inner and outer life of this young woman.” “News of winning the Oscar® had a tremendous reaction,” Danquart says, “I had been a ’no name’ without any infrastructure in Berlin and Danquart has already recruited veteran cinematographer Ed this prize suddenly brought me my own identity after the time in the Lachman, who worked with his “regular” DoP Wolfgang Thaler on collective.” Ulrich Seidl’s Import Export, to the project, and “Shooting Star 2008” Hannah Herzsprung is attached to play the central lead figure. He admits that everybody wanted him to try his hand at a fiction “Hannah is good at playing broken characters,” he says. “The emo- feature film after the Oscar® triumph, but a meeting with Hans Robert tional shifts, the intensity of joy and hatred – these are all things she Eisenhauer, then head of the thematic evenings for ARTE, changed all can portray.” of this. At the same time, Danquart has not restricted himself to only work- “He asked if I might like to go to Bosnia for two years to accompany ing as director of documentaries and fiction films: he has directed Hans Koschnick in Mostar who was trying to bring a separated town music videos since 1995 and became a successful director of com- together. I didn’t know what I should be doing there as I didn’t know mercials since 2005, mostly for the company Bigfish. “The work here the language or the story, but I traveled there to do some research is very useful for my other films because I can try things out,” he and was so taken by the fates of these people. It was a gut reaction – notes. “And I get to meet a lot of very talented young people working like so many in my life – to just disappear for two years after the here as cameramen, costume designers and so on. They are an Oscar® to make a documentary for the cinema about the war in inspiration for me with their new view of the world. Here is a new black-and-white and on 35 mm.” generation used to multi-tasking and working with computers. Working with them keeps me young.” In between working on Off Season, as the project was called, Danquart made his “summer films” such as the road movie docu- And his stage production Human Voices which was inspired by the film mentary Old Indians Never Die during breaks away from the In the Heart of Light has also had a crossover effect on his other war zone. work: Christoph Israel, who was musical director for the staging at Bar jeder Vernunft in Berlin subsequently wrote the music for “Off Season won about everything that you could win,” he recalls. Danquart’s documentary To the Limit. “It was nominated in the Best Film category at the German Film Awards because there wasn’t a documentary category at the time, While he has served as a creative partner for his wife Miriam’s and that was a real satisfaction to be among the top five best films of Freiburg-based production company Quinte Film on such projects as the year. As this film showed, I have always trusted my instinct to do Austrian documentary filmmaker Michael Glawogger’s trilogy things I feel strongly about and not because they will serve my Megacities, Workingman’s Death and Whores’ Glory, Danquart has his career.” own ambitions in the sphere of fiction feature films and, to this end, founded a new production outfit called Bittersuess Pictures with the Since then, Danquart has moved effortlessly between working on commercials company Bigfish Productions: “We have 4-5 projects in feature films and documentaries, always wanting to cross borders and development and hope to have the first one shooting next year.” trying his hand at different genres and forms of expression. “I think my work in fictional as well as the documentary field have influenced one another,” he explains. “The last three documentaries in the sport Pepe Danquart spoke with Martin Blaney trilogy – Home Game, Hell on Wheels, and To the Limit – are in essence the creation of a new form, conjuring up a staged documentary cinematic experience which has a clear dramaturgical structure with turning points and climaxes, and characters like in a thriller, but you are nevertheless dealing with real people. I had a completely controlled situation like working on a fiction film and that was great fun to do.”

Danquart is likely to be good for more surprises in the future as well: still very much the border-hopper, he is currently developing what he calls an “aerial road movie”, a joint venture between Japan, Germany and France which would present “a new dimension of documentary filmmaking" and be "a film for extra-terrestrials about this world!”

Before that he is likely to start shooting on his next feature film german films quarterly director’s portrait

2 · 2008 13 Sylke Enders (photo © Stephan Rabold) & SANDCASTLES & SANDCASTLES CONTRADICTIONS DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT DIRECTOR’S A portrait of SylkeA portrait of Enders asked tobringsome,whichmeans biscuits,been despiteherhaving The teaisbrewing,butthere’s alackof society and the eternal fight of the individual againstthelatter.” theindividual of fight society andtheeternal and life todiscovermore of off out, soagedeighteenItookmyself butthatwas inMoscoworLodz asapost-graduate possible tostudy placeatthe university. didmeanIlostmy they Inthosedays,itwas problems, disciplinary anunhappychild,despiteseveral but wasn’t herupbringing,laughingheartily. “I “I’m arealof ZoneKid!”shesays and I’mbetweenherthedoor, butshe opensupfrom thegetgo. late. She’s asrelaxed she’s asshecanbe,given inastranger’s apartment 2 ·2008 filmsquarterlygerman Sylke Enders is hittingthechoco- well, like that, Enders applied to the University of Arts inWest Arts Berlin of well, like that,Endersappliedtothe University script andprovesis, life comefrom afilm In whatcouldquiteeasily toWest andemigrated got married Germany!” Enders collectedyet hearing!“ThenImetaman, anotherdisciplinary West orthesecret police!” camera,Iwasfrom leatherjacket,hairandJapanese the my short amotorbike.thought,with 350 ’Awos’,that’saspecialnamefor They “about amotorbike gatheringinSaxony. There were 600bikers and Volksbuehne film, theaterinBerlin,Endersmadeherfirst While “openingdoorsandwelcomingdirectors andactors”atthe email: [email protected]·www.henschel-schauspiel.de 77 88 31 +49-30-44 88·fax 88 31 phone +49-30-44 Marienburger Strasse28·10405Berlin/Germany Henschel SCHAUSPIEL Theaterverlag Berlin GmbH Contact: jects. pro- onseveral working SaarbrueckenFestival 2008.Sheiscurrently andwasincompetitionattheMaxOphuels 2007festival ed theHof lieb! 2004 aswelltheFirstStepsAward in2003.Thencame theEuropeanFilmAwardand wasnominatedfor Newcomers in a featurein2003.ItpickedFilmAward uptheGerman inSilver2004 While atthedffb, shemadetheshort, duating in2002.Sincethenshe’s worked asadirector andwriter. entered Film&Television theGerman in1996,gra- (dffb) Academy asascriptandcontinuityconsultantdirector’s assistant,then ed Arts.From 1990shework of Communication attheBerlinUniversity totheWest emigrated she married, andstudiedSocialBusiness short her first she becameadoorkeeper atBerlin’s Volksbuehne theater. Shemade issues. Afterpursuingacareer inunemploymentandhomelessness in1986due,again,tobehavioral inBerlinbuthadtoleave University at theHumboldt directing, shestudiedSociology film dream of her Excelling atgettingexpelledfrom schoolandunabletofulfill GDR. Hermotherwasabookkeeper, asocialscientist. herfather Sylke Enders (2004) andin2007, AWO grew upinthe1970sKleinmachnow,grew intheformer , aboutbikers, TV. whichsoldtowestern Then Mondkalb AWO later got sold to western TVand later gotsoldtowestern , herthird feature,whichopen Kroko , which she turned into , whichsheturned director’s portrait Hab mich Hab AWO - - , 14 “via a Dutch diplomat who smuggled my application over. I got accep- reels off the names of Cassavetes, Penn, Schlesinger, Forman and t ed the day I got out of the GDR!” Bogdanovich, then adds Danish director Susanne Bier, who made Open Hearts and Brothers: “I like the mixture of very interesting Her dream of directing neither gone nor forgotten, Enders met the figures, contradictory figures, unsentimentally told but still very emo- now deceased producer, Rudi Kaufmann, who was making the film tional.” Kinderspiele with Wolfgang Becker and for whom “I was Best Girl – girl for everything! Afterwards, I decided to stay close to directors to Not a great watcher of TV, Enders prefers to let zapping be her pro- learn by doing, hence script continuity. I did that for ten years.” gram guide! “Discovery is fun,” she says. “It has something magical about it. The films you need come to you at the right time, just like Getting into the dffb finally gave her the chance to study what she the stories sometimes do! By that I mean mostly documentaries. I find really wanted. they’ve become almost essential. I think actors should be made to watch them to see how people express their feelings in reality. “I’d already written scripts,” Enders explains, “and applied to other Genuine, deep feelings flash for a millisecond. I find that very inte- schools, but it was very hard with my personality! I still don’t know resting.” what the problem is! Babelsberg felt I was too objective and not emotional enough. Then I met someone who’d been there, he read my When casting, Enders looks “for someone who can listen and wants documents and advised me to reapply. I got accepted there and also to. Someone who doesn’t know they know a lot: they need to be at the dffb. I went with the dffb because I felt the course was more curious. They should listen because they have to act as if they don’t practical, given where I was in terms of experience and knowledge.” know much just yet. And they mustn’t take themselves too seriously.” Enders then did “the obligatory shorts” and worked, as well, on a special project for regional broadcaster RBB. “It was a series of student Her hobbies include reading, “novels from all centuries, anything I can films called Boomtown Berlin and I wrote about a girl, Kroko. I got the get my hands on!” Again, she lets serendipity do the work: “I trust story about girls and girl gangs from the lighting guy, Lars Paetow. things to come to me! I don’t go into bookshops: my friends’ libraries Afterwards, I was given the opportunity to turn it into a feature and are my source!” Lars stayed very close to the project, advising, assisting with the casting, keeping me credible. I also had Franziska Juenger reprise the Enders is, above all, grounded. “Filmmaking is a privilege,” she readily role of Kroko.” admits. “It should be used to try things out and also to keep making mistakes because they’re the best thing that can happen to you! The film, the attention and awards it garnered, acted as Enders’ foun- Wanting to direct has something childish about it. Building sandcastles dation. She then made Hab mich Lieb! for her graduation film. again, a second world. You can conjure more out of the first one or “It’s about fighting for status inside a friendship,” Enders explains. “It’s de-magic it entirely!” And then she trots out one of her own contra- based on the basic idea of Waiting for Godot and Franziska had the dictions: “I would also love to make a Tatort!” main role again.”

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to actually receive a film Sylke Enders spoke with Simon Kingsley award? When Enders won the German Film Award for Kroko she was “heavily pregnant, and desperate for food! I heard the announce- ment, Artiste, and thought ’Hey! There aren’t any others! I’m the only one!’ I was more worried about my skirt sitting properly and my mother asking why I wasn’t dressed better!”

She then tells how Kroko was shown in a school and, afterwards, the teacher told her that children who rarely uttered a word had been the ones doing the most asking and talking. “That hour,” says Enders, “made the film worth it for me.”

Three years on and she’s now a mother, Enders made Mondkalb (2007) and, for the first time is stumped by one of my questions: what’s it about? Unwilling to be nailed down, still wrestling with the themes of her own creation, she talks of relationships to violence, against oneself, others and children, and that “I needed 100 minutes to tell a very complex story.”

Now working on up to five projects, she’s keen to push Kokon, “about a woman who helped someone to die. And Ein hauch von … which is about a 40-year-old family father who fights for his self-respect after his mother dies, has a crisis and is unemployed.”

While we might have to wait a bit for Enders to make her first comedy, she is, in reality, a very funny woman. “I like lively, vital films with a pinch of humor,” she admits. “I like films that tell the story with a light touch.” Inspired by American films from the 1960s and 70s, she german films quarterly director’s portrait

2 · 2008 15 PRODUCERS’ PORTRAIT 23|5 Filmproduktion GmbH was founded by German film director Hans-Christian Schmid in April 2004. Britta Knoeller, who previously worked for X Filme Creative Pool, joined the company as a producer in August 2005 and is now a shareholder and managing director together with Schmid. The company’s goal is to produce feature films and documentaries for theatrical release. These can be films from and by Hans-Christian Schmid as well as projects from other authors and directors. A main focus is on the thorough development of scripts and the support of young writers. Requiem, the first feature film produced and directed by Schmid, premiered in the Official Competition in Berlin in 2006 where Sandra Hueller won the Silver Bear for Best Actress and the film was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize. Requiem won five German Film Awards – including Best Film in Silver, Best Lead Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Several national and international festivals and awards followed, including invitations to Karlovy Vary, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro and Warsaw. The company’s second theatrical feature film And Along Come Tourists (Am Ende kommen Touristen) by Robert Thalheim was shot entirely on location in Poland in 2006 and had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes in 2007. 23|5 is currently producing Schmid’s documentary Die wundersame Welt der Waschkraft and has a number of projects in development: Schmid’s political thriller Storm (Sturm), the German- French co-production La Lisiere by Geraldine Bajard, a children’s feature Mein Sommer mit Molomok, and projects by screenwriters Markus Busch and Daniel Nocke.

Contact: 23|5 Filmproduktion Methfesselstrasse 23 · 10965 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-76 76 82 0 · fax +49-30-76 76 82 29 email: [email protected] · www.235film.de Britta Knoeller, Hans-Christian Schmid (photo © Gerald von Foris) Britta Knoeller, PART OF THE PROCESS A portrait of 23|5 Filmproduktion

It is now four years since Hans-Christian Schmid, the director “We looked for a concrete project to make this step into production of such films as It’s a Jungle Out There (Nach fuenf Im Urwald), 23, and decided that Requiem would be the right one to start off with,” Distant Lights and Crazy, decided to launch his own production com- says Schmid, who was able to draw on the services of several people pany 23|5 Filmproduktion in early 2004. from Claussen+Woebke+Putz such as Uli Putz and Peter Dress to oversee the film’s production. “I had moved to Berlin in 2000 and I wanted to have here what I’d had with Claussen+Woebke+Putz in Munich,” Schmid recalls. “A base for Starring Sandra Hueller, Imogen Kogge and Burghart Klaussner, the films I wanted to make. A more egoistical reason was that I want - Requiem premiered in the Official Competition of the Berlin ed to own my films. I was also interested in working with other International Film Festival in 2006 where Sandra Hueller won the people and not just thinking about my next film. It appealed to me to Silver Bear for Best Actress and the film was awarded the FIPRESCI be involved in projects from the very beginning, and I was also keen to Prize. Requiem subsequently won five German Film Awards – inclu- be part of the process after a film is completed, how it is released in ding Best Film in Silver, Best Lead Actress and Best Supporting Actress the cinema.” – and was nominated in another five categories.

The name 23|5 Filmproduktion is, naturally, connected with Schmid’s In August 2005, Schmid was joined by Britta Knoeller in the company 1999 film 23, starring August Diehl and Fabian Busch, “and the 5 is after she had overseen the post-production on Requiem, and has then the sum of the digits. Of course, there is another side to the also been a shareholder and managing director since May 2007. company name for those people who are aware of the Illuminati.” Previous to this, she had been an intern at Claussen+Woebke+Putz

german films quarterly producers’ portrait

2 · 2008 16 in Munich, worked as an assistant director for various projects, and Criminal Tribunal for Ex-Yugoslavia (ICTY). was the assistant to Maria Koepf at X Filme for three years until the end of 2004. “Thematically, it is about law, justice and integrity and the question as to what amount of importance is given to this precious entity of inter- 23|5’s second film – And Along Come Tourists – was the national law,” Schmid notes. company’s first to be directed by someone other than Schmid. “We came across the project pretty much at the same time. Britta had read Meanwhile, Knoeller is working at the same time on the development an early draft of the treatment and I met Robert Thalheim in Slubice of the German-French co-production La Lisiere by Geraldine because he had made a short film about the German-Polish border Bajard which was presented at the German-French Rendez-vous in and it was shown there with my Distant Lights,” Schmid recalls. Munich in 2006 and at the Capital Regions for Cinema co-production “Funnily enough, this German-Polish relationship has not let go of me meeting during this year’s Berlinale. since Distant Lights: I have continued working with my Polish DoP Bogumil [Godfrejow] and the interest in our neighbor is just as keen As Knoeller points out, there is no hard and fast division of labor be - as shown by my upcoming documentary Die wundersame Welt tween herself and Schmid in the company. On a superficial level, she der Waschkraft [about the journey made by dirty bed-linen from looks after the production nuts-and-bolts, while Schmid focuses on Berlin’s 5-star hotels to laundries in Poland]. The idea for this film the artistic side. “But I am not someone who is just interested in the came from a newspaper article I had read, and I immediately thought figures. I am just as keen at being involved in the phase of story deve- that it was like a missing episode from Distant Lights. It was a lopment and the discussions on the screenplays,” she adds. spontaneous reaction to make the film.” “Of course, it is a great advantage to have somebody like Hans- For Schmid, who had studied at Munich’s University of Television & Christian in the company who is making his own films apart from Film (HFF/M), it was the first time that he had directed a documen- those of the other filmmakers,” she says. “But with La Lisiere, for tary since his graduation film Die Mechanik des Wunders in 1992 about example, I discovered this project and will continue with the deve- his home town of Altoetting in Bavaria. Since then, he had only been lopment. We discuss the project together, but it is more with me. involved in the shooting of one other documentary when he served Moreover, Hans-Christian is not just involved in artistic matters for as cameraman in Poland for Michael Gutmann’s contribution to the there were moments on And Along Come Tourists where he Denk’ ich an Deutschland series. “It was a very new experience for me was very much playing the producer and looking at his watch.” after 15 years and really exciting,” Schmid observes. “We complement one another,” Schmid continues. “My interest is Currently in post-production, Die wundersame Welt der also, of course, to know how the film will be produced, what will the Waschkraft will be released theatrically in Germany by Piffl budget and financing plan look like. And the same goes for Britta’s Medien and is being handled internationally by Bavaria Film interest in the storylines.” International. “A particular focus for us is on developing the screenplays thorough- At the same time, Schmid is preparing his own next feature project – ly,” Knoeller stresses. “All of the projects have needed longer in the Storm – for 23|5 which will see him reunited with Requiem screen- development phase than originally scheduled. But it paid off as far as writer Bernd Lange, this time as co-writers. And Along Come Tourists is concerned, which we shot a year later than planned. We have also worked very intensively on the screen - “We are both fans of New Hollywood Cinema and political thrillers, play for La Lisiere and the writing process has taken longer on and of films which function for a good part of the time as dramas Storm as well. But I don’t think that is a bad thing because there are alongside the thriller elements,” says Schmid. too many films in German cinemas where the scripts don’t seem fully developed.” The €6.4 million project is set to be co-produced by 23|5 with Zentropa Berlin and Cologne, the Zentropa mother company in As for the future, 23|5 has plenty to keep it busy: a children’s feature Denmark, and the new Zentropa Amsterdam outpost with an inter- Mein Sommer mit Molomok is in development for production national cast this summer at locations in Bosnia and the Netherlands next year, and new projects by screenwriters Markus Busch and and interiors in a German studio. Piffl Medien is already lined up as Daniel Nocke are currently in the treatment stage. German distributor, with Trust Film Sales as the international sales agent.

“The film is about a prosecutor at the war tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia Hans-Christian Schmid and Britta Knoeller spoke with Martin Blaney in The Hague who is trying to persuade a witness to come to the court to give evidence,” Schmid explains. “The woman has to risk a lot and confront her past trauma, but it eventually turns out that there is resistance from the outside as well as within the tribunal to this evi- den ce being made public. The tribunal does not operate in a vacuum, but is embedded in a political context and dependent on financial backers.”

As to be expected with such subject matter, this project has demand - ed that two screenwriters undertake a lot of background research, making trips to The Hague and field research in Sarajevo and Banja Luka and speaking with prosecutors and defense counsel as well as people from the Victims and Witnesses Unit and the International german films quarterly producers’ portrait

2 · 2008 17 Andreas Schmidt (photo © Jennifer Bressler) SOMETHING ACTOR’S PORTRAIT off something.” off triggered valuable. Brandodefinitely being,somethingvery innermost somethingthatcamefrom his that hereportraying wassomebody time special happened,”Schmidtrecalls. thefirst for “Ihadthefeeling and somethingvery thefilm been13or14whenI saw “I musthave with theactingprofession. Kazan’s TerrySeeing MarlonBrandoastheex-prizefighter Malloy inElia AndreasA portrait of Schmidt · 2008 2 filmsquarterlygerman On theWaterfront started started Andreas Schmidt EYSPECIAL VERY ’s fascination the university.” howtostructurethan at learning astory of abetteropportunity have world becauseIwould then thatIwasmore athomewith thefilm “I knew Kieslowski. makers asAgnieszkaHollandand the lateKrzysztof bysuch film- seminarsondirecting given then attendedaseriesof acting lessonsduringhisstudiesand private out thathebegantaking inBerlin,”Schmidtcontinues, attheFreepointing German University ish However, afterfin thedestination heaimedfor dramaschoolwasn’t Jenseits 2 schwein Ruessel Rudi Summer inBerlin inAndreas Dresen’s hisperformance for Actorcategory Supporting anothernominationthreeand received years laterintheBest FilmAwardhisrole theGerman for inMoore’sfor BestLeadActor of movie. In2003,hewasnominatedinthecategory and hassinceworked withhimonanotherthree featuresandaTV eoemkn i imatn eu nRihr af ’s actingdebutinReinhard Hauff hisfilm before making appearedandBerlin onthestageinMannheim,Dortmund sequently Hesub Kieslowski. Filip Bajon,AgnieszkaHollandandKrzysztof Hilla Preuss andattendingseminarsindirecting byEdwardZebrowski, actinglessonsunder Berlin’s private beforetaking Free University Andreas Schmidt email: [email protected] ·www.agentur-velvet.deemail: [email protected] 54 39 90 +49-30-39 78·fax 60 92 phone +49-30-3 Neue SchoenhauserStrasse16·10178Berlin/Germany VELVET Management Contact: tote Chinese Tage sindendlich das MaedchenimMoor Gemuese ( 2006), 2005), the SainathChoudhury,(dir: 2005), short, TV,Kleefeld, 2004), Moore, 2004), ich sexy 1993), short, Danquart, also appeared in: and Moore’s graduation film and Moore’s film graduation thedirector’s shorts EoinMoore: heappeared inoneof filmmaker 1988. TherelinkbetweenSchmidtandtheIrish-born isaparticular dir: Sherry Hormann, 2003), Hormann, Sherry dir: Heidi M. Eoin Moore, 1999), eine Baustelle Die Faelscher ing school. “I wanted to learn aboutwritingandsodecidedtostudy ing school.“Iwantedtolearn Rudy – The Return of the Racing Pig theRacing –TheReturnRudy of (dir: Katinka(dir: Feistl, 2003), Tatort (dir: EoinMoore,(dir: TV, 2006), (dir: MichaelKlier,(dir: 2000), (dir: ChristianGoerlitz,2007), (dir: Das Gespenstvon Canterville (dir: HendrikHandloegten,TV,(dir: 2008). episode , dir: Stefan Ruzowitzky, Stefan , dir: 2007), , dir: Wolfgang, dir: Becker, 1996), Gefangene Gefangene Black Rider Crazy (dir: Bernd Boehlich,2007),and Bernd (dir: initially studied German and Philosophy at andPhilosophy studiedGerman initially ( Life IsAllYou Get Sommer vorm Balkon Aus derTraumAus Farland , dir: Peter, dir: Timm, 2006), Plus MinusNull (dir: Hans-ChristianSchmid,1999), (dir: (dir: ClaudiaGarde,(dir: TV, 2007), (dir: IanDilthey,(dir: 2005), Im Schwitzkasten ( Neandertal Schwarzfahrer Balls (dir: MichaelKlier,(dir: 2003), The Counterfeiters Tatort: ( (dir: Rolf Schuebel,TV, Rolf (dir: Maenner wiewir Fleisch istmein ( Conamara Conamara Das Leben ist Das Leben Borowski und from Berlin’s dffb actor’s portrait Pigs Will Fly (dir: IngoHaeb,(dir: ). Schmidthas oierf110: Polizeiruf , dir: Pepe, dir: Tatort: Linie 1 (dir: Isabel (dir: Cataract (dir: Eoin (dir: ( Renn Der Die Bin (dir: in - - - , 18 Breaking off his studies, he decided to embark on an actor’s career But acting is only one of the strings in Schmidt’s bow. Together with without having attended drama school. “At the time, I was rather friends from Maerkisches Viertel, he formed the German country distrustful of authority and never applied to any of the drama rock band – Lillies Grosse Liebe – where he was the lead singer in the schools,” he observes. “Today, I would go to drama and film school late 1980s and has since composed songs for Plus Minus Null and and want to learn everything!” an episode of Polizeiruf 110 by Bernd Boehlich.

Nevertheless, the budding young actor had engagements in theaters He has also followed his interest in writing over the years: his play Die in Mannheim, Dortmund – where he was encouraged in his writing sieben Todsuenden (The Seven Deadly Sins) was staged at the Komoedie ambitions by a friend and scriptwriter of Adolf Winkelmann, Jost am Kurfuerstendamm in 2006 and he is now completing the second Krueger – and Berlin before being cast in his first larger film role in draft of a screenplay for a feature film project. Reinhard Hauff ’s adaptation of the Grips Theater musical Linie 1 in 1988. Furthermore, while Schmidt has not appeared on stage now for more than 10 years, the theater has not lost its grip on him: he has made a He had appeared in TV movies by such directors as Winkelmann, name for himself in recent years as a theater director with such pro- Marco Serafini and Dominik Graf as well as a small part in Pepe ductions as David Gow’s Cherry Docs at the Berliner Vagantenbuehne Danquart’s Oscar®-winning short Black Rider and Wolfgang and Kristof Magnusson’s Maennerhort (70% rewritten by Andreas Becker’s Berlinale competition film Life Is All You Get when he Schmidt and the acting ensemble). Meanwhile, his staging of Agnes got to know the Irish-born filmmaker Eoin Moore who was studying Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri’s Und abends Gaeste (Cuisine et at Berlin’s German Film & Television Academy (dffb) at the time. Dependances) has been running at the Komoedie am Kurfuerstendamm since the end of February this year. “I was producing a short film and looking for a sound man,” Schmidt says, “and came across Eoin who was also a member of a film com- Whether he will make the move from theater director to film direc- puter mailbox I had set up. He later asked me if I would like to take tor remains to be seen, although he admits that he has had several on the lead in his graduation film Plus Minus Null. I was a bit skep- enquiries thanks to his work in the theater. “But that is a profession tical about the prospect but, after the first rehearsals, I felt so at ease. on its own which you must learn,” Schmidt warns. “I wouldn’t rule out It was the best film shoot I have ever had and a deep friendship deve- the possibility that I will direct a film in the future but I would really loped between the two of us.” like to prepare things properly. As an actor, I’m not afraid of working with actors but it is all about finding the right cinematic language and Indeed, an inside-joke between the two of them are the slight chang - timing is quite different than in the theater.” es to the name of Schmidt’s character in three of their collaborations: Alex in Plus Minus Null, Axel in Conamara, and Laxe in Pigs Will Fly, although the series was not continued for Im Andreas Schmidt spoke with Martin Blaney Schwitzkasten – where Schmidt was called Toni Neer – or his secondary role in the Jenseits episode of the Polizeiruf 110 crime series.

While Schmidt has had his fair share of working-class characters to play – he hails from the Berlin district of Maerkisches Viertel – he admits to being frustrated at times that TV commissioning editors cannot be more flexible in their thinking of how to cast him. “Just because I have played a man who beats his wife [in Pigs Will Fly], then I can only play such parts, or you’re always a policeman. I don’t know why the editors can’t imagine me as a doctor or a professor of literature, but they think that I’ll always play the good prole because I come from a particular area of Berlin. As a rule, though, I tend to play weird characters, what I’d call outlaws or people outside of society.”

At the same time, he stresses that he has “the opportunity to work on some great projects at the moment and am really happy about what is happening with the cinema in Germany now. It is quite different from how the situation was in the 80s. Moreover, it’s one of the nice advantages when you have come along a bit in your career that you can use your name to get a project moving. I really like the fact that my name can have such a value.”

Schmidt has also kept up the collaboration with Berlin’s dffb which he began with Eoin Moore on Plus Minus Null: “Whenever time allows, I always try to make myself available as an actor for the students’ entrance examination,“ he explains, “because I learn an awful lot from these young people. I then have a connection to a whole year of students and I’m always curious whenever someone comes to me later with an interesting project.”

german films quarterly actor’s portrait

2 · 2008 19 NEWS 2/2008 Norbert Oliver Kohlberg) Maas, Thomas Grube, Uwe Dierks (photo © Karin Mahrdt,

GERMAN PREMIERES IN NEW YORK & ROME AG KURZFILM IN ANNECY

For its second German Premiere in New York this year, German Films Supported by German Films, German animated films will be given a presented the documentary Trip to Asia – The Quest for Harmony by special platform at this year’s International Festival of Animated Film Thomas Grube in January in the ‘Big Apple’. Together with the in Annecy. Under the title GermAnimation, the AG Kurzfilm – director, producer Uwe Dierks and sales agent Norbert Maas were German Short Film Association, German Films, the German also on hand for the event. Mid-April saw the presentation of Adnan Institute for Animated Film (DIAF) and the Association of German G. Koese’s Run for Your Life – From Junkie to Ironman, with Max Riemelt Animation Producers (VdAP) will be present with a booth at the (Napola, The Wave) in the leading role of real-life triathlete Andreas festival’s film market MIFA for the first time. The MIFA is one of the Niedrig. biggest business venues for animated film worldwide. In cooperation with the MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, the Animations Department of German Films also organized for the fourth time a German Premiere the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg and the Festival of Animated mid-March in Rome. Sales agent Sebastian Kiesmueller of Bavaria Film Stuttgart, the German Reception is another meeting point for Film Inter national presented Keinhorhasen in the well-known Quattro filmmakers and industry professionals. It is scheduled for 10 June 2008 Fontane cinema to more than a dozen buyers. at 6pm at the hotel Le Clos Marcel. Idyllically situated at the Lac

german films quarterly news

2 · 2008 20 d’Annecy, the reception provides the ideal opportunity for a relaxed tation of the life of Elisabeth Bathory, who went down in history as meeting of animation professionals from all over the world. “the Blood Countess”. And soon provocateur Michael Haneke will be shooting his thriller Das weisse Band in the area too. The Annecy Film Festival is one of the world’s most renowned festivals specializing in animated films. Numerous prizes are awarded in the various sections. Among the short films competing for the Annecy KINOWELT PRESENTS LUBITSCH’S Cristal this year is the latest film by Izabela Plucinska, 7 More Minutes. “THE LOVES OF PHARAOH” The section Graduation Films will screen A6/A9 by Johannes Schiehsl, My Happy End by Milen Vitanov, My Rusty Dusty Head by Moonjoo The Loves of Pharaoh was Ernst Lubitsch’s last big film production shot Lee, Red Rabbit by Egmont Mayer, Sapmi by Max Lang and Jan in Berlin with thousands of extras and dozens of horses, with Emil Lachauer as well as Ver rueck tge spiegel t by Tim Romanowsky. Jannings playing the lead of Pharaoh Amenes. After that Lubitsch left Altogether, fourteen short animations from Germany have been sel- Europe to continue his career in the USA. In order to impress the ect ed for screening in different sections of the festival. Hollywood film industry, the film had it’s premiere in New York on 22 February 1922. It was a huge success and well-appreciated by the audience and critics alike. However, after World War II there were no CENTRAL GERMANY – THE BEST STATION prints of the film in existence. It became a so-called “lost movie”.

Numerous large international projects with world-class star ensem- Sixty years later the Filmmuseum Munich discovered and restored, bles and support from Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung from 2004 – 2006, the film out of one fragment of a Russian print and (MDM) are currently in production in Central Germany. The adapta- a second one out of an Italian print brought into the project by the tion of Bernhard Schlink’s international best seller The Reader was par- George-Eastman-House archive. The digital restoration was made by tially shot in Goerlitz and united Hollywood stars like Kate Winselt Alpha-Omega (also responsible for the restoration of Metropolis by and Ralph Fiennes with great German-speaking talent like Bruno Ganz Fritz Lang) with the original music score composed by Eduard and Susanne Lothar as well as with up-and-coming young actors like Kuenneke. The newly restored version is about 90% of the original David Kross, Hannah Herzsprung and Karoline Herfurth. Another high- version, with a running time of 120 minutes. light in the area is The Last Station, which is being shot in the Leipzig- based MCA Studios. Oscar®-winner Helen Mirren and Christopher It is certain that this film restoration shows the movie’s original story- Plummer play the lead roles in this drama about the last days of the line in a completeness that has not been seen for over sixty years, Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Another Oscar®-winner, France’s multi- including the colorful tints, some of the most popular visual cinematic talent Julie Delpy, is shooting The Countess at the famous Wartburg appearances of the times. Kinowelt is proud to be presenting this Castle and the Kriebstein Castle. William Hurt and German top star newly restored masterpiece. Daniel Bruehl are starring along with Delpy in this historical adap- Scene from “The Loves ofScene from Pharaoh” (photo courtesy of Kinowelt)

german films quarterly news

2 · 2008 21 GERMAN SHORT FILM AWARD ON TOUR DOKVILLE 2008

On behalf of the German Minister of State for Culture and Media, the The main topic of this year’s annual meeting of the German-speaking German Short Film Association (AG Kurzfilm) will be documentary scene will be the Internet, which is not only changing, organizing the event “German Short Film Award on Tour” during the but also revolutionizing the production, marketing and distribution of next three years. Awarded since 1956, the German Short Film Award documentary films. The Internet provides a platform to effectively is the most prestigious and highest endowed award for short films in advertise and market films online. But can films also be financed via Germany. the Internet? Are new forms necessary to reach the “Online Generation”? Can the Internet offer documentary filmmakers a new sense of freedom? Are media companies in control of it all? And what role do television broadcasters play in offering their programs online? Can professional filmmakers compete with user-generated content?

Scene from “The Frozen Sea” “The Frozen Scene from These are but a few of the hot topics to be discussed at the MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg-funded industry meeting Dokville 2008: (photo eye filmproduction) © naked Dokumentarfilm 2.0. Registration forms and up-to-date information can be attained from: www.dokville.de.

MEET & GREET GERMAN SHORTS IN CANNES

During the last years, the AG Kurzfilm – German Short Film Together with the partners KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg (short film dis- Association has established a platform for German short films in tri butor) and Bundesverband kommunale Filmarbeit (association of the traditionally feature film-centered atmosphere of the Cannes Film non-commercial cultural cinemas) three short film programs have Festival. The major event is the Short Film Lounge organized by AG been compiled of the nominees and award winners. In April, the tour Kurzfilm, the BMW Group and German Films as a meet-and-greet had its premiere at the Filmfest Dresden, which celebrated its 20th reception for the short film scene in Cannes. This year it will have a anniversary this year. Starting in May, the short film programs will be more exclusive character, as it is being held on the terrace of the touring German cinemas until October. With a reorientation of the Hotel Palais Stéphanie on May 17th. Directors, buyers and festival tour, the AG Kurzfilm intends to reach a wider audience and to in - representatives are given the chance to meet personally and establish crease the presence of short films in German cinemas. As for the next business contacts. tour, which will start at the end of this year, it is planned to extend the tour to an international level and to cooperate with other European premium awards. More information can be found at www.kurzfilm preisunterwegs.org.

FILMS, STARS & DISCUSSIONS

Watch and talk about films: that is the tried and true concept of the International Film Congress, organized by the Filmstiftung NRW from 7 – 10 July 2008.

The event, taking place within the medienforum.nrw, is once again this Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg) year offering previews of productions backed by the Filmstiftung NRW in the showcase “KinoSpecials” as well as five discussion rounds on current film industry topics. Some of the topics to be included are “Shift” (photo Scene from © Nico Zingelmann/ the challenges of digitalization, the amendment to the Film Funding Law, the current short film situation, the subject of migration in film, and the requirements of literary adaptations. The convention will be complemented by a workshop organized between the Filmstiftung NRW and the producers’ network ACE. Up-to-date information on the panels and participants is available at www.filmstiftung.de. Registration forms for the International Film Congress can be reque- sted from: [email protected]. Additionally, with the support of German Films, international buyers and festivals once again have the opportunity to access German short films in the Short Film Corner. This year’s selection includes some of

german films quarterly news

2 · 2008 22 the most recent German short films such as the short fictions Summer scenes along the Alster River and streets and squares in Hamburg’s Sunday by Sigi Kamml and Fred Breinersdorfer and Shift by Nico “in” districts. In Schleswig-Holstein the harbour and the coastal Zingelmann. To provide an additional service for industry profes - areas were among the productions’ favorites. A big location tour of sionals, the short films presented in the Short Film Corner are avail - the area is planed for June. More information is available at: able on the new volume of the German Short Films DVD edition. The www.fchsh.de. short film distributors Interfilm Berlin and KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg will also present a selection of their latest short film acquisitions in the Short Film Corner. ALLIANCE OF GERMAN PRODUCERS FILM & TELEVISION FOUNDED

LOCATION HAMBURG SCHLESWIG- On 3 March 2008, the newly founded Alliance of German HOLSTEIN ON THE UPWIND Producers – Film & Television held its first general assembly in Berlin. Representatives of the 75 founding members gathered to elect Since the beginning of the year, some 40 different projects have been the first board and to meet with the Minister of Cultural Affairs, the in preparation and shooting in the Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Justice, members of Parliament and of the other organiza- area, including numerous crime series, TV movies and feature films tions of the German film and television industry. The Alliance brings like Lars Jessen’s latest film Buddies (a Neue Mira production), Ina together theatrical producers and producers of TV fiction as well as Weisse’s Rigor Mortis (Reverse Angle Production), Die Tuer by Anno entertainment and non-fiction programs. It is driven by the firm belief Saul with Mads Mikkelsen in the leading role (Wueste Film), and Ben that only a joint representation of all producers in Germany will give Verbong’s Laura (Elsani Film). producers a voice that will be heard in the current discussion on the future development of the audiovisual market in Germany. Three pre- According to statistics from the Film Commission of the Film- vious organizations of film, television and entertainment producers foerderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, from January to (Bundesverband, film20 and AGEP) have been merged into the new May eleven features, 32 TV movies, crime series and other series, organization. The Alliance is looking for a strong representation in as well as three short films were shot in Hamburg and Kiel. Antje Brussels and is aiming to strengthen the cooperation with its counter- Reimer and Christiane Scholz were in contact with all of the pro - parts in other European countries. duction companies and could offer them their comprehensive services in the area. Favorite locations in Hamburg included the harbor, classic On the set of “Buddies” (photo courtesy of FFHSH)

german films quarterly news

2 · 2008 23 ´na Malérová, Maximilian Mauff´na Malérová, (photo © Otto Arsenault) Veit Helmer, Nino Chkheidze, Kristy Helmer, Veit

GERMAN FILMS AT SUNDANCE 2008 Before the tour of the Castel film site, Gereon Wetzel’s documentary Castells was presented, as was Alexander Riedel’s Draussen bleiben, During this year’s Sundance Film Festival in January, German Films just ahead of its Munich premiere. Hans Steinbichler’s drama Winter launched a party on the occasion of Veit Helmer’s world premiere of his feature film Absurdistan, shown in the festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Also invited into competition was The Wave (Die Welle) by Dennis Gansel, which is currently running very well in German cinemas, and the German co-production The Drummer by Kenneth Bi. The World Cinema Documentary Competition showed the intense documentary Alone in Four Walls (Allein in vier Waenden) by Alexandra Westmeier. (photo courtesy of FFF Bayern) BAVARIA MEETS BUCHAREST – WITH FILM & JAZZ

Just five days after the big NATO conference in Bucharest, the Bavarian State Minister Eberhard Sinner and FFF Bayern CEO Dr. Klaus Schaefer, together with a delegation of 15, presented the first big showcase of German films in the Romanian capital. Bavarian film delegation at Castel Film Studios in Bucharest Best Times, the first part of Marcus H. Rosenmueller’s trilogy, opened the event in the presence of lead actress Rosalie Thomass, followed by a reception with world-famous Bavarian beer. Other films in the Journey was presented by producer Ulrich Aselmann, who represen- program included: Silly’s Sweet Summer by Johannes Schmid, Special ted the Association of New Feature Film Producers (AG Spielfilm) in Escort by Maggie Peren, Wild Chicks by Vivian Naefe, Annaluise and discussions with key players from the Romanian film industry. Ralf Anton by Caroline Link, and The Wild Soccer Bunch 4 by Joachim Westhoff ’s single-comedy Shoppen was then shown to prove just how Masannek. laid-back Bavaria can be. german films quarterly news

2 · 2008 24 “One of the strengths of Bavaria’s ‘creatives’ is that they can take any GERMAN DOCS ON topic or genre and handle it with the greatest of quality. This, the per- A WINNING STREAK fect infrastructure and the high quality of film technique ‘made-in- Bavaria’ is what makes Munich such an important film location,” is This spring is proving to be a hot how FFF Bayern CEO Dr. Klaus Schaefer summed up Bavaria’s quali- one for German documentaries. ties. Director Volker Koepp was awarded the Grand Prix for his film Elder A musical highlight of the event was the jazz concert by the Blossom at the recent Cinéma du Ametsbichler 5, who were accompanied by the renowned Bucharest Réel in Paris (7 – 18 March). Gerd pianist Mircea Tiberian. Kroske’s Wolli in Paradise – also in the festival’s competition section – received a Special Mention. 13TH BABELSBERG MEDIA AWARDS The 13th International Docu- On 13 June 2008, the Film & Television Academy “Konrad Wolf ” in mentary Film Festival ‘It’s All True’

Potsdam-Babelsberg will host the 13th Babelsberg Media Awards. The in São Paulo (26 March – 6 April) Bibliothèque Publique d’information/Centre Pompidou) event, which is under the patronage of Germany’s First Lady Eva Luise also named a German documen-

Koehler, will award GWFF and RBB promotion prizes for the tary as Best Feature-Length Film: du Réel 2008/ (photo © Mélodie Penet/Cinéma Koepp Volker Best Graduation Film (feature and documentary), endowed with Dana Ranga’s Cosmonaut Polyakov. €18,000 each, and the GWFF-funded Erich Kaestner Television The It’s All True program will also be shown in 5 other Brazilian cities Award, endowed with €25,500 in prize money. Further information is and is one of the most important documentary festivals in Latin available from www.babelsbergermedienpreise.de. America.

And the 10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (7 – 16 March) gave the German-Greek co-production The Lovers from Axos by Nico Ligouris three honors: the FIPRESCI Award, the Greek Film Center Award and the ERT3 Broadcasting Award. GmbH worldwide transport solutions Int. Medienspedition FILMTRANSPORTS . FIRST CLASS SERVICE ! AIRFREIGHT WORLDWIDE: EXPORT . IMPORT . WAREHOUSE INTERNATIONAL COURIERSERVICE: WORLDWIDE „DOOR TO DOOR“ TRUCKING SERVICE . OVERNIGHT FESTIVALS . FILMPRODUCTION-HANDLING

www.multi-logistics.de

Airport Offices: München Frankfurt Berlin Hamburg 089/97 58 07-0 069/69 52 36-0 030/412 20 34 040/50 75 15 73 Fax 089/97 59 52 82 Fax 069/69 52 36 15 Fax 030/412 20 94 Fax 040/50 75 25 36 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

german films quarterly news

2 · 2008 25 IN PRODUCTION

13 Semesters follows two friends from an East German backwater town – Momo and Dirk – coming to study in Darmstadt and passing through the highs and lows of student life over the course of six-and- a-half years.

“It was fascinating for me that we have a story that stretches over such a long period. This epic nature makes it quite different from all of the other films set in the student world,” Wittich explains. “You don’t just have a development with the actors, but also see the changes in the look of the flat they share together. The flat is like one of the lead characters so that we have paid particular attention to the set design as well as the costumes. And we also show the passage of time in the make-up to show how the characters grow older from the day when Scene from “13 Semesters” (photo Scene from © Dirk Haeger) they leave home to go to university to the point of their graduation 13 Semesters after 13 semesters.” While the screenplay was able to draw largely from Ziegenbalg’s Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Comedy, Coming- memories of his own student days, Wittich admits that he could con- of-Age-Story Production Company Claussen+Woebke+Putz tribute some of his own experiences from his time at the HFF and also Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-production with HR/Frankfurt, did some undercover field research at the refectory of the Technical ARTE/Mainz With backing from Hessen Invest, University in Munich to get a feeling for the university atmosphere. FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) Producers “My experience as a student at the HFF was, of course, different from Jakob Claussen, Uli Putz Director Frieder Wittich Screenplay what you have at normal universities,” he notes. “We had around 30 Frieder Wittich, Oliver Ziegenbalg Director of Photography students on our course whereas there can be another 300 fellow stu- Christian Rein Production Design Tamo Kunz Editor Marty dents in a lecture hall at a big university.” Schenk Principal Cast Max Riemelt, Alexander Fehling, Robert Gwisdek, Claudia Eisinger, Amit Shah Casting Suse Marquardt No stone was left unturned in Germany during the search for the right Besetzungsbuero/Berlin Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby actors to play the main characters: “They needed to be between 20 Digital Shooting Language German Shooting in Darmstadt, and 25-years-old and be able to make this travel through time starting March – May 2008 German Distributor 20th Century Fox as a freshman at the beginning of the film and ending as a 26-year-old,” (Germany)/Frankfurt Wittich continues, and is pleased to have such a prestigious lineup of young actors onboard including Max Riemelt (Napola and The Contact Wave), Robert Gwisdek (NVA) and Alexander Fehling (And Claussen+Woebke+Putz Filmproduktion GmbH Along Come Tourists). Herzog-Wilhelm-Strasse 27 · 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-23 11 01 0 · fax +49-89-26 33 85 Meanwhile, the university town of Darmstadt was chosen as the email: [email protected] comedy’s backdrop because Wittich “didn’t want to have a hip city as www.cwp-film.com a location, as I am keen to concentrate on the characters and their studies. Darmstadt is relatively small and we have found some great A chance meeting with author Oliver Ziegenbalg set the ball roll - locations and will of course be using different parts of the campus.” ing for Frieder Wittich’s feature debut 13 Semesters which began principal photography at the end of March in the university 13 Semesters is the third film after Marco Kreuzpaintner’s Krabat town of Darmstadt. and Maggie Peren’s Special Escort to come under the multi-picture distribution deal producer Claussen+Woebke+Putz Filmproduktion seal - “I was still at the HFF [University of Television & Film] in Munich and ed with 20th Century Fox (Germany) in 2006. was looking for a story idea for my first feature,” recalls Wittich who studied Film and Television Direction between 1998 and 2005 and MB won several prizes for his short films and commercials. “I read Oliver’s unpublished novel about his student days and immediately thought: ’This will be my debut’.”

After getting Claussen+Woebke+Putz Filmproduktion onboard as producer, Wittich and Ziegenbalg set to work on writing an exposé and a treatment before embarking on the screenplay pro- per. “Three-and-a-half years later, the characters in Oliver’s novel have gone through many a transformation and it was often a case of kill your darlings,” Wittich says. “For Oliver, it is a coming-of-age story about being a student. He himself studied Business Mathematics, but became a writer after finishing university.” german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 26 whilst Otto sees the disaster which is heading Christian’s way, but does nothing.

“On this level,” Bickenbach continues, “this is a film the vast majority can relate to, especially in a world which is always making demands on us; demands that we should always perform more quickly, with increased digitalization and globalization. Many young people are unsure if they even want to fight for a place for themselves in such a world.”

In the face of such challenges, 66/67’s protagonists can still feel the meaninglessness, almost tragedy, which their attempt to conserve the past entails. Cast of “66/67” (photo courtesy of FRISBEEFILMS) “The film relies on an explosive mixture of aggression, humor and subversive behavior,” Bickenbach explains. “It’s authentic and delibe- 66/67 rately aims to be the outsider, the underdog.”

Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama Arthouse specialists FRISBEEFILMS was founded by brothers Production Company FRISBEEFILMS/Berlin, in co-production Alexander and Manuel Bickenbach (both graduates of the with jetfilm/Berlin, ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg) in 2006. ARTE/Strasbourg With backing from Medienboard Berlin- Brandenburg, Nordmedia Producers Alexander Bickenbach, 66/67 also marks the continuation of the successful teamwork be - Manuel Bickenbach, Jon Handschin Co-Producers Burkhardt tween FRISBEEFILMS and jetfilm after the feature film Berlin – 1. Althoff, Georg Steinert Directors Carsten Ludwig, Jan-Christoph Mai, for which the director duo of Ludwig & Glaser made the epi- Glaser Screenplay Carsten Ludwig Director of Photography sode Ausflug. Ngo The Chau Editor Sarah Levine Music by Dirk Dresselhaus Production Design Petra Albert Principal Cast Fabian The film’s author Carsten Ludwig studied at the German Film & Hinrichs, Christoph Bach, Sibel Kekilli, Maxim Mehmet, Fahri Oguen Television Academy in Berlin. A keen football fan himself, he and his Yardim, Bernhard Schuetz, Ludwig Trepte, Victoria Deutschmann, co-director, Jan-Christoph Glaser, “intend to give 66/67 a high Aurel Manthei, Christian Ahlers, Marc Zwins Casting Suse tempo. Viewers will be unable to escape the feeling that the charac- Marquardt Besetzungsbuero/Berlin Format Super 16 mm, blow-up ters are constantly on the look out, always ready to strike, whether to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital 5.1 Shooting Language verbally or physically.” German Shooting in Braunschweig and Berlin, July – August 2008 German Distributor Farbfilm Verleih/Berlin They are assisted in this by DoP Ngo The Chau, who won the German Camera Award in 2006 for his work on the 600th episode of Contact the Scene of the Crime (Tatort) detective series. FRISBEEFILMS GmbH & Co. KG Alexander Bickenbach SK Mulackstrasse 19 · 10119 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-24 62 83 30 · fax +49-30-24 62 83 31 email: [email protected] · www.frisbeefilms.com

In this rough, gang movie the six members of the football fan club 66/67 are a close-knit bunch, sticking together through thick and thin. But all too late they realize that their time has run its course and their potential for violence is steering them towards disaster. They are all forced to question the basis of their friendship, their love for the team and their future in their home town.

“We’re interested in the subject, of course, which is very contemporary,” say Alexander Bickenbach, 66/67’s producer, “as well making an ensemble film with upcoming young talent before the camera and recognized talent behind it. Most of all we deal with re - levant themes such as friendship, home and when football fandom becomes football fanaticism.”

For the main characters, 66/67 is about how the individual should tackle the modern world. It’s easier to cheer on their favorite football team than to think about their future, staying rooted in a familiar past. But some of them, such as Ulf, are already thinking of moving on (He’s applied for a new job in a new town but not told his friends) german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 27 Moscow, Novosibirsk, Ulan Bator, Beijing, Tokyo, San Francisco, Panama, La Paz and back via the US, Paris and Berlin – two years in all.

As producer Bernd Wilting says, “This is a story that, when you hear it, you don’t believe it. 1927! And the next reaction is, ’I never

(photo © taglicht media) knew that!’ Even more astounding is that her story has never been filmed; not even a documentary. And we’ve acquired original footage shot by Soederstroem. What a treasure!”

Wilting felt the film deserved to have women in the key positions, so he hired Erica von Moeller to direct, with Sophie Maintigneux as DoP. Scene from “Fraeulein Stinnes faehrtScene from um die Welt” “I want to understand what created this woman,” von Moeller says. “What drove her on to risk her life? Her strategic planning and use of Fraeulein Stinnes the media fascinate me. How did the journey and surmounted dangers change her? She was one of the first citizens of the world faehrt um die Welt who wanted to bring people together.” Type of Project (Semi-)Fictional Documentary Genre Sandra Hueller plays Claerenore. A graduate of the Ernst Busch Docudrama Production Company taglicht media/Cologne acting school in Berlin, her latest screen outing is in Anonyma (dir: Max With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, German Federal Film Faerberboeck). Danish actor Bjarne Henriksen is best known for Fund (DFFF), MEDIA Producers Bernd Wilting, Uli Veith his role of the chef in Thomas Vinterberg’s The Celebration. Director Erica von Moeller Screenplay Soenke Lars Neuwoehner Director of Photography Sophie Maintigneux Producer Bernd Wilting, a very experienced public broadcaster, foun- Editor Gesa Marten Production Design Anina Diener d ed taglicht media, together with Uli Veith, in 1996. The com- Principal Cast Sandra Hueller, Bjarne Henriksen Casting Anja pany specializes in high quality documentaries with the emphasis on Dihrberg Format HD Digital, 16:9, blow-up to 35 mm, color, history, science and nature, as well as human interest. 1:1.85, Dolby Stereo Shooting Language German Shooting in Morocco, Kommern, Dueren, Cologne, January – February 2008 So fasten your seatbelts, even though Claerenore couldn’t since they German Distributor Real Fiction Filmverleih/Cologne hadn’t been invented in 1927, and settle back for the ride!

World Sales SK german united distributors Programmvertrieb GmbH Silke Spahr Breite Strasse 48-50 · 50667 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-92 06 90 · fax +49-2 21-92 06 96 9 email: [email protected] www.germanunited.com

While Annie Lennox was singing with Aretha Franklin in the 1980s that “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves”, their message came sixty years too late for Claerenore Stinnes, who decided in 1927 to do it (photo © Rolf von der Heydt) Scene from “Gegen den Strom” Scene from for herself and became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by car. Unfairly lost in the mists of history (although some might argue that’s due to history being written by men!), her epic story of true-life adventure and romance with travel companion and cameraman Carl- Axel Soederstroem is finally hitting the big screen.

Containing film and photographic material the two of them shot on the way, Fraeulein Stinnes faehrt um die Welt (“Fraeulein Gegen den Strom Stinnes Travels the World”) also uses re-enacted footage to depict the two-year journey and the budding love affair between two Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama, Love Story people who came from the most different of backgrounds. But they Production Company TV60 Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-pro- first have to overcome the obstacles of the journey itself, as well as duction with Goldkind Film/Munich, BR/Munich With backing their emotions and social conventions. from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Bayerische Landesregierung Pro- Claerenore, essentially the black sheep of the family, was already an ducers Sven Burgemeister, Andreas Schneppe Director Jan Fehse accomplished racing driver by her mid-20s before she decided to Screenplay Jan Fehse, Christian Lyra Director of Photog - show what she and a “modern” car can do. When her crew alterna- raphy Philipp Kirsamer Editor Dirk Goehler Music by Andreas tively fell ill and ran off, she was left with Swedish cameraman, Carl- Helmle Production Design Anette Ingerl Principal Cast Axel. And so off they went: Istanbul, Damascus, Tehran, Tiflis, Sebastian Koch, Mina Tander, Barbara Auer, Ronald Zehrfeld, Wotan german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 28 Wilke Moehring, Jenny Schily Casting Lore Bloessel, TV60 Filmproduktion Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting Language German Shooting in Munich, November – December 2007 German Distributor X Verleih/Berlin

World Sales Bavaria Film International GmbH · Thorsten Ritter (photo © Schiwago Film) Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 Urs Odermatt, Goetz George email: [email protected] www.bavaria-film-international.com

“We wanted to make a small, but intensive and emotional film,” says producer Sven Burgemeister of TV60 Filmproduktion about Gegen den Strom, the feature debut by cinematographer Jan Fehse, which is currently in post-production. George Taboris Before donning the director’s hat, Fehse had been working as a DoP since 1997 on such titles as Vanessa Jopp’s alaska.de (2000), Robert Schwentke’s Tattoo (2000) and three films with Dutch director Ben Mein Kampf Verbong – Sams in Gefahr (2003), Es ist ein Elch entsprungen (2005) Type of Project Drama, Theater Production Company and Herr Bello (2006), as well as such TV productions as Urs Egger’s Schiwago Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co-production with Dor Film/ Eva Blond (2002) and the Sony Pictures series Post Mortem Vienna, Hugofilm Productions/Zurich With backing from BKM, (2005/2006). Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, Investitionsbank Hessen, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, “Jan is someone who had always thought about the dramaturgy of the Oesterreichisches Filminstitut (OFI), Bundesamt fuer Kultur (BAK), films he was working on as well as the credibility of their characters,” Zuercher Filmstiftung, Aargauer Kuratorium, ZDFtheaterkanal, 3sat, says Burgemeister, who had previously worked with him on three TV ARTE, ORF, SRG, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) Producers movies, including two episodes of the Das Duo series by Rene Heisig Martin Lehwald, Michal Pokorny, Marcos Kantis, Danny Krausz, and Thomas Jauch. “He came to us with a story idea and then sat Christof Neracher Director Urs Odermatt Screenplay Fedor down with a friend [Christian Lyra], who is also a first-time screen - Mosnak Director of Photography Jo Molitoris Editor Lilo writer, to develop a story revolving around five characters whose lives Gerber Production Design Carola Gauster Principal Cast are fatefully interconnected with one another.” Goetz George, Tom Schilling, Anna Unterberger, Roland Wiesnekker, Karin Neuhaeuser Format Super 16 mm, color Shooting Although it is an episodic film, there isn’t any attempt here to emulate Language German Shooting in Zittau and Vienna, April – June the example of the late Robert Altman’s Short Cuts. “The characters 2008 are not linked in an arbitrary way because the connections are more of a thematic nature,” Burgemeister explains. “The film has a definite Contact artistic quality that shows it is different from what is usually being pro- Schiwago Film GmbH · Martin Lehwald duced. I think this is something positive and nearer to the mainstream Gneisenaustrasse 66 · 10961 Berlin/Germany because it will make the audience more curious about the story and phone +49-30-6 95 39 80 · fax +49-30-69 53 98 50 become more involved with the fates of the characters portray ed.” email: [email protected] · www.schiwagofilm.de

Rather than trying to juggle both the director and DoP chores, Fehse After five years in development, shooting of a film adaptation of the brought in his former assistant Philipp Kirsamer to light the film, late George Tabori’s 1987 stage play Mein Kampf began at locations and Burgemeister is convinced that the drama “will have a real visual in Vienna towards the end of April and then moved in May to Zittau power. Although we didn’t have an enormous budget, Jan has never - in Saxony under the direction of Urs Odermatt who is equally at theless made the most of what he could draw out of the production home in the theater, cinema and television. design. He clearly had fun directing and was always in control.” Set in Vienna in 1910, the story of George Taboris Mein Gegen den Strom also attracted an impressive cast ranging from Kampf sees the young Hitler down on his luck after being turned Sebastian Koch and Barbara Auer through Ronald down by the city’s Arts Academy and then befriended by an elderly Zehrfeld and Wotan Wilke Moehring to Mina Tander in Jew, Schlomo Herzl, in a hostel for homeless men. Herzl supports him her first more substantial film part. like a father would a son and unconsciously helps Hitler find his way into politics and triggers a fatal turn of events for world history. The Apart from overseeing the post-production on Gegen den fact that the good-natured Schlomo is himself a Jew is one of the Strom, Burgemeister – who was a co-producer of Luigi Falorni’s ironic coincidences which show how the biggest disaster of recent Berlinale competition film Feuerherz – is expecting to work as a ser - history was able to result out of almost nothing … vice producer on two projects by Senator Film and Barefoot Films this year and also has an adaptation of Sebastian Fitzek’s thriller novel As producer Martin Lehwald of Berlin-based Schiwago Film Amokspiel in development for shooting in 2009. recalls, while there was no direct creative involvement by Tabori in the development of the project, “he knew about it and gave his MB approval of the screenplay’s first draft. Since then, we have kept german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 29 contact with his agent and she has always read each new version of the screenplay.”

“It wasn’t such an easy thing when we began work on creating film images from Tabori’s wonderful text,” Lehwald continues, pointing out that they wanted to avoid at all costs anything slapstick, like in Dani Levy’s My Fuehrer.

“We didn’t just want to have something like a filmed theater perfor- “Brandner Kaspar” Scene from mance, but are aiming rather for the greatest possible historical au -

thenti city, a historical realism where there is the suggestion that it (photo Filmverleih 2008) © Concorde could have been like this. At the same time, one will have the feeling of theater in Tabori’s funny dialogues and the wit which we didn’t want to translate completely into colloquial speech.”

While the film team will be using some original locations in Vienna such as the Schoenbrunn Palace and the Hofburg, much of the Die Geschichte vom Austrian capital will be recreated at specially built sets in Zittau in the south-eastern part of Saxony near to the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. Brandner Kaspar Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Family Moreover, the fact that, architecturally, Zittau has similarities with Entertainment Production Companies Clasart Film/Munich, Vienna has also proven to be fortuitous for the producers since shoot- Perathon Film/Gruenwald With backing from FilmFernsehFonds ing in the Austrian capital will be restricted from May onwards due to Bayern, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), Filmfoerderungsanstalt the EURO 2008 Football Championships being held in Austria and (FFA), CineTirol Producers Markus Zimmer, Joseph Vilsmaier Switzerland this June and July. Director Joseph Vilsmaier Screenplay Klaus Richter Directors of Photography Joseph Vilsmaier, Joerg Widmer Editor Uli Lehwald stresses, though, that George Taboris Mein Kampf Schoen Music by Chris Heyne Production Design Anton Gerg will be far from being a chamber piece between the young Hitler Principal Cast Franz Xaver Kroetz, Michael “Bully” Herbig, Lisa (played by Tom Schilling who appeared opposite Max Riemelt in Potthof, Peter Ketnath, Sebastian Bezzel, Alexander Held, Detlev Dennis Gansel’s Napola) and Herzl (cast with the veteran German Buck, Joerg Hube, Elisabeth Trissenaar Special Effects Christoph film and TV actor Goetz George): “We have more than 35 diffe- Hierl Format 35 mm, color, cs, Dolby Digital Shooting rent locations for the film,” he notes. “We will be going to the Arts Language German Shooting in Munich and surroundings, Tyrol Academy for Hitler’s entrance examination, to the bridge where he German Distributor Concorde Filmverleih/Munich tries to commit suicide, and so on. Showing the historical Vienna of that time is not so easy now, so we will have some locations digitally Contact reproduced by Magna Mana in Hessen.” Clasart Filmproduktion · Markus Zimmer Kaufingerstrasse 24 · 80331 Munich/Germany MB phone +49-89-45 06 10 24 · fax +49-89-45 06 10 11 email: [email protected] · www.concorde-film.de

One of the most popular folk tales in Germany, Brandner Kaspar is a widower who lives in the middle of the 19th century with his niece, Nannerl. Together with young Toni, who’s courting Nannerl, Kaspar improves his meager income by poaching in the local forests. Shortly before his 70th birthday he’s visited by Death. But Kaspar’s no fool and gets his unwelcome guest drunk! Then he cheats at cards in order to gain another twenty years life!

But Kaspar soon notices that extra life has a price. When Nannerl dies in an accident he accepts Death’s offer to have a look at heaven and to decide whether or not he wouldn’t like to join the saints that bit sooner after all.

“This is actually the third filmed version,” says co-producer Markus Zimmer. “The others were in 1949 and 1975. We’re staying true to the original story but tuning it for a modern child and family audience. So playing Death is none other than top comedian Michael “Bully” Herbig.”

Where to start? Herbig only made and starred in Der Schuh des Manitu – the most successful film (let alone comedy) in Germany and german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 30 Austria ever, the Star Trek-spoof (T)Raumschiff Surprise – Periode 1 World Sales and, most recently, Asterix at the Olympic Games. ARRI Media Worldsales · Antonio Exacoustos Tuerkenstrasse 89 · 80799 Munich/Germany Joseph Vilsmaier is one of Germany’s heavyweight contempor- phone +49-89-38 09 12 88 · fax +49-89-38 09 16 19 ary directors. Born in 1939, his credits are extensive and varied. He email: [email protected] made his debut with Herbstmilch in 1988, which brought him interna- www.arri-mediaworldsales.de tional recognition and won three Bavarian Film Awards and the German Film Award in Silver and Gold (for actress and wife, Dana Hanna’s Words tells the story of Martin, a trumpet player with a Vávrová). The films and awards then piled in: Stalingrad (two Bavarian unique style. But he cannot escape the feeling that the love of his life, Film Awards, among others), Charlie & Louise – Das doppelte Lottchen, Christine, loves him for his musical abilities more than anything else. Schlafes Bruder (Bavarian Film Award, German Film Award, Golden Hurt, he bids farewell to both her and his previous life. Landing on the Globe nomination) and Comedian Harmonists (with 2.9 million ad- edge of society he meets a dying woman, Hanna, who bequeaths him missions, the most successful German film of 1998). His latest major her pain in the form of poems. Can they guide him back to himself, to outing is Die Gustloff, a €10 million two part TV-event-movie about Christine and music? the wartime sinking of the refugee ship of the same name, the largest maritime loss of life in history. This paean to music being the food of love and also redemption sees the renowned Norwegian musician Nils Petter Molvaer compo- “He is an incredibly talented and very versatile director,” Zimmer sing, playing and producing the score (Readers can listen to samples says. “His style is unmistakable but he orientates himself to the mate- his work on his website, www.nilspettermolvaer.no, as well as gaining rial, knowing just which touch to give it.” an impression of the way he plays trumpet and the mood he evokes).

The same goes for Zimmer himself. No stranger to these pages, he is Playing Martin is Stefan Rudolf, who won the Studio Hamburg head of distributor Concorde Film and a producer for the Newcomer Award 2007 (Best Short/Audience Award) for Der TeleMuenchen Gruppe. His credits, many of which are both critical Mungo. Chulpan Khamatova (Christine), studied under and commercial successes, include Soloalbum (2002), Rosenstrasse Alexander Borodin at the Russian Academy for Theater. In 2004 she (2003), Die Wolke (2005), and Ich bin die Andere (2006). won her most recent award, the Golden Mask, the Russian Theater Award for Best Actress. Her film credits include Tuvalu (dir: Veit SK Helmer, 1998), Good Bye, Lenin! (dir: Wolfgang Becker, 2001) and, most recently, The Team (dir: Alexei German, 2007).

Director Andreas Struck was born in Cologne and studied acting before making his directorial theater debut with Don Juan by Molières. Working on Derek Jarman’s Edward II and Wittgenstein, he fell in love with filmmaking.

(photo © Bernd Spauke) His first feature, Chill Out (1999), was world-premiered in Berlin and then played in, to name but a few, Edinburgh, Toronto, Palm Springs, São Paulo, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Montreal, Hong Kong and Chulpan Khamatova, Stefan Rudolf Sydney.

Sugar Orange (2004), his second feature, had its world premiere in Montreal and won the German Independence Award (in Oldenburg) before being invited to other festivals such as Gijon (2004) and Jerusalem (2005).

Hanna’s Words Hanna’s Words is written by Dagmar Gabler, who studied at Berlin’s dffb film school. (Her CV doesn’t say whether that was be - Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama, Love Story, fore or after she trained as a helicopter pilot!) Music Production Company Neue Mediopolis Filmproduktion/ Cologne, in co-production with WDR/Cologne, ARTE/Strasbourg Production company Neue Mediopolis Filmproduktion With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Mitteldeutsche stems from the more familiar Mediopolis, Film- und Fernseh - Medienfoerderung Producers Petra Hengge, Alexander Ris produktion. But the company’s owners remain, as before, Director Andreas Struck Screenplay Dagmar Gabler Director Alexander Ris and Joerg Rothe. Hanna’s Words is pro - of Photography Andreas Doub Editor Karin Jacobs Music by duced by Petra Hengge, who heads operations in Cologne. Nils Petter Molvaer Production Design Jutta Freyer Principal Cast Stefan Rudolf, Chulpan Khamatova, Traute Hoess, Paula SK Kalenberg, Barnaby Metschurat, Martin Kiefer, Michael Altmann Casting Anja Dihrberg Format Super 16 mm, blow-up to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Stereo Shooting Language German Shooting in Cologne, April – May 2008 German Distributor Neue Visionen Filmverleih/Berlin

german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 31 Petzold had visited the small town of Jerichow while scouting for locations for Yella, “and I knew it as the setting for Uwe Johnson’s book Jahrestage,” he recalls, adding that he had always been fascinat - ed by the origin of these place-names which have “a mythical, almost legendary aura.”

He explains that the plot for Jerichow was inspired in many ways by Vincent Minelli’s 1958 film Some Came Running, starring Frank Sinatra,

Location motif “Jerichow” from Shirley Maclaine and Dean Martin, “about love, honesty, deception

(photo courtesy of Schramm Film) and betrayal. For Jerichow, I thought we ought to begin like in Wolfsburg. There we had the Volkswagen factory in the first frame, but here there isn’t a factory anymore, it has been closed down. The question is what happens then. In the old stories, you had a character who wanted to go up in the world, become rich and marry the factory owner’s daughter, but that’s not possible now because everything is just in ruins. That is why we are shooting in Wittenberge and Jerichow the Prignitz region and along the River Elbe where there is no longer any industry.” Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama Pro - duction Company Schramm Film Koerner & Weber/Berlin, in The filmmaker is succinct in his description of the new film’s plot: co-production with BR/Munich, ARTE/Strasbourg With backing Thomas (played by Benno Fuermann) is at the end of his tether. He from Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), German Federal Film Fund meets Julia (Nina Hoss). They fall in love with one another. Both be - (DFFF), BKM, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Producers Florian lieve that they can only have a future if they murder Julia’s husband Koerner von Gustorf, Michael Weber Director Christian Petzold (André Hennicke). It seems to be about money. Or perhaps some- Screenplay Christian Petzold Director of Photography Hans thing else after all. They plan the murder … Fromm Editor Bettina Boehler Music by Stefan Will Production Design Kade Gruber Principal Cast Benno While Petzold sees a connection between Something To Remind Me, Fuermann, Nina Hoss, Hilmi Soezer, André Hennicke Casting Wolfsburg and Jerichow – “in all three, it is about crime, passion and Simone Baer Special Effects Mike Bols Format 35 mm, color, deep emotions, and deadly sins like revenge and greed” – he warns 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting Language German Shooting in against interpreting these three as forming a trilogy in the same way Wittenberge, April – June 2008 German Distributor Piffl as was done for The State I Am In, Ghosts, and Yella, and notes that Medien/Berlin "Jerichow will be a neo-realistic film.”

Contact “I have the feeling that Christian is drawing the essence out of all of World Sales his previous works and letting everything flow into Jerichow,” adds The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber producer Florian Koerner von Gustorf. “It has something very Balthasarstrasse 79-81 · 50670 Cologne/Germany solid and classical compared, for example, to Ghosts as far as the nar- phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90 · fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 91 0 rative structure is concerned.” email: [email protected] · www.the-match-factory.com “As in film noir, the characters here are driven by something that slips “Never change a winning team” was the motto adopted by director out of their grasp and they no longer have under their control,” Christian Petzold and the Berlin-based production outfit Koerner von Gustorf explains. “From a certain point onwards, they Schramm Film as they began their seventh collaboration this are no longer prepared to face up to the question of guilt and both spring on the feature film Jerichow. believe that they have the right to behave the way they do. What is really interesting about Jerichow is that the characters say: ’We “My crew has been almost identical now for 14 years,” says Petzold must get rid of someone so that our life is better, we take what we whose past successes include The State I Am In and the Berlinale com- believe we are entitled to.’” pe tition films Ghosts and Yella. It goes without saying that he is working again with cinematographer Hans Fromm as well as make-up MB artist Monika Muennich, sound man Andreas Muecke- Niesytka and editor Bettina Boehler. Moreover, composer Stefan Will, production designer Kade Gruber, casting director Simone Baer and special effects wizard Mike Bols are also onboard.

Meanwhile, Petzold’s ensemble of actors also has links with his previous films: Jerichow marks the fourth collaboration with Nina Hoss (after Something To Remind Me, Wolfsburg and Yella), and the second time he is working with André Hennicke (Something To Remind Me) and Benno Fuermann (Wolfsburg).

german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 32 Proving that family entertainment means more than just making a film for adults to suffer through, Lippels Traum boasts four of Germany’s most popular and recognized film and TV faces: Anke Engelke, Moritz Bleibtreu, Uwe Ochsenknecht (here making a guest appearance) and Christiane Paul.

Lippels Traum, Limmer says, “is a song of praise to imagination and its healing effect in everyday life. The story is a magical game between reality and fiction by which an adventurous imagination pro- ves to be the best aid for dealing with the acute existential problems of a child’s real world.”

Steve-Marvin Alexander Seidel, Dwumah,Karl collina Filmproduktion was founded by Limmer in 2002, follow- Amrita Cheema (photo courtesy of collina Film) ing stints at Kinowelt and Bavaria Film. Along the way, he has picked up an Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination, two German Film Awards and two Bavarian Film Awards. Lippels Traum SK

Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Children’s Film, Family Entertainment, Literature Production Company collina Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-production with BR/Munich, Uni - versum Film/Munich, Kinowelt Filmproduktion/Munich, element e film - produktion/Hamburg With backing from Filmfoerderungs- anstalt (FFA), Filmfoerderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Producer Ulrich Limmer Director Lars Buechel Screenplay Paul Maar, Ulrich Limmer Director of Photography Jana Marsik Editor Sandy Saffeels Music by Konstantin Wecker Production Design Frank Polosek Principal Cast Anke Engelke, Moritz (photo courtesy of d.i.e. film) Bleibtreu, Christiane Paul, Karl Alexander Seidel, Amrita Cheema, “Die Perlmutterfarbe” Scene from Steve-Marvin Dwumah, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Edgar Selge, Eva Mattes Casting Nicole Fischer Casting, Stefany Pohlmann Casting Special Effects Juergen Schopper Format 35 mm, color, cs, Dolby SR Shooting Language German Shooting in Munich, Passau, Morocco, March – May 2008 German Distributor Universum Film/Munich Die Perlmutterfarbe World Sales TELEPOOL GmbH · Anja Uecker Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Family Enter - Sonnenstrasse 21 · 80331 Munich/Germany tainment Production Company d.i.e. film/Munich, in co-pro- phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29 duction with Constantin Film Produktion/Munich With backing email: [email protected] · www.telepool.de from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), BKM, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), Kuratorium junger deutscher Film Producer Ulrich Limmer has assembled a top-notch cast and Producers Robert Marciniak, Uli Aselmann Director Marcus H. crew for Lippels Traum, the story of an 11-year-old boy, Lippel, Rosenmueller Screenplay Marcus H. Rosenmueller, Christian whose father leaves for a week’s business trip, entrusting the boy to Lerch Director of Photography Torsten Breuer Editor Georg a new housekeeper. The two of them get on like honey and oil! Soering Music by Gerd Baumann Production Design Johannes Lippel’s days turn to nightmares and, to escape, he dreams of being in Sternagel, Doerthe Komnick Principal Cast Markus Krojer, Zoé the Orient of 1001 Nights where he meets all the people from his real Mannhardt, Dominik Nowak, Benedikt Hoesl, Thomas Wittmann, life again. With them, he masters adventures which help him to cope Brigitte Hobmeier, Sigi Zimmerschied, Gustav-Peter Woehler, Josef with his problems in the here and now. Hader Casting Franziska Aigner-Kuhn Special Effects Jens Doeldissen, Juergen Schopper Format 35 mm, color, cs, Dolby Limmer, who specializes in family entertainment, is best known for Digital Shooting Language German Shooting in Burghausen, films such as Schtonk!, Rennschwein Rudi Ruessel, Comedian Harmonists, Weidenberg, Plauen, Sulzbach-Rosenberg, February – April 2008 the Das Sams series, and Herr Bello. German Distributor Constantin Film Verleih/Munich

Writer Paul Maar is the other half of the team on this, their fourth Contact joint outing, having worked with Limmer on such critical and audi- d.i.e. film gmbh · Sophia Aldenhoven ence hits as the Sams series and, most recently, Herr Bello. He also au- Zentnerstrasse 42 · 80796 Munich/Germany thor ed the original book, Lippels Traum! phone +49-89-27 77 71 0 · fax +49-89-27 77 71 77 email: [email protected] Directing Lippels Traum is Lars Buechel. Among his credits is www.diefilmgmbh.de 2000’s Jetzt oder nie – Zeit ist Geld and Erbsen auf halb sechs (2003). german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 33 The 13-year-old Alexander is an A-stream school student. He’s popular and his best friend is Maulwurf. He’s also somewhat in love with Lotte. But when Maulwurf ’s latest invention, Die Perl - mutterfarbe, falls into his hands, his life spins out of control. The class searches for the thief and, instead of telling the truth, Alexander lies out of necessity. Gruber, an unpopular kid, covers for him and then uses Alexander for his own purposes. He puts the suspicion on ”Pink Taxi” Scene from B-Karli and starts a smear campaign. Alexander becomes more and more caught up in a tissue of lies and distances himself from Maulwurf and his friends, while Gruber plays the two of them off against each (photo courtesy of Flying Moon) other …

Marcus H. Rosenmueller, Die Perlmutter farbe’s director and co-writer, has set a sign for the new self-consciousness of a young film generation with such critical and audience hits as the black comedy coming-of-ager Wer frueher stirbt ist laenger tot, Schwere Jungs, Beste Zeit and Beste Gegend. Pink Taxi

Die Perlmutter farbe is a subtle and humorous parable of fri- Type of Project Documentary Cinema Genre Drama, endship and truth, set in the year 1931. The script, by Rosenmueller Melodrama, Family, Love Story, Road Movie, Romantic Comedy, and Christian Lerch is based on the novel of the same name by Tragicomedy Production Company Flying Moon Film- Anna Maria Jokl, who captured the threatening world of the on - produktion/Berlin, in co-production with ZDF/Mainz, ARTE/ coming National Socialism in the microcosmos of school before she Strasbourg With backing from Medienboard Berlin- fled Berlin in 1933. Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung Producers Helge Albers, Roshanak Behesht Nedjad Director Uli Gaulke Director The main roles are played by Markus Krojer (Wer frueher stirbt ist of Photography Axel Schneppat Editor Inge Schneider laenger tot) and Zoé Mannhardt (in the young girl and a pony film, Format XD-CAM, blow-up to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, DTS Stereo, Haende weg von Mississippi). Dolby SR Shooting Language Russian Shooting in Moscow, February – March 2008 German Distributor Flying Moon Marcus H. Rosenmueller won the German Film Award 2007 for Best Distribution/Berlin Director and, together with Christian Lerch, for Best Script (Wer frueher stirbt ist laenger tot). Gerd Baumann, who is responsible for Die Contact Perlmutterfarbe ’s music, has also won a German Film Award for Flying Moon Distribution GmbH · Helge Albers his work. In addition, Rosenmueller won the Bavarian Film Award Seestrasse 96 · 13353 Berlin/Germany 2007 for Best Newcomer Director. phone +49-30-32 29 71 80 · fax +49-30-3 22 97 18 11 email: [email protected] · www.flyingmoon.com d.i.e. film was founded in 1997 by Uli Aselmann and in 2002 Robert Marciniak joined the company as managing partner and “So far, it has been the easiest of projects with Uli to develop and producer. In addition to numerous TV productions, d.i.e. film can finance,” says producer Helge Albers about Pink Taxi, his claim Vaya con Dios (4 Bavarian Film Awards 2002), Aus der Tiefe des fourth collaboration with Uli Gaulke after the previous documen- Raumes (Best Newcomer Production at the 2005 Bavarian Film taries Havanna, Mi Amor (2000), Heirate Mich (2003), and Comrades in Awards) and Winterreise (nominated for Best Film in the 2007 Dreams (2007). German Film Awards) among its credits. “He came to us with the idea for Pink Taxi last year on March 8th, SK International Women’s Day,” Albers recalls. “He had seen a feature in the [ARD news program] Tagesthemen about this company called Pink Taxi which is a women-only taxi service in Moscow. Uli received a small grant from the DEFA Foundation and traveled to meet the women, and then we were in Moscow for the film festival with Comrades in Dreams. They had a chance to see his film and we soon had everything settled as to who the protagonists are, what we want to shoot and the story we want to tell.”

Based on women-only taxi services already operating in London and Tokyo, Pink Taxi was launched by Olga Fomina and two friends in Moscow in August 2006 with two Daewoo Nexia cars and two fe- male drivers. Six months later, they had 20 Daewoos and 27 drivers and the service’s success had already inspired other women to set up their own company, Ladies Red Taxi, in the Russian town of Khimki.

Last autumn, ZDF and ARTE committed to the project, funding was granted by MDM and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and a mini- german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 34 mum guarantee was put up by Flying Moon’s in-house distribution arm so that shooting could begin this February.

“The film is set between February 23rd, Men’s Day [formerly known as Red Army Day] when all of the men receive presents, and March 8th, International Women’s Day when the women are the ones getting the presents,” Albers explains. “It tells the story of this taxi company and the lonely struggle of the only man in the company as he desperately searches for the right presents for Women’s Day.” Shirvani Film & Fernsehproduktion) “Pink Taxi is closest in approach to Havanna, Mi Amor,” he suggests, since the new film “draws predominantly on situations from menschen” (photo courtesy of Darioush daily life and has them played out between the various protagonists in front of the camera. There are episodes set in the taxis which are - Darioush Shirvani (left) on the set of “Schatten linked with the days leading up to the Women’s Day. The film will focus particularly on human relationships and on the battle of the sexes between the Russian women and the macho men.” Schattenmenschen

“I think it will be a very entertaining film and, in places, a very sad film Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Art, Melodrama because the women at the center here have all lived quite eventful Production Company Darioush Shirvani Film & Fernseh - lives, losing their husbands in wars or through divorce,” he observes. produktion/Augsburg, in co-production with FEN-Film/Augsburg, SKM/Augsburg, CINEMA-YE-AZD/Saarbruecken Producer Shooting in Moscow continued to the end of March with Gaulke wor- Darioush Shirvani Director Darioush Shirvani Screenplay k ing with the “regulars” from his previous documentaries, DoP Axel Darioush Shirvani Director of Photography Darioush Shirvani Schneppat and sound man Raimund von Scheibner, al- Editors Dariush Noori, Gregor Kuschel, Behzad Beheshtipoor though the editing for this film has been taken on by a new collabora - Music by Darioush Shirvani Production Design Robert Hoesle, tor, Inge Schneider whose past credits include Pool of Princesses Michael Krebs, Pia Haertinger, Monika Ruby, Barbara Pfahler and Addicted to Acting. Principal Cast Peter Reinwarth, Petr Kuschmitz, Giuliana Triziana de Carlo, Ali Kamrani, Iacov Grinberg, Michaela Wein, Michaela Pink Taxi is expected to be finished by the end of 2008 for a pre- Demhalte, Beri Vranesié, Giulia Sophia Young, Anja Rajch, Peyman miere in early 2009. Saba, Konstantin Mayer Casting FEN-Film/Augsburg Special Effects Amir Barootian, Christopher Boehm Format HD, blow-up But, in the meantime, producers Helge Albers and Roshanak to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Dolby SR Shooting Language German Behesht Nedjad have plenty to do this year. In April, they re - Shooting in Munich, Augsburg, Regensburg, Tyrol, October 2006 leased Ayat Najafi and David Assmann’s award-winning documentary – May 2007 Football Under Cover in German cinemas after the world premiere during the Berlinale. The story of a friendly match in Tehran between Contact Iran’s national women’s football team and one from Berlin’s Darioush Shirvani Film & Fernsehproduktion Kreuzberg district had its international premiere at the Tribeca Film Bergstrasse 10 · 86199 Augsburg/Germany Festival and is being screened as a market premiere at the Cannes phone/fax +49-8 21-2 19 86 38 market. email: [email protected] · www.shirvani.de

In addition, the company is continuing its collaboration with Korean- “Do you see how powerfully the river flows? It’s irreversible. Men born director Sung-Hyung Cho after her surprise box-office success could straighten a river, construct barrages, redirect it, but they can’t Full Metal Village with the first block of shooting of her new docu- hold it up! The river flows, grabbing everything on its way. And as the mentary Endstation der Sehnsuechte. The project focuses on the crea- river, so our community! There are always new forces arranging, tion in 2003 of a German-style village in South Korea by the inhabi- whose power people can’t resist. People are uprooted and washed tants who returned home after spending 30 years as guest-workers in away. Human flotsam!” Germany. Another Flying Moon co-production, Better Things by Duane Hopkins, is screening in this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week. Thus speaks Paul Bridge, the 70-year-old former professor, a philoso- pher with a weakness for books and quotes. Through his own fault he MB has experienced a tragic fate and his existence no longer makes sense. He has lived the past 23 years on the road.

He has a deep, platonic love affair with the young prostitute, Isabel, who reminds him of his deceased daughter. The strong relationship with Paul and his understanding changes Isabel’s perspective and self- esteem.

Paul is also friends with the young Czech, Vaclav, who is a piano player. Paul helps Vaclav find his place again in life by recognizing his musical abilities. But a misunderstanding involving Isabel and conflicted german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 35 emotions leads to a confrontation between the two men, with Paul having to realize that he has misread Vaclav’s personality.

Seeking solace with Isabel, Paul disturbs her at work. She fails to grasp his precarious situation and cry for help. In that moment Paul experiences again the trauma of his helpless life. Alone and desperate, he begins to drink.

Isabel realizes what she’s done and panics. She follows Paul’s tracks ofCastle” The Secret Terror in the snow to their favorite place and finds him on the verge of

death … Investigators “The Three – Scene from (photo © Beta SHIP/Disney/Beta Cinema) “Schattenmenschen (“Shadow People”) is not a sociological documentary,” says Darioush Shirvani, the film’s producer, writer and director. “The framework of the story is a group of homeless people and prostitutes, with all their problems and small joys. Paul’s clan is multinational, such as Jacov the Russian Jewish refugee The Three Investigators – and his friend Ahmed, a Persian actor who was persecuted at home.” The Secret of Terror Castle “The film is about people,” Shirvani explains, “who have preserved their senses and emotions in spite of their hard circumstances. It’s Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Children’s Film about the human relations between people of different origins and Production Company Studio Hamburg Produktion/Hamburg, in nationalities; people outside of civil life whose wishes, dreams and co-production with Two Oceans Production/Cape Town With aspirations are no different from ordinary people.” backing from Filmfoerderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), Darioush Shirvani was born in Shiraz/Iran in 1963. By the age of 14 Industrial Development Cooperation, Department of Trade and he was already studying Music and making short films. From 1977- Industry Producers Sytze van der Laan, Malte Grunert Co- 1981 he was an assistant director, stage manager and actor at the local Producers Giselher Venzke, Bertha Spieker Director Florian theater and between 1980-1985 he made six features, all of which he Baxmeyer Screenplay Philip LaZebnik, Aaron Mendelsohn wrote. He was then forced to flee the country. Director of Photography Peter J. Krause Editor Ueli Christen Production Design Sylvain Gingras, Albrecht Konrad Principal In Germany, his musical work was recognized by the city of Munich Cast Chancellor Miller, Nick Price, Cameron Monaghan, Annette with a scholarship award and in 2002 Augsburg University voted him Kemp, James Faulkner, Jonathan Pienaar, Axel Milberg, Julia Artist of the Year. With one documentary, three shorts and six fea- Bremermann Casting Jennifer Smith, Celia Bannerman Special tures already under his belt, Schattenmenschen is the next of Effects Rise FX, Robert Pinnow Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, doubtlessly many features to come. Dolby Digital Shooting Language English Shooting in and around Cape Town/South Africa, November 2007 – February 2008 SK German Distributor Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Germany/Munich

World Sales Beta Cinema / Dept. of Beta Film GmbH Dirk Schuerhoff Gruenwalder Weg 28 d · 82041 Oberhaching/Germany phone +49-89-67 34 69 14 · fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88 email: [email protected] www.betacinema.com

Plans for the second installment in Studio Hamburg’s The Three Investigators franchise were already underway even before the first film – The Secret of Skeleton Island – had been released in Germany’s cinemas last November.

Just a matter of days after director Florian Baxmeyer and his cast had attended the world premiere in Berlin, they were setting off to South Africa to begin shooting on The Three Investigators – The Secret of Terror Castle which reunited the child actors Chancellor Miller (Justus), Nick Price (Peter) and Cameron Monaghan (Bob) in a new adventure pitted against the veteran actor James Faulkner as the trio’s adversary Victor Huguenay.

In the new story, a mysterious video leads the budding boy detectives german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 36 Justus Jonas, Peter Shaw and Bob Andrews to an abandoned house, third installment (The Silver Spider) may go into production later that Terror Castle, which is apparently haunted by the ghost of a wealthy year on location in Eastern Europe. industrial tycoon, Stephen Terrill. However, there is much more MB awaiting them than they first assume, and, what’s more, an old acquaintance pops up as well …

“From the outset, we planned to make two or three films based on the Robert Arthur books,” explains producer Malte Grunert. “It was important for us to get the second one made pretty quickly because we and Disney both believe that the gap between the films shouldn’t be too big if you are wanting to establish a brand in the cine- (photo © Sandra Steh) mas. During production on the first film we had developed the screen - “Unter Strom” Scene from play for the second one and, after they saw the first edit of Skeleton Island, Disney gave its OK for the second part.”

While the Cape Town-based Two Oceans Production had been the production services company on the first film, this second outing for The Three Investigators was an official bilateral co-production between Germany and South Africa according to the co-production treaty. “This meant that we could benefit from the tax rebate of 25% of the South African costs – with a cap of 10 million Rands – and also re - Unter Strom ceived support from the Industrial Development Cooperation fund which even committed to the film before seeing how the first film had Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Comedy performed in the cinema,” Grunert adds. Production Company Next Film/Leipzig, in-coproduction with Cine Plus Filmproduktion/Berlin With backing from Mittel - The film’s €10 million budget also profited from Studio Hamburg’s deutsche Medienfoerderung, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) credit line agreed with the Commerzbank, secured by a state-backed Producer Clementina Hegewisch Co-Producers Frank Evers, guarantee from Berlin, as well as funding from Filmfoerderung Zoltan Paul Director Zoltan Paul Screenplay Uli Brée, Zoltan Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and Paul Director of Photography Christopher Rowe Editor the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) incentive scheme. Sebastian Thuemler Music by Julian Adam Pajzs Production Design Helen Kraiczy Principal Cast Harald Krassnitzer, Catrin The second time round, the cast and crew around director Florian Striebeck, Hanno Koffler, Robert Stadlober, Anna Fischer, Ralph Baxmeyer were using the locations in and around Cape Town to Herforth, Tilo Nest, Franz Xaver Zach, Sunnyi Melles Casting Bo double for Southern California (the first film had been set in South Rosenmueller Special Effects Jens Doeldissen Format HD, Africa). In addition, there were two days of shooting at the beginning blow-up to 35 mm, color, cs, Dolby SR Shooting Language of January on Berlin’s Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate German Shooting in Dresden, Weimar, Jena and surroundings, with German actors Axel Milberg and Julia Bremermann as February – March 2008 German Distributor Salzgeber & Co. Justus’ parents. Medien/Berlin

Post-production over the coming months will be undertaken at VCC Contact Pictures and Studio Funk in Berlin and Hamburg as well as in Robert Next Film Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG Pinnow’s new Berlin visual effects facility Rise FX. Clementina Hegewisch Almstadtstrasse 5 · 10119 Berlin/Germany A professed fan of adventure films such as The Goonies, Back to the phone +49-30-61 78 91 60 · fax +49-30-61 78 91 61 9 Future or E.T., director Baxmeyer says that “the biggest challenge for email: [email protected] · www.nextfilm.de me on this second film was that we have a different genre: there’s a little horror and a haunted-house story. We had to make sure that the Unter Strom (“Live Wire”) is, says co-producer, co-writer and film would also function for kids 6 years and above. It has to be real- director Zoltan Paul, a “lightning short circuit of all those recent ly creepy and exciting for 12-year-olds, but not too hard for 6-year- films which made going to the cinema a real event, and more. It’s an olds, so that was the big challenge to find the right tone.” extraordinary successful amalgam of Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs), Pedro Almodóvar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous He explains that he is not keen on an over-reliance on visual effects Breakdown), British humor (black and absurd), Swedish humor à la added later in the computer where actors thus have to spend a lot of Kops and Austrian laconicism.“ time on set in front of green screens. “I like working with mechanical effects,” he explains. “You are much freer than with visual effects Frankie (Hanno Koffler) is sentenced to fifteen years for murder: which can be terribly restricting as you are constantly having to think being innocent, he flips out and takes hostage the newly divorced about matte lines and where you are going to put the camera. The Daniel and Anna Trieb. Needing a hideout, they end up at the Trieb’s way we have done it, the sets can function 360 degrees and shooting summer place. On the way, Frankie kidnaps the economics minister, is much more pleasant.” Jan van Moellerbreit, whom he holds responsible for his plight.

The Three Investigators – The Secret of Terror Castle For reinforcements, Frankie also collects his wife, Gloria and his best is set to be released by Walt Disney in Germany in early 2009, and a friend Cheesie (Robert Stadlober). He needs them, too, be cause german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 37 Anna Trieb’s new lover (Franz Xaver Zach) has already made Shooting Language German Shooting in Berlin, Ilmenau, himself comfortable at the house – with champagne and Viagra! Schmiedefeld, Zella-Mehles, Suhl, February 2008 Before Frankie can get the group under control, Detective Kaminski and his men already have the place surrounded. Contact teamWorx Television & Film GmbH · Anja Kaeumle Frankie’s situation would be hopeless, if Kaminski hadn’t sneaked in Dianastrasse 21 · 14482 Potsdam/Germany to rescue his secret lover, van Moellerbreit; if Daniel and Anna would phone +49-3 31-7 06 03 79 · fax +49-3 31-7 06 03 80 not fight so much; if it didn’t come out that Cheesie has got Gloria email: [email protected] pregnant; if Anna’s lover didn’t have a painfully permanent erection, www.teamworx.de and if Sigrid (Sunnyi Melles), Kaminski’s right hand, who is hope- lessly in love with her boss, doesn’t have to discover that Kaminski Earlier this year saw the filming of Werther, based on Goethe’s epi- has no interest in women! It all comes to a dramatic showdown in stolary novel Die Leiden des jungen Werther, as the third collaboration which events spin totally out of control! between writer-director Uwe Janson and the production house teamWorx (after Baal and Lulu). For anyone who likes fast-paced, well-constructed comedy with a sense of the absurd, Unter Strom promises to be a treat. And for “A common element linking Werther with the previous two is the everyone else it’s still got to be as much fun as a barrel of monkeys! fact that the films are drawing on the German theater classics but transporting their ideas in a modern way,” says producer Christian Hungarian-born director-producer and co-writer Zoltan Paul Rohde of teamWorx. “I think it has always been exciting to see how began his professional career as a stage and TV actor, having studied we can attract younger people to these plays without frightening them in Vienna. A move to Bavaria saw him swapping actor’s for director’s away. The direction was shown with Baal which was very powerful hats as well the start of his screenwriting activities. His first short, and wild with a young cast. Then we had Lulu with Jessica Schwarz, Gone, was invited to the Max Ophuels Festival. Two years later, in and Werther has Hannah Herzsprung and Stefan 2003, he made his first feature, also called Gone, which in 2004 was in Konarske. We wanted to provide young people with the opportu- competition at Argentina’s Mar del Plata festival. nity to become involved with these texts and stories.”

Co-producer and co-writer Uli Brée also studied acting in Vienna The modern interpretation of Werther is set to be the first part by and became one of Austria’s most well-known theater and television teamWorx of a Weimar Classics trilogy – to be followed by Die writers. He has penned numerous TV-movies for ORF, RTL, ARD and Raeuber and Hyperion – and has prompted the establishment by ZDF and is a multi-Romy Award winner. Janson and Oliver Czeslik of a new production outfit, sturmunddrangfilm, which is based in Weimar and Berlin and intends to SK focus on adapting German theater classics for the screen.

As Rohde points out, there has been considerable interest from bran- ches of the Goethe-Institut around the globe in these productions, but they are made primarily for the German market with premieres on the Franco-German channel ARTE followed by screenings on the ZDFtheaterkanal.

“In Werther we have a mixture of realistic and artificial worlds,” he continues. “After principal photography was completed, a week was spent on computer animation to create a virtual reality based on Second Life. In Goethe’s original, Werther’s feeling for poetry is always misunderstood by the world around him. We then asked ourselves what a world would look like nowadays where he is constantly rejec- Scene from “Werther” (photo © Nils Kinder) “Werther” Scene from ted. We decided that this would be a computer world where every - thing is anything but poetic. The avatar of Werther is not understood when he speaks the original texts of Goethe – only Lotte’s avatar Werther understands him.” For the casting of the lead roles of Werther and Lotte, the producers Type of Project TV Movie Genre Theater Production had extensive casting sessions with different combinations of actors Company teamWorx Television & Film/Potsdam, in co-production and were soon sure that they had the right pairing with Stefan with sturmunddrangfilm/Weimar, commissioned by ZDFtheater - Konarske and Hannah Herzsprung. Konarske is better known for his kanal/Mainz, in cooperation with ARTE/Strasbourg, 3sat/Mainz theater work, having won two Newcomer Actor awards last year for Producers Christian Rohde, Oliver Czeslik, Uwe Janson, Sigi his performance as Orestes in a Deutsches Theater production, while Kamml Commissioning Editors Wolfgang Bergmann, Meike Herzsprung’s career has taken leaps and bounds since her award-win- Klingenberg Director Uwe Janson Screenplay Uwe Janson ning lead part in Chris Kraus’ Four Minutes. Director of Photography Phillipp Sichler Editor Florian Drechsler Production Design Olaf Rehahn Principal Cast “We always look to have someone people will know, as that makes Stefan Konarske, Hannah Herzsprung, Aaron Hildebrand, David Rott, the production more accessible, and then we want to give young, Fritz Roth Casting Nina Haun Format HD, color, 1:1.85, Stereo wild, up-and-coming actors a chance to be involved,” Rohde explains. german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 38 “Stefan is a modern Werther who possesses an enormous intelli- Welt der Waschkraft (working title). gence as an actor, which immediately filled us with enthusiasm during the casting session,” Oliver Czeslik recalls in a interview for the blog “The idea for this film came from a newspaper article I had read, and diary chronicling the film’s shooting. “In his acting with Hannah I immediately thought that it was like a missing episode from Distant Herzsprung it was then clear that the two are a dream couple. Lights,” Schmid recalls. “It was a spontaneous reaction to make the Intuition and intelligence – I think these are the characteristics uniting film.” them and making them an image of longing for young lovers.” The film focuses on a German company which takes the dirty laundry MB of leading Berlin hotels to Poland – and brings it back clean the next day. As Schmid explains, “Waschkraft recounts the journey of the laundry, but also of the people through whose hands its passes, now as borders fall in Europe and where, with each job that is lost in Germany or created abroad, the buzzword of the consequences of globalization is uttered.”

Welt der Waschkraft“ Welt “We decided very quickly to be part of this project because it is perfect for ARTE as the subject is all about today’s Europe,” notes Soeren Schumann, the commissioning editor responsible for

On the set of “Die wundersame projects with ARTE at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, pointing out that Schmid is aiming “to show a slice of life of a year in the life of these people with their dreams and fears in a very realistic way.” (photo courtesy of 23|5 Filmproduktion)

“As Distant Lights showed, the border between Germany and Poland is his specialty. It is the last big frontier, an economic frontier, even though people try to behave as if there weren’t any contrasts or con- flicts,” Schumann adds. “I see Hans-Christian as someone who moves Die Wundersame Welt between the two genres of fiction film and documentary because there were scenes, for example, in Requiem which were shot very der Waschkraft much in a documentary style.”

Type of Project Documentary Cinema Production Company Currently in post-production, Die wundersame Welt der 23|5 Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co-production with RBB/Potsdam- Waschkraft will be released theatrically in Germany by Piffl Babelsberg, ARTE/Strasbourg With backing from BKM, German Medien and is being handled internationally by Bavaria Film Federal Film Fund (DFFF) Producers Britta Knoeller, Hans- International. Christian Schmid Commissioning Editor Soeren Schumann Director Hans-Christian Schmid Screenplay Hans-Christian “This film marks a continuation of our collaboration with Hans- Schmid Director of Photography Bogumil Godfrejow Editor Christian and Britta after handling Requiem and And Along Come Stefan Stabenow With Beata Ciesla, Marta Ulatowska, Monika Tourists and Hans-Christian’s previous films from 23 to Distant Lights,” Ulatowska, Franciszek Witkowski, Marek Olkuska, Irina Lobitz, says Bavaria Film International’s Thorsten Ritter. “With Bozena Glanert, and others Format Super 16 mm, color, 1:1.85, his choice of subjects, Hans-Christian is one of the most interesting blow-up to 35 mm, Dolby Digital Shooting Languages Polish and of the German directors because he is able to create extremely cre- German Shooting in Nowe Czarnowo, Widuchowa and dible figures and then look behind the façades at the persons and their Gryfino/Poland and Berlin, October – December 2007 German fates and often make surprising revelations.” Distributor Piffl Medien/Berlin “You also feel in his documentary work that he is very concerned World Sales about the details and devotes a lot of time to how the protagonists Bavaria Film International GmbH · Thorsten Ritter are presented. There is always a sense of justice in his films, but he is Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany never pretentious and I am sure that this documentary will have many phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 more facets than one usually expects from documentaries,” Ritter email: [email protected] adds. www.bavaria-film-international.com MB Although Hans-Christian Schmid studied Documentary Filmmaking at Munich’s University of Television & Film he hasn’t directed a documentary since his graduation film Die Mechanik des Wunders about his home town of Altoetting in Bavaria in 1992.

Since then, he had only been involved in the shooting of one other documentary when he served as cameraman in Poland for Michael Gutmann’s contribution to the Denk’ ich an Deutschland series, and it was this continuing interest in Germany’s Eastern neighbor that prompted him to make the documentary Die wundersame german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 39 more novels, short stories and plays as well as scripts. He became a prolific writer of Tatort TV movies and, since 2003, has been producing, with various partners, films he has written. He now makes his directorial debut with Zwischen Heute und Morgen.

“Zwischen Heute und Morgen is,” Breinersdorfer says, “a story of love and common sense, desire and distance; the really

(photo © Thomas Moeller) important things in life. This is a moving film about the ebb and flow of love, the story of one long night.”

Breinersdorfer, it should be noted, has won Grimme, Bavarian and

Scene from “Zwischen Heute und Morgen“ Scene from German Film Awards, and been nominated for the European Film Award, culminating with an Academy Award nomination (Best Foreign Language Film) for Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage.

Peter Lohmeyer, an actor equally at home across all genres and Zwischen Heute a marquee name in Germany, can boast an excellent body of critical and commercial success with films such as Das Wunder von Bern, und Morgen Cowgirl, Playa del Futuro, Oktoberfest, Vineta and Frueher oder Spaeter. Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama Gesine Cukrowski’s credits include Lieben und Toeten, Die weisse Production Company Nostro Film/Berlin, in co-production with Robbe, Annas Alptraum and, most recently, Der Kriminalist. Here, she Filmers Films/Berlin, SWR/Baden-Baden, ARTE/Strasbourg With makes a remarkable debut in a German theatrical feature. backing from MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, Medienboard Berlin- Brandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Producer Frank Doehmann, who heads Nostro Film Bayern Producers Frank Doehmann, Fred Breinersdorfer (together with Hans Joachim Mendig), has a CV which includes some Director Fred Breinersdorfer Screenplay Fred Breinersdorfer, of the finest names in the German film and TV biz – Studio Hamburg Dagmar Leupold Director of Photography Rudolf Blahacek Produktion, Colonia Media, ZDF, ARTE, ORF, Columbia-Tristar, RTL Editor Andy Altschiller Music by Till Broenner Production and SAT.1 Design Anette Kuhn Principal Cast Peter Lohmeyer, Gesine Cukrowski Casting Dorothee Weyers Format 35 mm, color, So run down that checklist of ingredients again: writer, director, pro- 1:1.66, Dolby SR 5.1 Shooting Language German Shooting in ducer, actors, they’re all in place in Zwischen Heute und Berlin, Stuttgart, October – December 2007 German Distri- Morgen. butor Majestic Filmverleih/Berlin SK World Sales Bavaria Film International GmbH · Thorsten Ritter Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 email: [email protected] www.bavaria-film-international.com

The proof of the pudding’s in the eating and there’s many a slip between clapper board and final cut, but check out the ingredients of Zwischen Heute und Morgen (“Between Tomorrow and Today”) because they certainly hint at something tasty!

This is the story of Anouk, a woman in her late thirties, a literary translator from Stuttgart who meets Heiner, an architect in his forties, by chance in Berlin. They arrange to meet, spontaneously, desirous of a new life. The stakes are high: either their current existences, seem- ingly anchored in two marriages, or a joint future of great love which could start this very night.

They share a night of love and lust in a hotel room. They fight with and for each other. In unconditional trust they open up to each other and swap intimacies about their lives. Their time together is short but intense.

Co-writer, together with Dagmar Leupold, and director Fred Breinersdorfer worked as a lawyer for seventeen years before his first novel (crime, of course) was published in 1980. There followed german films quarterly in production

2 · 2008 40 NEXT GENERATION 2008 A Selection of Short Films by Students of German Film Schools

We thank for their support AlleAlle Scene from “AlleAlle” (photo © Beate Nelken) “AlleAlle” Scene from

AlleAlle is an extraordinary film about real-life people Genre Romantic Comedy, Tragicomedy Category Feature Film and their quest for responsibility. Cinema Year of Production 2007 Director Pepe Planitzer Screenplay Pepe Planitzer, based on Burnout by Oliver Bukowski Ina, just released from prison, returns to her childhood Director of Photography Uwe Mann Editor Katrin Ewald village trying to find meaning for her life. In her mother’s Music by Peter Liljeqvist, Calexico Production Design Justyna house, which had been abandoned for 30 years, she Jaszczuk Producer Annekatrin Hendel, Juergen Grimmer meets Domuehl, a desperate underdog, and Hagen, a Production Company It Works! Medien/Berlin, in co-produc- mentally handicapped man who had spent his previous tion with KOPPFILM/Berlin, Das Haus/Altes Lager, K13 Ton- life in a mental institution and, while looking for his uncle, technik/Berlin Principal Cast Milan Peschel, Eberhard Kirchberg, has ended up in this strange landscape in the middle of Marie Gruber Length 89 min, 2,537 m Format 35 mm, color, cs nowhere, south of Berlin. Hagen mistakes Domuehl, a Original Version German Subtitled Versions English, bankrupt scaffolder who is hardly ever sober, for his uncle. French, Italian, Polish Sound Technology Dolby SR Festival Domuehl inherited not only his father’s scaffolding busi - Screenings Berlin 2007, Achtung Berlin 2007, Schwerin 2007, ness but also a military base which his father acquired after Shadowline Salerno 2007, Lubuskie Lato Filmowe 2007, Vaduz the fall of the Berlin Wall for just one Deutschmark – 2007, Valencia 2007, Riga 2007, Ourense 2007, Milan 2007, shortly later, he froze to death. Ever since, Domuehl has Copenhagen 2007, Mainz 2007, among others Awards Studio struggled to eke out a living as a social outcast in cowboy Babelsberg Special Award (Production) 2007, New Berlin Film boots, engrossed in his playground-daydreams and booze. Award Achtung Berlin 2007, Best Actor Ourense 2007, Film Award But once Ina moves into his house together with Hagen Neisse 2007 and his rat, Domuehl’s life changes radically. Pepe Planitzer was born in Berlin in 1969. In 1988 he finished A film full of hope and a glimpse into the future. his Directorial Studies at the Film & Television Academy “Konrad Wolf ” and since then has been working as a freelance author and director for film and television. His feature debut was in 2003 with Ein Schiff wird kommen.

World Sales (please contact) It Works! Medien GmbH · Annekatrin Hendel Franz-Mehring-Platz 1 · 10243 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-28 09 76 31 · fax +49-30-30 88 28 79 email: [email protected] · www.itworksmedien.de · www.allealle.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 42 Auge in Auge – Eine deutsche Filmgeschichte EYE TO EYE – ALL ABOUT GERMAN FILM “Eye to Eye” (photo to Eye” © Preview “Eye Production)

A film about the love of cinema, a voyage of discovery Technology Dolby Digital 5.1 Festival Screenings Berlin through 100 years of German film, which shows us that all 2008 (Berlinale Special), Viareggio 2008 With backing from which seems so far away, is, in reality, so close. Eye to Eye BKM, FilmFern sehFonds Bayern, Filmstiftung NRW, WDR, SWR, charts the great moments of German cinematic history. Goethe-Institut, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, DEFA - Unforgettable images are paraded before our eyes and Stiftung German Distributor Preview Production/Munich make us feel like watching the classics again. Michael Althen was born in 1962 in Munich. He is a renowned Acclaimed German filmmakers such as Caroline Link, film critic and editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and has Doris Doerrie, Michael Ballhaus, Tom Tykwer, Wim written books about Rock Hudson, Robert Mitchum and Dean Wenders, Dominik Graf, Christian Petzold, Andreas Martin. His other films include: Das Kino bittet zu Tisch – Dresen, Wolfgang Kohlhaase and Hanns Zischler, use film Essen im Film (1995), Das Wispern im Berg der Dinge extracts to illustrate to us the films that have been parti- and Munich – Secrets of a City (Muenchen – Geheim- cularly important to them; they investigate the essence of nisse einer Stadt, 2000, both in co-direction with Dominik German film. Thus, layer by layer, the film uncovers what Graf). so often has obscured our view of German film history. Eye to Eye is an homage to what we love about German Hans Helmut Prinzler was born in 1938 in Berlin. From cinema. 1969-1979 he was the director of the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin. From 1979-1990 he was responsible for Genre Film History Category Documentary Cinema Year of events and publications at the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek and Production 2008 Directors Michael Althen, Hans Helmut served on its board of directors from 1990-2006, during which time Prinzler Screenplay Michael Althen, Hans Helmut Prinzler (from 2000) he was also director of the Filmmuseum Berlin. Since Director of Photography Matthias Benzing Editor Tobias 2000 he has been the director of the department Film and Media Streck Music by Robert Papst, Christian Birawski Producer Art at the Akademie der Kuenste in Berlin. He is also the author of Joachim Schroeder Production Company Preview Pro- numerous books on German and international film. He also co- duction/Munich, in co-production with Transit Film/Munich directed Zwischen den Bildern – Zur Geschichte der Length 105 min, 3,033 m Format 35 mm, color & b&w, 1:1.85 Filmmontage (1980) together with Meide Breitel, Klaus Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Feddermann and Helmut Herbst.

World Sales Transit Film GmbH · Loy W. Arnold, Susanne Schumann Dachauer Strasse 35 · 80335 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-5 99 88 50 · fax +49-89-59 98 85 20 email: [email protected]; [email protected] · www.transitfilm.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 43 Berlin am Meer BERLIN BY THE SEA Scene from “Berlin by the Sea” (photo © Warner Bros./Marco Maria Dresen) Maria Dresen) Bros./Marco “Berlin by the Sea” (photo Scene from © Warner

Tom and Malte are both in their early twenties. As DJs Genre Romantic Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year they rule the coolest clubs of Berlin with their own com- of Production 2007 Director Wolfgang Eissler Screenplay positions, dreaming to storm the international music Wolfgang Eissler Director of Photography Florian Schilling charts. They party ‘till they drop and earn their living as Editor Anna Kappelmann Music by Sven Zimmermann Pro - waiters for a catering service. Each of them is a character duction Design Babett Klimmeck Producers Iris Sommerlatte, of his own. Ali Saghri, Chris Ribbe Production Company Alin Film pro - duktion/Berlin, in cooperation with Red Cloud Filmproduction/ The introverted Tom struggles in search of his destiny. For Hamburg Principal Cast Robert Stadlober, Anna Brueggemann, him music is everything and studying at a major conserva- Axel Schreiber, Jana Pallaske, Claudius Franz Casting Betty tory becomes his goal. But despite his undisputed talent, Averbeck, Julia Todorow Length 98 min Format 35 mm, color, so far all his applications have been rejected. Emotionally 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English his life turns into a rollercoaster ride when Mavie, the “lit- Sound Technology Dolby SR With backing from tle” sister of his roommate Mitsch, moves in. Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg German Distributor Warner Bros. Entertainment/Hamburg Malte however appears to be born on the sunny side: always lucky, a go-getter and charmer who is just enjoying Wolfgang Eissler was born in 1971 in Bretten. He studied the good times of his “student life”. No question that he is Theater Sciences and North American Studies in Berlin. In 1995 he accepted right away at one of the desired conservatories completed his first short films and audio-visual art projects and and it takes just one interview and a record label signs him worked as a freelance producer for music videos and commercials. up. And even Mavie seems to fall for him. He is also active as an instructor and coordinator for the new talents program “Talents Getting Started” for young actors. His films in - During the course of this Berlin summer Tom’s problems clude: boy meets girlS, episodes for the popular children’s are cumulating. He painfully experiences that all his plans series Loewenzahn, and Berlin by the Sea (Berlin am Meer, with his ‘buddy’ Malte are falling apart. Worse comes to 2007), among others. worst when Tom feels rejected by Mavie, the single bright spot in his life …

World Sales (please contact) Red Cloud Filmproduction GmbH & Co KG · Chris Ribbe Alter Wall 61 · 20457 Hamburg/Germany phone +49-40-41 40 90 15 · fax +49-40-41 40 90 29 email: [email protected] · www.redcloudfilm.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 44 Comeback Scene from “Comeback” (photo Scene from © Loopfilm GmbH)

A dark, seedy attic in Munich. This is where Juergen, a Genre Portrait Category Documentary Cinema Year of German boxing pro whose last fight is three years in the Production 2007 Director Maximilian Plettau Screenplay past, lives and trains. In order to make a living he works as Maximilian Plettau Director of Photography Maximilian a bouncer in a bar. Week after week he tries to arrange a Plettau Editors Joerg Adolph, Maximilian Plettau Music by fight through US matchmakers on the phone in a local call Dominik Schauer Producers Oliver Halmburger, Maximilian shop. Juergen “The Rock” Hartenstein, ex-German Plettau Production Company Loopfilm/Munich With Juergen Champion in the super middleweight division, has a "The Rock" Hartenstein, Markus Kone, Elisabeth Hartenstein, dream: he wants to launch his international comeback on Alexander Boy, Fritz Sdunek, "King" Artur Grigorian, Bruce his own account. Silverglade, Don Elbaum, Max Alexander, Joey Eye, Frank Cappuccino Length 79 min, 2,167 m Format DV/HDV/Super Eventually, Juergen is called to fight an American new- 16 mm Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version comer in Philadelphia and, together with his trainer, he German/English Subtitled Version English Festival sets off to the home of Rocky. This is his big chance. Screenings Hof 2007, Nyon 2008, DOK Fest Munich 2008 With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern German Distri butor Nominal Film/Munich

Maximilian Plettau was born in 1973 in Freiburg. After his schooling, he worked as a lighting technician and cameraman on various feature film projects, followed by studies at the University of Television & Film in Munich. Comeback (2007) marks his directing debut.

World Sales (please contact) Loopfilm GmbH Infanteriestrasse 19, Haus 1B · 80797 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-30 76 89 05 · fax +49-89-30 76 89 09 email: [email protected] · www.loopfilm.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 45 Dr. Alemán Scene from “Dr. Alemán” (photo © Tom Trambow/2 Pilots Filmproduction GmbH) Pilots Filmproduction Trambow/2 Alemán” (photo © Tom “Dr. Scene from

Seeking to escape suburban boredom, 26-year-old med Production Design Juan Carlos Acevedo, Tim Pannen student Marc travels to Cali/Colombia on an exchange. Producers Harry Floeter, Joerg Siepmann, Arne Ludwig No sooner has he arrived at the hospital than he is thrust Production Company 2 Pilots Filmproduction/Cologne into the operating room, as if in a war zone. The beautiful Principal Cast August Diehl, Marleyda Soto, Hernán Méndez, cartel capital of Cali is a battleground, which his conserva- Victor Villegas Casting Anja Dihrberg, Teatroas/Babel Length tive host family tries to keep Marc well away from. But 104 min, 2,757 m Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version Marc finds himself drawn to the dangerous life in the Spanish Dubbed Version German Subtitled Versions favela of Siloé, a picturesque neighborhood of teenage English, German Sound Technology Dolby Digital With hired assassins. There, he meets kiosk owner Wanda, a backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), charming alcoholic, and little Pavito, a boy who supplies BKM, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), MEDIA Plus, éQuinoxe him with coke. Soon Marc is being pulled into the fast and German Distributor ZORRO Filmverleih/Munich furious life of the favelas, which brings him into conflict with his hospital and host family. He gets thrown out and Tom Schreiber was born in 1969 in Freising. He worked as a takes up residence in Wanda's kiosk, already heavily in camera assistant in still life photography and documentary film love with the beautiful owner. When gang leader El Juez, before studying Film at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) in the “Judge”, wants Marc to become his personal doctor, Cologne. During an 8-month scholarship at the Escuela de Cine y Marc has to make a choice. Juez is on a bloody crusade for Televisión in Cuba, he shot the short film Viene del Cielo control of the town, and Marc decides he has to try and (together with Christian Becker). He finished his studies in Cologne stop him. with the award-winning short film Vita Reducta. After his work as an assistant director for various feature films and as a director of Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of several TV documentaries, he shot his first feature film Fools Production 2008 Director Tom Schreiber Screenplay Oliver (Narren), which had its premiere at the Berlinale 2002. Dr. Keidel, Tom Schreiber Director of Photography Olaf Alemán is his second feature. Hirschberg Editor Andreas Wodraschke Music by Josef Suchy

World Sales TELEPOOL GmbH · Anja Uecker Sonnenstrasse 21 · 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29 email: [email protected] · www.telepool.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 46 DWK 5 – Die Wilden Kerle THE WILD SOCCER BUNCH 5 Scene from “DWK Scene from 5” (photo © SamFilm/Erika Hauri)

The 5th big screen adventure of the Wild Soccer Bunch Genre Family Entertainment, Fantasy Category Feature Film leads our team of teen heroes into the Shadow Realm, Cinema Year of Production 2008 Director Joachim where their most dangerous opponent ever awaits – vam- Masannek Screenplay Joachim Masannek Director of pires! Photog raphy Benjamin Dernbecher Editor Alexander Dittner Music by Andrej Melita, Peter Horn Jr. Production Design Leon and Vanessa have finally fallen in love, and swear Heike Lange, Maximilian Lange Producers Ewa Karlstroem, eternal loyalty. But just one day later, Leon is gone. Has he Andreas Ulmke-Smeaton Production Company SamFilm/ deserted her, or been kidnapped? To find him, the Wild Munich Principal Cast Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht, Sarah Kim Gries, Soccer Bunch travels to the horizon and beyond, to the Marlon Wessel Casting Stefany Pohlmann Length 107 min, Shadow Realm. During the day, everything there is just 2,925 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version rocks and dust, but at night, vampires dwell! They have German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology lured Leon here and now eagerly await his friends. Dolby Digital With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Bayerischer Bankenfonds (BBF), Vanessa almost succumbs to the allure of their leader, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) German Distributor Walt Darkside, and must learn the vampire's secret to discover Disney Studios Motion Pictures Germany/Munich how to overcome them and win back her love. For the vampires are turned to stone in sunlight – just as Leon was Joachim Masannek was born in 1960 in Hamm and studied turned to stone trying to escape. Only true love can bring German, Philosophy, and Film in Munich. Since 1985, he has worked him back to life now. as a production designer, lighting technician, cameraman and author. After working on various animation projects, he wrote the children’s An ultimate soccer battle takes place to free him, between book Die Wilden Fussballkerle based on the soccer team he founded dark and light, good and evil. This time, the Wild Soccer in Munich. His films include: Bomber (short, 1992), In Liebe, Bunch isn’t fooled by vampire tricks, but trust in each Catherine (short, 1992), Der Baer (commercial, 1992), and all other to defeat the powers of darkness and escape the five The Wild Soccer Bunch (Die Wilden Kerle) films. Shadow Realm beyond the horizon.

2 · 2008 47 Die Entdeckung der Currywurst THE INVENTION OF THE CURRIED SAUSAGE (photo © TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion) (photo © TAG/TRAUM Scene from “The Invention Scene from of the Curried Sausage”

During the last throes of the war, Lena Bruecker is 47- Thus, she is hiding the fact that Germany has capitulated years-old. Her children have left the roost and her hus- from Bremer and is virtually holding him prisoner in her band has been stationed on the eastern front for years – home-made war game. When the truth comes out, without any regret on her part. Life almost appears to be unplanned and suddenly, Bremer takes off, just as Lena over for her – as far as love and passion are concerned – has always feared. At first, Lena is beside herself until she when Lena is given an unexpected new lease on life. realizes that this elapsed love has been fruitful anyway …

After an evening in a movie theater, which, as usual, ends Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of up in an air-raid shelter, she takes Petty Officer Bremer Production 2008 Director Ulla Wagner Screenplay Ulla home with her. Just like that – she is suddenly in a mood Wagner, based on the novella by Uwe Timm Director of to show everything she has got left. She cooks for the Photography Theo Bierkens Editor Corina Dietz Music by young man, who reminds her of her son, and shares a Christine Aufderhaar Production Design Benedikt Herforth drink with him. It turns out to be a nice evening, which Producer Gerd Haag Production Company TAG/TRAUM suddenly turns into more. Lena offers him a place to stay Filmproduktion/Cologne, in co-production with KAENGURUH- – first only for the night, but then for good. Facing the Film/Berlin, in cooperation with Ego Media/Riga Principal Cast cold, hopeless front as an alternative, Bremer decides to Barbara Sukowa, Alexander Khuon, Wolfgang Boeck, Branko desert in the morning. Samarovski, Astrid Meyerfeldt, Goetz Schubert Casting Anja Dihrberg Length 105 min Format Super 16 mm Blow-up 35 He now places himself at the mercy of a woman he barely mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled knows, as Lena’s apartment becomes an island, on which Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital With both of them enjoy drifting: Bremer, too young to die in backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), the final battle of a hopeless war, and Lena, who is still Nordmedia, BKM, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) German young enough to feel her passion for life. An unusual and Distributor Schwarz-Weiss Film verleih/Bonn dramatic love affair unfolds, leaving the war outside the apartment door – despite its constant dangers. However, Ulla Wagner studied Theater, Journalism and German Studies in the larger threat to Lena’s new life turns out to be the Berlin. Since 1981, she has worked in film and television: as a direc- impending peace. tor’s assistant, dramaturge, writer and director. Her films include: Regenbogenprinz, Unzeit, Max Mal Vier, Error, Aus World Sales (please contact) und vorbei, Anna Wunder, and The Invention of the TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG Curried Sausage (Die Entdeckung der Currywurst). Weyerstrasse 88 · 50676 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-65 02 59 00 · fax +49-2 21-23 38 94 email: [email protected] · www.tagtraum.de

german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 48 Sanchez, Zacarías Martinez de la Riva delaRiva Sanchez, ZacaríasMartinez Production Genre urgency … Hersearch thatitisJusto. nowvinced takes onanew con- former concentrationcampprisonersandbecomes article on aphotoinmagazine shesees for herhusband, oneday.that shewillfindJustoagain Inhertirelesssearch struggle tosurvive.Yet upbelieving Manuelanevergives Alone,withoutmoney,sheandPalomacontact withJusto. Whenseparation. Franco’stroopswin,Manuelalosesall betrayal, imprisonmentandtorture,alltheanguishof undergoes allthehorrorsofCivilWar, allthepainof Theand intenselyinloveyoungfamily withherhusband. non-political, butaloving mothertotheirdaughterPaloma youngwifeManuelaisspoiled, Hiselegant Revolution.” inthetrenchesboth andontheradioas“Voice ofthe Justo Calderónisaglowing RepublicanwhofightsFranco is thestoryofacoupleandtheirundyinglove. Lawyer Franco’sputsch andtheendofWorldbetween War this II, Setduringtheseharrowing fromSpain. years expulsed War, twomillionweretaken prisonerandhalfamillion losttheirlivesintheSpanishCivil Over amillionpeople THE ANARCHIST’S WIFE Die FraudesAnarchisten François Robin Screen Blasco, JuanBotellaRuizCastillo · 2008 2 filmsquarterlygerman 20 [email protected]: ·www.bavaria-film-international.com 37 99 +49-89-64 86·fax 26 99 phone +49-89-64 Bavariafilmplatz 7 ·82031Geiselgasteig/Germany BavariaBavaria of MediaGmbH·Thorsten FilmInternational ·Dept. Ritter World Sales play Drama Marie Noëlle Editor 2008 Category Directors Luis delaMadrid Director Photography of Feature FilmCinema Producers Production Design Marie Noëlle,Peter Sehr Music by Peter Sehr, Marie Year of Year Frédéric Marta Jean- Awards, Soul aMan’s Against Serbische Maedchen winner of aSilverLeopard2001). atLocarno winner of Eltern 30 añosalserviciodelamor (1998), mir einenMann Anarchisten Marie Noëlle DistributorGerman Franzoesisches (DFFF) Minitraité,DeutscherFilmfoerderfonds FilmFern Film foerderungsanstalt (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, English 1:1.85 Irene Visedo Botto, NinaHoss, IvanaBaquero, Jean-Marc Barr, LauraMorante, Joinville-le-Pont Munich, inco-production withZIPFilms/Barcelona, CinéBoissière/ Noëlle wabohu co-directed have and togetherthey Peter Filmproduktion P’Artisan Sehr’sfounded In1988,they films. of Noëllebeganeditingandwritingmany since 1979,whenMarie Original Version Sound Technology U-Store It,U-LockU-Keep the Key Production Company Obsession sehFonds FilmstiftungNRW, Bayern, Deutsch- (2003). His other films include: (2003). Hisotherfilms (1988) and Length , 2008). Her other films include: , 2008).Herotherfilms Principal Cast and (1997), and The Anarchist’s Wife Peter Sehr (1995), 112 min,3,151m ZORRO Filmverleih/Munich , 1991), (1993) – winner of threeFilm German (1993) –winnerof Spanish/French Dolby SRD Komm denTisch dochan Love theHard Way Kaspar Hauser: Crime Hauser: Kaspar Maria Valverde, JuanDiego have been working to beenworking have ’ria Filmpro duktion/ P’Artisan Und nichteinTohu (2002), Format With backingfrom Serbian GirlSerbian Subtitled Version Kinder suchen ( new german films german new Die Fraudes Ich erzaehle 35 mm,color, (2001), (2001, gether ( Das - 49

Scene from “The Anarchist’s Wife” (photo © P’Artisan Film) Das Fremde in mir THE STRANGER IN ME Scene from “The Stranger in Me” (photo Scene from © Markus Schaedel)

A young couple in love: Rebecca (32) and her boyfriend Susanne Wolff, Johann von Buelow, Maren Kroymann, Hans Diehl, Julian (34) are expecting their first child and are full of Judith Engel, Doerte Lyssewski, Brigitte Zeh Casting Anja pleasant expectation. As Rebecca gives birth to a healthy Dihrberg, Bernhard Karl Length 99 min, 2,709 m Format 16 mm boy their luck seems to be perfect. But instead of the Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German unconditional motherly love she was expecting, she is Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR thrown into an emotional turmoil. Helplessness and des- Festival Screenings Cannes 2008 (Critics’ Week) With peration reign and her own baby is a stranger to her. With backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Nordmedia, every day that passes, her inability to meet the demands German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) German Distributor of motherhood become more and more apparent. Unable Ventura Film/Thuengers heim to admit this to anyone, not even Julian, she falls into a deep darkness – to the point that she realizes she is be- Emily Atef was born in Berlin to French and Iranian parents. She coming a threat to her child. Now only unconditional love grew up in Los Angeles and Paris, before moving to London to work can bring her back on track … in the theater. In 2001, she enrolled in the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin. Her acclaimed films include: XX to XY Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Fighting to be Jake (short documentary, 2002), Sundays Production 2008 Director Emily Atef Screenplay Emily (short, 2003), I Love You, I Kill You (short, 2004), Djibril Atef, Esther Bernstorff Director of Photography Henner und Zoran (short, 2004), her feature debut Molly’s Way Besuch Editor Beatrice Babin Music by Manfred Eicher (2005), and The Stranger in Me (Das Fremde in mir, Production Design Annette Lofy Producer Nicole Gerhards 2008). Executive Producer Hanneke van der Tas Production Company NiKo Film/Berlin, in co-production with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, Deutsche Film- & Fernsehakademie (dffb)/ Berlin, in association with ARTE/Stras bourg Principal Cast

World Sales Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Ritter Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 email: [email protected] · www.bavaria-film-international.com german films quarterly new german films

To take care of his father’s estate, Ulrich Meinert has to go Jan Speckenbach was born in 1970 and studied Art History, to a trailer park where his father used to live. And sudden - Philosophy and Media Arts in Munich, Karlsruhe and Paris. Since ly he finds himself in a nudist colony in eastern Germany 1999, he has been working as a freelance video artist, particularly which stirs up mixed feelings. Although he felt a lot of for the theater. In 2005, he took up post-graduate studies in Film resentment towards his father, days go by without him Directing at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin. taking care of any unsettled business. Instead, he starts to His other films include: A Few Minutes Jean Rouch (docu- get involved with Anja, his father’s girlfriend, takes on one mentary, 1995), DCX (2001), Zeitspuren oder die Ver - of his father’s old friends and settles into his father’s trailer. messung eines Theaters (documentary, 2003), Bade- Against his own wishes, he starts to fill the void his father zimmer oder die Geschichte von B.B. (2004), and La left behind … Chambre penchée (2005).

Genre Drama Category Short Year of Production 2008 Director Jan Speckenbach Screenplay Jan Speckenbach, Melanie Rohde Director of Photography Jenny Lou Ziegel Editor Wiebke Gundler Music by Daniel Freundlieb Production Design Ralf Swinley, Petra Schlie Production Company Deutsche Film- & Fernsehakademie (dffb)/Berlin, in co-production with Hochschule fuer Film & Fernsehen ‘Konrad Wolf ’/Potsdam-Babelsberg Principal Cast Bernhard Schuetz, Sylvia Schwarz, Heiner Stadelmann Length 30 min, 855 m Format Super 16 mm Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings Cannes 2008 (Cinéfondation)

World Sales (please contact) Deutsche Film- & Fernsehakademie Berlin GmbH (dffb) · Jana Wolff Potsdamer Strasse 2 · 10785 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-25 75 91 52 · fax +49-30-25 75 91 62 email: [email protected] · www.dffb.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 51 Die Handwerker Gottes GOD’S CRAFTSMEN Graphic from “God’s Craftsmen” (photo © Thomas von Kummant/Die Artillerie) Craftsmen” (photo “God’s © Thomas von Kummant/Die Graphic from

God’s Craftsmen tells the story of the wandering painters Genre Art, Comedy, History Category Short Year of Bruno and Buffalmacco. In Upper Bavaria in the year Production 2008 Director Siegmar Warnecke Screenplay 1830, they are commissioned to paint the fresco Jesus Siegmar Warnecke Director of Photography Bjoern Kurt Heals the Blind – but the two are mainly just enjoying life. Editor Siegmar Warnecke Music by Patrick Buttmann However, the greedy prior, who cares more for his dog Production Design Oliver Hoese Producer Martin Mariedl and his money than anything else, keeps hound - Blankemeyer Production Company Muenchner Filmwerk - ing them. statt/Munich, in co-production with Hochschule fuer Fernsehen und Film Muenchen (HFF/M)/Munich Principal Cast Tim Seyfi, One day they meet the beautiful Agnes – the personifica- Roland von Kummant, Christian Steinfelder, Malah Helman, Robert tion of all their dreams and desires. But she is the wife of Spitz, Stefan Rutz, Maurice Schoenen, Ottfried Fischer Length 38 a jealous farmer. And then there is Xaver, another one of min Format 16 mm/DigiBeta, color, 1:1.78 Original Version Agnes’ admirers who even asks the painters to help him in German Subtitled Versions English, Italian Sound Tech- his efforts to win her over. nology Dolby Digital 5.1 With backing from FilmFern - sehFonds Bayern, Foerderverein der HFF Muenchen Bruno and Buffalmacco develop a plan. But will they be successful? Without luck even some of the best plans are Siegmar Warnecke was born in 1971 in Bonn. After studying doomed to failure. But since luck rules the world, some- Art History, German Studies and Philosophy in Frankfurt, he en - times even a little bit of luck is better than a whole lot of rolled at the University of Television & Film in Munich to study wit. Directing. He is also active as a storyboard artist and is a lecturer at the University of Television & Film in Munich. His other films as a God’s Craftsmen is an adaptation of a novella from Il director include: the shorts Die Ruhe auf der Flucht (1997), Decamerone by G. Boccaccio. Beyond that, the film is Die laengste Koksline der Welt (1998), Nacht ueber indebted to the images and spirit of Wilhelm Busch and Edensloh (2001), Die Windsbraut (2004), Denn die Carl Spitzweg and follows in the tradition of folkloric tales Revolution findet wo anders statt (2005), and Eine and ballads. zweite Chance (2006).

World Sales (please contact) Muenchner Filmwerkstatt e.V. · Martin Blankemeyer Postfach 860 525 · 81632 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-20 33 37 12 · fax +49-7 21-1 51 37 76 29 email: [email protected] · www.muenchner-filmwerkstatt.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 52 Ich will da sein – Jenny Groellmann THE BALLAD OF JENNY G. Jenny Groellmann (photo © Michael Weidt) Jenny (photo Groellmann © Michael Weidt)

Jenny Groellmann (1947-2006) was one of the great cha- Weisenburger Production Company Weisenburger Film/ ract er actors of the GDR whose presence on stage and the Berlin, in co-production with DEFA Foundation/Berlin With Jenny strength of the characters she played would have car- Groellmann, Hermann Beyer, Thomas Goguel, Michael Gwisdek, ried her effortlessly, under other circumstances, into the Henry Huebchen, Bert Huelpuesch, Felix Huelpuesch, Uwe annals of world cinema. She was an exceptional actress Kockisch, Anna Maria Muehe, Ernst Noennecke, Claus-Juergen who rose to the heights of her art, sank to oblivion with Pfeiffer, Peter Pragal, Christiane Preusse-Huelpuesch, Jaecki the end of an era, was publicly defamed and ultimately Schwarz, Michael Weidt Length 95 min, 2,832 m Format DV vindicated. Cam/HDV Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology The Ballad of Jenny G. is an insightful portrait of a Dolby SR Festival Screenings Sofia 2008 With backing strong, fascinating woman and consummate artist in extra- from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Kulturelle Filmfoerderung ordinary times. Clips from Groellmann’s stellar career on Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, DEFA Foundation German Distri- screen are intercut with intimate and revealing scenes of butor defa-spektrum/Berlin her later life and with the words of her friends and col - leagues. Petra Weisenburger was born in 1958 in Karlsruhe. She studied Art History, Literature and Sociology in Paris and Heidel- Her life and her performances in film mesh to produce a berg. She held various creative positions in film and theater pro - compelling document, combining the public and the ductions and realized several video films for the Joachim Schloemer private; interweaving the singular history of East German Dance Theater. Since 1995 she has been a project manager and cinema and that of the two Germanies with a searching head of studies at the Nipkow Programm in Berlin, a grant program portrayal of the late Jenny Groellmann and her art. for European filmmakers, and in 2005 she founded her own production company. Her films as an author and co-director include the Genre Biopic, Arts & Culture, Women’s Film Category award-winning Jean Weidt – Le Danseur Rouge (1988), Documentary Cinema Year of Production 2008 Director Homage to Free Dance in Germany – Part I: The Petra Weisenburger Screenplay Petra Weisenburger Directors Silent Scream and Part II: Lone Fighters (1991). She wor- of Photography Thomas Mauch, Martin Gressmann, Wojciech ked as co-producer on Memories of Happiness (1990) and wrote, Szepel, Max Zaher Editor Klaus-Peter Schmitt Producer Petra produced and directed the short documentary Shep herd’s Big Moment (Schaefers Stunde, 2005). The Ballad of Jenny World Sales G. (Ich will da sein – Jenny Groellmann , 2008) is her first defa-spektrum GmbH · Manja Meister documentary feature. Chausseestrasse 103 · 10115 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-2 46 56 21 15 · fax +49-30-2 46 56 21 50 email: [email protected] · www.defa-spektrum.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 53 Im Jahr des Hundes IN THE YEAR OF THE DOG Armin Dierolf) “In the Year of“In the Year the Dog” (photo © Holger Sikau/

In the Year of the Dog tells about dogs in China, and of Munich Length 88 min Format HD CAM SR, color, 1:1.85 dogs belonging to the people, and of people belonging to Original Version Chinese Subtitled Versions English, the society. Entertaining and informative, colorful and German Festival Screenings DOK Fest Munich 2008 With bizarre, critical and sad. A film about animal love and ani- backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmstiftung NRW, mal death, rituals and superstitions. Above all, a film about Gerd Ruge Stipendium current affairs, about winning and losing. Of the people. And the dogs. Ursula Scheid studied Political Science at the Ludwig- Maximilians-University in Munich, taking a degree in German- We plunge, for a day or an entire year, into the middle of Chinese Relations, followed by studies in Journalism at the German different living situations, and discover just how similar our Journalism School in Munich. She also participated in guest seminars lives are. And, finally, how different. in Theater Direction (with Juergen Flimm) and Editing (with Patrizia Rommel). Since 1988, she has been working as a freelance journa- Genre Society Category Documentary Cinema Year of list, writer and director. Her films include: The Burning Village Production 2008 Director Ursula Scheid Screenplay Ursula (Das brennende Dorf, documentary, 2004), I Like Chinese Scheid Directors of Photography Armin Dierolf, Petra (short, 2006), The Search for Hong Long (Die Suche des Wallner Editor Daniela Drescher Producers Hendrik Feil, Hong Long, 2006), Fairytale (documentary, 2006), and In Martin Kircher Production Company Wasabi Film/Munich, in the Year of the Dog (Im Jahr des Hundes, documentary, co-production with BR/Munich, WDR/Cologne, Ursula Scheid/ 2008).

World Sales (please contact) Wasabi Film GmbH & Co. KG Bayerisches Filmzentrum · Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Gruenwald/Germany phone +49-89-64 98 14 00 · fax +49-89-64 98 13 00 email: [email protected] · www.wasabifilm.com · www.in-the-year-of-the-dog.com german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 54 Lauf um Dein Leben – Vom Junkie zum Ironman RUN FOR YOUR LIFE – FROM JUNKIE TO IRONMAN Scene from “Run for Your Life” (photo Stelter) © enigma film/Kerstin “Run for Scene from Your

Andreas and his gang of friends are troublemakers – they Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of get stoned on grass, go on shoplifting excursions and are Production 2007 Director Adnan G. Koese Screenplay continually running from the cops. Soon, Andreas moves Adnan G. Koese, Fritjof Hohagen Director of Photography up to stronger drugs – and is forced to start dealing to sup- James Jacobs Editor Alexander Dittner Music by Patrick port his growing habit. Buttmann, Philipp F. Koelmel Production Design Oliver Hoese Producers Fritjof Hohagen, Clarens Grollmann Production He falls in love with the young Sabine, with whom he has Company enigma film/Unterfoehring, in co-production with a child, and from whom he’s able to keep his drug addic- Odeon Pictures/Unterfoehring, Neue Kinowelt Filmproduktion/ tion hidden…until the day she discovers him unconscious Berlin, Lunaris Film/Unterfoehring Principal Cast Max Riemelt, in the bathroom with a needle sticking out of his arm … Jasmin Schwiers, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Axel Stein, Robert Gwisdek, Ismail Deniz, Udo Schenk, Ingo Naujoks Casting Uwe Buenker She takes their child and leaves him. Emotionally destroy- Length 102 min, 2,957 m Format 35 mm, color, cs Original ed at the loss and wrecked from his drug abuse, Andreas Version German Subtitled Version English Sound takes up a degenerate life in the streets. One day, in a sui- Techno logy Dolby Digital 5.1 With backing from Film - cidal fit, he smashes a car into a tree – but survives. stiftung NRW, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) After a year of attempting to kick his drug habit, he has a life-changing experience while running. Suddenly inspired, Adnan G. Koese grew up in Germany as the son of German- Andreas begins running for his life – not away from it – Turkish parents. Interested in all aspects of film at an early age, he is and eventually runs all the way into the elite ranks of the active as an actor, screenwriter and director. His films include: Go world’s top athletes in the extremely difficult Triathlon dis- to Hell (Zur Hoelle mit Dir, short, 2003) and his feature cipline. He’s succeeded in making the amazing trans- debut Run for Your Life – From Junkie to Ironman formation from junkie to Ironman … (Lauf um Dein Leben – Vom Junkie zum Ironman, 2007).

World Sales Beta Cinema / Dept. of Beta Film GmbH · Andreas Rothbauer Gruenwalder Weg 28 d · 82041 Oberhaching/Germany phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 · fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88 email: [email protected] · www.betacinema.com german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 55 Love, Peace & Beatbox Scene from “Peace, Love & Beatbox” (photo © Karl Handke Filmproduktion) Filmproduktion) (photoHandke © Karl Love & Beatbox” “Peace, Scene from

Hiss, chirp, crackle, creak, squeak, gurgle, drum or simply documentary instructions were given and hundreds of viewers in plop – there isn’t a single sound that an accomplished the audience got involved in the sound. There’s hardly ever been human beatboxer can’t imitate with their mouth. After that much rhythm in the cinema. No, the Berlinale didn’t rock, rapping, DJing, breakdancing and graffiti, beatboxing or it scratched, sampled and mixed.” (Tagesspiegel) mouth-drumming is widely regarded as the fifth element of hip hop. As in many other big cities, a rich and varied “During the whole film the audience claps, whistles and cheers. music scene has emerged in Berlin in recent years, one In my three years with The Young Journalists I have never seen that includes one of Germany’s most popular bands, anything like this, such an enthusiastic audience.” (Die jungen 4xsamples, who are the current team battle vice-world Journalisten) champions. Founded by DJ Mesia, BeeLow and Maxim, who was murdered in 2003, the beatbox championship Genre Music, Society Category Documentary Cinema Year of has now been exported to countries as far away as Production 2008 Director Volker Meyer-Dabisch Directors Australia. As an art form that originated on the street and of Photography Andreas Gockel, Hendrik Lier, Ralf Netzer, still feels most at home there, hip hop thrives on a mixture Peter Sebera Editor Volker Meyer-Dabisch Producer Volker of improvisation and virtuosity – and this is exactly what Meyer-Dabisch Production Company Karl Handke Film- beatboxing is all about. In this way, beatboxing takes hip produktion/Berlin Principal Cast Mando, Wetlipz, Chlorophil, hop back to its roots. Pirate MC, BeeLow, DJ Mesia, Zeero, Ro Beat, Steff La Chef Length 70 min Format DigiBeta, color, 16:9 Letterbox In 2006, documentarist Volker Meyer-Dabisch began film - Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound ing the protagonists of Berlin’s beatbox community – at Tech nology Stereo Festival Screenings Berlin 2008 performances, in studios and during rehearsals. Love, (Generation 14+/Perspectives German Cinema) Peace & Beatbox portrays the genre’s key proponents; in his film the filmmaker connects to their world of sounds, Volker Meyer-Dabisch was born in 1962 in Kamen. After train - rhythms and noises, listens to their art, and opens a win- ing as an actor, he had various theater engagements and appeared dow on the world of beatbox. in television and film productions, including Rudolf Thome’s Frau faehrt, Mann schlaeft. His films as a director include: Zwirbels “You had to be there, during the final credits of this beatbox Traum (2003), Kohleladen Oezdemir (2003), and Love, Peace & Beatbox (2008). World Sales (please contact) Karl Handke Filmproduktion Wiener Strasse 20 · 10999 Berlin/Germany mobile +49-1 77-7 88 59 11 email: [email protected] · www.karl-handke-filmproduktion.de

german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 56 for my two mothers’ traces. for mytwomothers’traces. andstartsearching toflyRiga After 63years,Idecide ly? Willmyfather? abletofindoutsomethingabout Ibe I startsearching formymother. Will Ifindherorfami- in thecentralprison1942. inRiga born ficate inBerlinwhichthatIhadbeen stated Amazingly enough,Ieventuallyfoundmyrealbirthcerti- national archive. nalist ImetAgnesewhodiscoveredintriguingthingsinthe searching futile.With wouldbe thehelpofaLatvianjour- curious, butnotknowing myrealfamilyname,Ithought loving mothertome.Two yearslaterIdidbecome a Initially Ididn’twanttostartsearching, shehadbeen 2003. Thattosay.pation. wasallsheprepared in Shedied me inachildren’sduringtheGermanoccu- homeinRiga mother toldmeIwasnothersonandthatshehadfound November 25th,1942. mythen94-year-old In2000, on HolgerMischwitzkyI wasborn inRiga/Latvia, Tracing ismypersonalhistory. mytwomothersinRiga TWO MOTHERS –THESEARCHBEGAN INRIGA Meine Muetter · 2008 2 filmsquarterlygerman 19 64 [email protected]: ·wwww.kinowelt-international.de 59 41-35 +49-3 60·fax 59 41-35 phone +49-3 Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 10·04107Leipzig/Germany Kinowelt InternationalGmbH ·SteliosZiannis World Sales Mikesch, ThomasLadenburger, MarkusTiarks play Productionof Genre 1:1.85 berg, HR/Frankfurt produktion/Berlin, inco-production withRBB/Potsdam-Babels - Praunheim Shephard (2007), amongothers. (2002), and Lie Queens Don’t Sex Einstein of No Morals Lives Who IsPerverse, ButTheSituation InWhichHe are: hisbest-knownfilms Some of asthe over 50films were forcedtowearinNaziconcentrationcamps. Hehasmade Praunheim in1964,referencehomo tothepinktriangle Rosavon nameof studied paintinginBerlinandtookonhisartist’s Rosa von Praunheim Basis-Film Verleih/Berlin mabb MedienanstaltBerlin-Brandenburg 2008 Rotterdam 2008,GoeteborgTribeca 2008,BuenosAires Sound Technology Transsexual Menace – Spurensuche inRiga With backingfrom Rosa vonPraunheim Original Version (1970), Biopic, History History Biopic, Music by Production Company Two Mothers – TheSearch inRiga Began Army of LoversArmy of (1985), 2007 Length enfant terrible enfant (1999), Stereo Director (2001), Andreas Wolter Category I AmMyOwnWoman (1996), German German was born inRiga/Latvia1942.He was born Directors Photography of Fassbinder’s Women 87 min Festival Screenings Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Cows Knocked-Up by Fog It’s NotTheHomosexual It’s (1971-1976), Gay Courage Rosa vonPraunheim of the New German Cinema. German theNew of Subtitled Version Documentary Cinema Documentary Rosa vonPraunheimFilm - Format German DistributorGerman Producer A Virus Knows new german films german new DigiBeta, color, Editor (1998), Hof 2007, Hof Rosa von Screen (1992), (2001), sexuals English Year The Mike Elfi - 57

Scene from “Two Mothers – The Search Began in Riga” (photo © Rosa von Praunheim) Mein Traum oder Die Einsamkeit ist nie allein MY DREAM OR LONELINESS NEVER WALKS ALONE Scene from “My Dream or Loneliness Never Walks Alone” (photo courtesy of or Loneliness Never “My Dream Walks Scene from wtp)

A man flees from the constant reoccurances of his life; Zirnbauer, Mira Gittner Editor Mira Gittner Music by Wolfram from the expectations, from the responsibility forced upon Kunkel Producers Patricia Koch, Marina Anna Eich, Roland Reber him by a ‘normal life’. On a disused industrial estate he Production Company wtp international/Geiselgasteig meets Godot, a woman who collects rubbish, lives in an Principal Cast Wolfgang Seidenberg, Mira Gittner, Marina Anna old caravan and spends her time on a ‘paradise island’ – a Eich, Antonio Exacoustos, Wolfram Kunkel, Sven Thiemann, rubber boat with inflatable palm tree – drifting along the Andreas Heinzel, Sabrina Brencher, Barbara Schmidt, Torsten city's sewers, searching for signs of human existence. Muenchow Length 100 min, 2,987 m Format DV Cam Blow- up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Together with Godot, the man tries to get to the bottom Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR Festival of human existence and that between the sexes, looking Screenings Fantasporto 2008, Sitges 2008 German Distri- for himself and the goal to his planless flight. In memories, butor wtp inter national/Geiselgasteig the man reviews his own life. In his visions he meets the main characters of his life: the wife whom he has left, his Roland Reber has worked as a director and actor in theaters girlfriend, his mother, his father, his grandfather, and a around the world after finishing his Acting studies in Bochum in the friend. 70s. He has written numerous plays and scripts as well as texts and lyrics. In 1989, he founded the Welt Theater Projekt and worked as His confused thoughts offer the material for a media spec- a director, writer and head of WTP in India, Moscow, Cairo, Mexico tacle that excludes not a single genre of the contemporary City and in the Caribbean. He also has been a cultural advisor to dif- media landscape, with intellectual discourses and fantastic ferent countries and institutes and taught Acting and Directing in images, crazy and grotesque scenes that twist fairytales and Moscow and the Caribbean. For The Room (Das Zimmer, satirize the political past. In impressively real and ama- 2001) he received the Emerging Filmmaker Award 2001 in zingly surreal images full of comedy, the man zaps through Hollywood and the President’s Award 2000 in Ajijic/Mexico, among his thoughts like through a television program. others. His other films include: Ihr habt meine Seele gebo- gen wie einen schoenen Taenzer (1979), Manuel (short, Genre Dramedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of 1998), Der Fernseh auftritt (short, 1998), Der Koffer Production 2007 Director Roland Reber Screenplay Roland (short, 1999), Zwang (short, 2000), Sind Maedchen Reber Directors of Photography Juergen Kendzior, Bene Werwoelfe? (short, 2002), Pentamagica (2003), The Dark Side of Our Inner Space (2003), 24/7 The Passion of World Sales (please contact) Life (2005), and My Dream or Loneliness Never Walks wtp international GmbH · Marina Anna Eich Alone (Mein Traum oder Die Einsamkeit ist nie allein, Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany 2007). phone +49-89-64 98 11 12 · fax +49-89-64 98 13 12 email: [email protected] · www.wtpfilm.com german films quarterly new german films

In Uganda, AIDS-infected mothers have begun writing Bundschuh Production Company Kick Film/Munich, in co-pro- what they call Memory Books for their children. duction with ZDF/Mainz, ARTE/Strasbourg, snakefilm/Zurich, SF/Zurich Length 90 min Format HD Blow-up 35 mm, color, Every evening Dennis and Chrissi brush their teeth in the 1:1.66 Original Version English Dubbed Versions French, dim glow of the oil lamp. The 10-year-old watches his German Sound Technology Stereo Festival Screenings little sister conscientiously as they get ready for bed. Since FIPA Biarritz 2008 (In Competition), Hot Docs Toronto 2008 (In their mother died of AIDS two years ago they are both Competition), Montreal PANAFRICA 2008 (In Competition), orphans, two of more than two million of their kind in Solothurn 2008, DOK Fest Munich 2008 Awards Main Jury Prize Uganda. But a unique project has emerged from the cata- Jeunes Europeens FIPA Biarritz 2008 With backing from BKM, strophic conditions in this east African country: Memory MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), Books, a chance for infected parents and their children to Volkart Stiftung German Distributor Stardust Filmver leih/ write openly, honestly and compassionately about their Munich painful situation and help the children to gradually understand that they will soon be looking after themselves. Christa Graf was born in 1947 in Munich. Until 1978 she work- Through the process of remembering and writing, both ed as a laboratory technician in the biochemistry research depart- parents and children discover a sense of strength and so - ment of the Max Planck Institute. Since 1994, she has been a free- lace that they could never have foreseen while creating lance author and producer for various TV stations and has created what will quite likely become the most important road more than 50 reportages and documentaries for renowned stations map that these orphans will have in life. including ZDF, 3sat, BR and ARTE. A selection of her films includes: Die Sheldrick Elefanten (2001), Der Maskenmann Genre Society Category Documentary Cinema Year of (2001), Modelkarrieren (2002), Verlust der Kindheit Production 2008 Director Christa Graf Screenplay Christa (2002), Hollywood in Babelsberg (2003), Der Frust mit Graf Director of Photography Roland Wagner Editor der Lust (2003), Ruanda – Zurueck ins Leben (2004), and Carmen Kirchweger Music by Gert Wilden Jr. Producer Joerg Memory Books (2008).

World Sales Accent Films International · Carol Spycher Rue de la Gare 46 · 1820 Montreux/Switzerland phone +41-21-9 63 93 00 · fax +41-21-9 63 93 05 email: [email protected] · www.accent-films.com · www.memorybooks-film.com german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 59 Novemberkind NOVEMBER CHILD Scene from “November Child” (photo Scene from © Frank Lamm/Sommerhaus Filmproduktion)

Malchow, GDR, 1980. 20-year-old Anne is hiding Juri, a berg/Ludwigsburg, Cine+ Suedwest/Ludwigsburg, Filmemacher deserter of the Red Army. The two fall in love with each Produktion/Berlin Principal Cast Anna Maria Muehe, Ulrich other. But their love is threatened: there is an arrest Matthes, Juliane Koehler, Thorsten Merten, Hermann Beyer, warrant and possibly a death sentence waiting for Juri. The Christine Schorn, Steffi Kuehnert, Christina Drechsler, Adrian Topol two leave the country and flee to the West, leaving Anne’s Length 94 min Format HD/Super 16 mm Blow-up 35 mm, six-month-old daughter Inga behind. color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings Inga grows up with her grandparents, thinking that her Ophuels Festival Saarbruecken 2008 (In Competition) Awards mother died during a swimming accident. 25 years later Audience Award Saarbruecken 2008 With backing from MFG she meets the literature professor Robert, who sends her Baden-Wuerttemberg, Filmfoerderung Mecklenburg Vorpommern on the trail of her past. He met Inga’s mother Anne during German Distributor Schwarz-Weiss Filmverleih/Cologne one of his seminars. Christian Schwochow was born in 1978 in Bergen on the At first Inga is resistant, but then she asks for Robert’s help. island of Ruegen. As a child, he was involved in numerous radio Together they take off on a journey through Germany, in plays and was the young publisher and editor-in-chief of the youth search of Inga’s mother Anne … magazine SHOT!. After finishing school he worked as an author, speaker and reporter for various television and radio broadcasters, Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of followed by studies from 2002-2008 in Film Directing at the Baden- Production 2008 Director Christian Schwochow Screen - Wuerttemberg Film Academy. His films include: Suelze (short, play Christian Schwochow, Heide Schwochow Director of 2000), Schneewittchen ist tot (short, 2001), Strassen - Photog raphy Frank Lamm Editor Christoph Wermke Music schlacht (short, 2002), Soapstar (documentary, 2003), Der by Daniel Sus Production Design Natascha Tagwerk grosse Franz (short, 2004), Tantalus (short, 2005), Marta Producers Jochen Laube, Matthias Adler Production und der fliegende Grossvater (2006), Jaeger verlorener Company Sommerhaus Filmproduktion/Ludwigsburg, in co-pro- Schaetze (documentary series, 2007), and November Child duction with SWR/Baden-Baden, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttem - (Novemberkind, 2008).

World Sales (please contact) Sommerhaus Filmproduktion · Jochen Laube Alleenstrasse 2 · 71638 Ludwigsburg/Germany phone +49-71 41-2 99 18 60 · fax +49-71 41-9 74 39 58 email: [email protected] · www.novemberkind.net german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 60 Die Oesterreichische Methode THE AUSTRIAN METHOD Scene from “The Austrian Method” (photo Scene from © SPIRIT Filmverleih)

Julia suddenly discovers her desire to plunge to the depths Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of of her soul. A night-time odyssey leads her to an indoor Production 2006 Directors Florian Mischa Boeder, Peter ski hall, where she looks further into the “Austrian Boesenberg, Gerrit Lucas, Erica von Moeller, Alexander Tavakoli method” … Screenplay Florian Mischa Boeder, Peter Boesenberg, Gerrit Lucas, Erica von Moeller, Alexander Tavakoli Director of The psychologist Roman Fischer and his wife Carmen Photog raphy Matthias Schellenberg Editor Andreas Menn have an unexpected guest who showed up for dinner and Music by Andreas Wodraschke Production Design doesn’t want to leave … Christiane Krumwiede, Irene Piel, Petra Bossmann, Jutta Freyer, Thomas Schmid, Ruth Wilbert Producers Tobby Holzinger, Clara must come to terms with a brain tumor diagnosis Thomas Woebke, Jakob Claussen, Uli Putz Production and is wrestling between suppression and suicide … Company Tobby Holzinger Produktion/Aachen, in co-production with Claussen+Woebke+Putz Film/Munich Principal Cast Maja The singer Maleen tries to liven up her relationship with Beckmann, Julie Braeuning, Susanne Buchenberger, Lilia Lehner, the pianist Sascha with a poisoned Ecstacy pill … Cathérine Seifert, Michael Abendroth, Johann von Buelow, Arno Frisch, Carlo Ljubek, Susanne Lothar Length 93 min Format HD Hans and Mona, who is tied to the bed, experience an Cam Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German amour fou in which the boundaries between perpetrator Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Stereo and victim are blurred … Festival Screenings Hof 2006, Luenen 2007, Sofia 2007, Turkey-Germany Festival Nurem berg 2007, Festival of German The Austrian Method is a collective project in which five Films Ludwigshafen 2007, Ausgezeichneter Sommer Festival Berlin young directors present the stories of five, by no means 2007 With backing from Filmstiftung NRW German weak, women … 24 hours later some of them will have Distributor SPIRIT Filmverleih/Aachen survived, and some not. The five directors Florian Mischa Boeder, Peter Boesenberg, Gerrit Lucas, Erica von Moeller and Alexander Tavakoli all studied at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) in Cologne.

World Sales (please contact) SPIRIT Filmverleih · Tobby Holzinger An der Schanz 14 · 52064 Aachen/Germany phone +49-2 41-94 36 09 36 · www.dieoesterreichischemethode.de

german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 61 Plattln in Umtata SHOESLAPPING IN AFRICA Scene from “Shoeslapping in Africa” (photo Scene from © Filmkraft Filmproduktion/Munich)

Shoeslapping in Africa follows the Biermoesl Blosn, a Company Filmkraft Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-production Bavarian folklore band, to Africa. Meeting musicians and with BR/Munich, WDR/Cologne, in cooperation with Goethe- artists of South Africa’s and Namibia’s old and new folk- Institut/Johannesburg Length 92 min Format DigiBeta, color, lore and armed with a harp, a viola, alpenhorns and a 1:1.78 Original Version German Subtitled Version English barrel organ, the three musicians celebrate a cultural dia- Sound Technology Stereo With backing from FilmFern- logue through music and dance. While Bavarians sehFonds Bayern German Distributor Kinowelt Filmver- Harfengstanzel’n (harp dance music), Schuhplattler (shoe leih/Leipzig slappers) and South Africans Gumboot Dance, Munich and Soweto collide with each other, the satirical artists Peter Heller has conducted many film seminars under the from conservative Bavaria get to know the world of auspices of the Goethe-Institut in East and West Africa, Finland, Africa’s people in a melting pot of cultures in a far away USA, India and Italy. He has worked as a lecturer at universities, and land. The “Plattler“ of the black miners tells the Biermoesl is the author and co-author of numerous books, a founding Blosn about the history of South Africa and Namibia: member of the German Media Advisory Council for Political stories of racial segregation, apartheid and colonial veal Development, of the Distribution Coop of Filmmakers and the sausages under the equator – or how the Schuhplattler international film network “Zebra”. A selection of his films includes: came to Africa … Das Geschaeft mit der Party (1975), Usambara (1980) The Forgotten Fuhrer (1982), Jungleburgers (1985), Genre Culture, Music Category Documentary Cinema Year of African Lady (1988), The Death of Ares (1995), General Production 2007 Director Peter Heller Screenplay Peter Mama (1997), Cottonmoney & The Global Jeans (2001), Heller Director of Photography Otmar Schmid Editors Woven Earth (2003), Moschee Hassan II (2005), and Thomas Balkenhol, Heiko Feld Music by Biermoesl Blosn, Shoeslapping in Africa (Plattln in Umtata, 2007), among Gerhard Polt, Corroboration Gumboot Dancers, Conscious others. Marimba, and others Producer Peter Heller Production

World Sales Kinowelt International GmbH · Stelios Ziannis Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 10 · 04107 Leipzig/Germany phone +49-3 41-35 59 60 · fax +49-3 41-35 59 64 19 email: [email protected] · wwww.kinowelt-international.de german films quarterly new german films

The path of true love never runs smooth, especially not for Genre Teenage Romantic Comedy Category Feature Film teenagers, as Tim discovers in Summer. Cinema Year of Production 2008 Director Mike Marzuk Screenplay Sebastian Wehlings, Peer Klehmet Director of 15-year-old Tim is an Air Force kid whose single dad has Photography Ian Blumers Editor Tobias Haas Music by to go to Somalia, so Tim is sent to live with his grand- Bernhard Drax Production Design Klaus R. Weinreich Pro- mother on an island in the North Sea. The introverted ducers Ewa Karlstroem, Andreas Ulmke-Smeaton Production loner feels totally out of place among the island’s bronzed Company SamFilm/Munich Principal Cast Jimi Blue surfer clique, whose leader Lars immediately takes a dis- Ochsenknecht, Sonja Gerhardt, Jannis Niewoehner Casting Uta like to the newcomer. Seibicke Length 103 min, 2,818 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound And then Tim falls for Vic, the prettiest girl on the island, Technology Dolby Digital With backing from Film- who just so happens to be Lars’ girlfriend. He finds a soul foerderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, mate in Vic and resolves to do everything to win her heart, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) even learning how to ride. But Lars doesn’t give up that German Distributor Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures easily and challenges Tim to a swimming duel. In a Germany/Munich dramatic showdown Tim has to overcome his fear of the water and fight for the love of his life. Mike Marzuk was born in 1969 in Landsberg am Lech. Since 1995 he has been working as an editor, musician, writer and director for short and feature films as well as video clips. His features include: WWGW* – Weisst was geil waer...?! (2007), and Summer (Sommer, 2008).

Summer Sunday is the dramatic story of Bruno Hansen, Sigi Kamml studied Communications and Media Sciences and a bridge guard of a huge lift bridge in Hamburg. As his 7- worked as a producer, director and author for a multitude of TV year-old deaf-mute son climbs down into the restricted and film productions, live shows, and commercial productions. Since area of the lifting equipment while a train is approaching, 2007 he has been working as an independent producer for different he has to decide whether to sacrifice his son or to let the companies. His films as a director include: Murder by fully occupied train drown in the river. Numbers, Blackout Journey, and Summer Sunday.

Genre Drama Category Short Year of Production 2008 Fred Breinersdorfer worked as a lawyer for seventeen years Directors Sigi Kamml, Fred Breinersdorfer Screenplay Fred before his first crime novel, Abel, was published in 1980. Since then Breinersdorfer, Sigi Kamml Director of Photography Anton he has written numerous novels, short stories and plays as well as Klima Editor Tanja Petry Music by Gert Wilden Producers scripts and became a prolific writer of Tatort and Abel Anwalt TV Fred Breinersdorfer, Sigi Kamml Production Company Caros movies. Since 2003, has been producing, with various partners, films Films F. Breinersdorfer & S. Kamml/Berlin, in co-production with he has written including Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage. His films as ARTE/Strasbourg Principal Cast Axel Prahl, Janos Giuranna, a director include: Summer Sunday and Between Stephan A. Toelle Casting Sabine Wildemann Length 10 min, Tomorrow and Today (currently in post-production). 267 m Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German & Sign Language Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital Awards Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Short Film Award 2008 With backing from BKM, Medienboard Berlin- Brandenburg

World Sales Interfilm Berlin Management GmbH · Tillmann Allmer Tempelhofer Ufer 1a · 10961 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-25 94 29 04 · fax +49-30-6 93 29 59 email: [email protected] · www.interfilm.de · www.sommersonntag.com german films quarterly new german films

The 2007 G8 Summit in Heiligendamm/Germany – A Genre Experimental, Society Category Documentary Cinema summer fairytale, a blooming corn poppy, a brilliant blue Year of Production 2008 Direction Mind Pirates sky. An unbelievably large and menacing fence cuts Summercamp Community Cinematography Mind Pirates through the picturesque landscape. Police caravans, jour- Summercamp Community Editor Robert Kummer Music by nalists, and activists face off for days in these fields like Rudolf Moser Producers Ralf Schmerberg, Eva Maier-Schoenung medieval armies. Production Company Trigger Happy Productions/Berlin Length 82 min Format Mini DV, color, 16:9 Original Version Elsewhere, artists despair over a public that confuses pop German/English Subtitled Version English/German Sound with protest. Bob Geldof, Bono and Herbert Technology Stereo Awards Cinema for Peace Award (The Groenemeyer preach on the “Your Voice Against Poverty” Most Valuable Documentary of the Year) 2008 stage, while Rostock locals would obviously rather be eating a bratwurst. Left-wing anarchists try to set every- Mind Pirates is an initiative that takes on various projects as part thing on fire, though they only manage to get to one car of its ongoing efforts to communicate social issues, linking the and a few trash bins. possibilities of film to the participatory structure of the Internet. Since its foundation in 2002, the non-profit association has created Interviews with the likes of Muhammad Yunus (winner of websites, films, interactive magazines, and interviews. the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize), filmmaker Wim Wenders, Susan George (former vice-president of ATTAC France), U2 frontman Bono, and Campino (singer of Die Toten Hosen) are mixed in with questions and commentary from police, activists, and locals.

A regional documentary pop film that critically and play- fully explores the egoism of a confused protest generation.

World Sales BOGEYDOM Licensing · George Ayoub P.O. Box 523, St. Q · Toronto, Ontario M4T 2M5/Canada phone +1-416-618 8748 email: [email protected] · www.bogeydomlicensing.com german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 65 Der Weisse mit dem Schwarzbrot WHITE MAN WITH BLACK BREAD Scene from “White Man with Black Bread” (photo “White Man with Black Bread” © MMM Film Verleih) Scene from

Christof Wackernagel, best known in Germany as an actor Genre Portrait, Politics, Recent History Category Documentary and former member of the Red Army Faction (“RAF”) Cinema Year of Production 2007 Director Jonas Grosch lives in Mali. In his compelling portrait, Jonas Grosch Screenplay Jonas Grosch Director of Photography Miriam shows a man who simply cannot stand still if he senses Troeschner Editor Antje Lass Music by Mamadou Coulibaly injustice. The courage to stand up for one’s beliefs cou- Producer Jonas Grosch Production Company Doni Doni pled with vanity? However one chooses to look at it, it is Film/Kassel, in co-production with MMM Film/Hamburg easy to imagine what made him connect with the “RAF”. Principal Cast Christof Wackernagel Length 73 min Format With his irrepressible will for freedom, Christof Digital, color, 16:9 Original Version German/French/Bambara Wackernagel gets entangled in the horrors of day-to-day Subtitled Versions English, French, German Sound life in Africa. Technology Mono Awards New Berlin Award/Zitty Reader's Award 2007, Berndt-Media-Award 2007 German Distributor “The only film about the RAF in which a human being really MMM Film Verleih/Hamburg comes over for me. A human being who can’t even understand himself, doesn’t take himself too seriously and who has a lot of Jonas Grosch was born in 1981 in Freiburg and studied Com- other Utopias up his sleeve. Someone who ‘hands-on’ carves parative Literature and Philosophy at the University of Giessen. out his life like an open-access piece of work. Since 2004, he has been a student at the Film & Television Academy “Konrad Wolf ” in Potsdam-Babelsberg. His films include: La vie It’s a film you just have to have seen if you want to understand est dure sans confiture (short, 2005), Bonnie & Veit exactly why there always were anarchists – and why there (short, 2005), White Man with Black Bread (Der Weisse always will be.” (Volker Schloendorff) mit dem Schwarzbrot, 2007), and Am Anfang war das Licht (2007).

World Sales (please contact) MMM Filmproduktion Zimmermann & Co. GmbH · Ulrike Zimmermann Hohenesch 82 · 22765 Hamburg/Germany phone +49-40-24 64 57 · fax +49-40-24 53 69 email: [email protected] · www.der-weisse-mit-dem-schwarzbrot.de german films quarterly new german films

She didn’t ask for it. It just happened. There were stealing Andreas Dresen was born in 1963 and started shooting glances, attraction. But this was never supposed to hap- amateur films in 1979. From 1984 to 1985 he worked as a sound pen. Inge is in her mid-60s. She has been married for 30 technician at the theater in Schwerin, and then apprenticed at the years and loves her husband. But Inge is drawn to this DEFA studios, working as an assistant director with Guenter Reisch. older man Karl, already 76. It’s passion. It’s sex. And she He then studied Direction at the “Konrad Wolf" Academy of Film & suddenly feels like a young girl again … Television in Potsdam. Since 1992, he has been working as a writer and director for television, cinema, and theater. A selection of his Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of award-winning films includes: Silent Country (Stilles Land, Production 2008 Director Andreas Dresen Story De- 1992), Night Shapes (Nachtgestalten, 1998), The Police- velopment Andreas Dresen, Cooky Ziesche, Laila Stieler, Joerg woman (Die Polizistin, 2000), Grill Point (Halbe Hauschild Director of Photography Michael Hammon Treppe, 2001), Vote for Henryk! (Herr Wichmann von Editor Joerg Hauschild Production Design Susanne Hopf der CDU, 2003), Willenbrock (2004), Summer in Berlin Costume Design Sabine Greunig Producer Peter Rommel (Sommer vorm Balkon, 2005), and Cloud 9 (Wolke 9, Production Company Rommel Film/Berlin, in co-production 2008). with RBB/Potsdam-Babelsberg, in cooperation with ARTE/Stras- bourg Principal Cast Ursula Werner, Horst Rehberg, Horst Westphal, Steffi Kuehnert Length 98 min Format HDV FAZ 35 mm, color, 1:1:85 Original Version German Subtitled Versions English, French Festival Screenings Cannes 2008 (Un Certain Regard) With backing from Medienboard Berlin- Brandenburg, BKM, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), Filmkunstpreis 2006 Festival des Deutschen Films German Distributor Senator Film Verleih/Berlin

World Sales The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber Balthasarstrasse 79-81 · 50670 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90 · fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910 email: [email protected] · www.the-match-factory.com german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2008 67 VGF INFORMATION

REMUNERATION IN GERMANY FOR PRIVATE COPYING – RENTAL OF VIDEOGRAMS – CABLE RETRANSMISSION

VGF, a collecting society under German law, was founded in 1981 when private homecopying of TV-programs (in particular feature films) by means of videorecording equipment started to become commercially important.

Since 1982 VGF collects video levy monies due to German and foreign film producers under Art. 54 of the German Copyright Act (for blank cassettes and VCR’s) and distributes them to the respective rightsowners. The German Collecting Societies Act obliges VGF to make sure that all authors/rightsowners and owners of neighbouring rights of motion pictures, including foreign rightsowners who enjoy national treatment under the international copyright conventions, receive an equitable share of the monies collected for all rightsowners of programs broadcasted by German TV-Stations. Since it is virtually impossible for the individual rightsowners to control the use of the property and to make claims individually, Art. 54 provides that the respective rights must be administered collectively and claims can be made through a collecting society only.

VGF now administers a great number of film rights of important film and TV producers from USA, Great Britain, Germany and other countries who have joined VGF as members. Since VGF’s activities come under the supervision of the German Patent Office, it is safeguarded that a fair devision of monies among all rightsowners concerned takes place and that producers receive an equitable share of the video levy revenues in Germany.

The following rights/claims, which can only be brought forward through a collecting society, presently administered by VGF are:

Art. 54 German Copyright Act – Video Levy

Art. 54 of the German Copyright Act provides a remuneration for private copying of TV programs. As the rightowner cannot prevent private copying, manufacturers and importers of blank cassettes and VCR’s are charged with a levy. The claim can be made by a collecting society only (Art. 54 Sec. 6.1 German Copyright Act). VGF as a trustee administers the rights for film and TV producers and distributes the respective amounts to the rightsowners. Licensing of television rights does not imply transfer of the above mentioned right.

Art. 27 German Copyright Act – Rental Levy

Art. 27 of the German Copyright Act entitles rightsowners to a supplementary remuneration for the rental and lending of videograms by video-retailers. The money must be paid by the video-retailer. It is provided by law (Art. 27 Sec.3) that claims can be made by collecting societies only.

Art. 20 b German Copyright Act – Cable Retransmission Fee

Rightowners whose programs are broadcast by German TV stations and retransmitted via cable are also entitled to a remuneration for such cable retransmission. VGF is also active in collecting this fee. Administration of the above mentioned fees by VGF incurrs no costs for the rightsowners. If your company is interested in collecting these remunerations, please contact VGF for more detailed information.

VGF Verwertungsgesellschaft für Nutzungsrechte an Filmwerken mbH

Neue Schönhauser Straße 10 · D-10178 Berlin Phone: 0049-30-2 79 07 39-46 · Fax: 0049-30-2 79 07 39 48 [email protected]

Beichstraße 8 · D-80802 München Phone: 0049-89-1 89 37 84-0 · Fax: 0049-89-1 89 37 84-29 [email protected] GERMAN FILMS SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORTERS

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung Neuer Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten e.V. fuer Kultur und Medien Association of New Feature Film Producers Referat K 35, Europahaus, Stresemannstrasse 94, Muenchner Freiheit 20, 80802 Munich/Germany 10963 Berlin/Germany phone +49-89-2 71 74 30, fax +49-89-2 71 97 28 phone +49-18 88-6 81 49 29, fax +49-18 88-68 15 49 29 email: [email protected], www.ag-spielfilm.de email: [email protected]

Filmfoerderungsanstalt FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH German Federal Film Board Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Medien Grosse Praesidentenstrasse 9, 10178 Berlin/Germany in Bayern phone +49-30-27 57 70, fax +49-30-27 57 71 11 Sonnenstrasse 21, 80331 Munich/Germany email: [email protected], www.ffa.de phone +49-89-54 46 02-0, fax +49-89-54 46 02 21 email: [email protected], www.fff-bayern.de

Verband Deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE) Filmfoerderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein GmbH Association of German Film Exporters Friedensallee 14–16, 22765 Hamburg/Germany Tegernseer Landstrasse 75, 81539 Munich/Germany phone +49-40-398 37-0 fax +49-40-398 37-10 phone +49- 89-6 42 49 70, fax +49-89-6 92 09 10 email: [email protected], www.ffhsh.de email: [email protected], www.vdfe.de

Verband Deutscher Filmproduzenten e.V. Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH Association of German Feature Film Producers Kaistrasse 14, 40221 Duesseldorf/Germany Beichstrasse 8, 80802 Munich/Germany phone +49-2 11-93 05 00, fax +49-2 11-93 05 05 phone +49-89-39 11 23, fax +49-89-33 74 32 email: [email protected], www.filmstiftung.de www.filmproduzentenverband.de

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH Bundesverband Deutscher Fernsehproduzenten e.V. August-Bebel-Strasse 26-53, 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany Association of German Television Producers phone +49-3 31-74 38 70, fax +49-3 31-7 43 87 99 Brienner Strasse 26, 80333 Munich/Germany email: [email protected], www.medienboard.de phone +49-89-28 62 83 85, fax +49-89-28 62 82 47 email: [email protected], www.tv-produzenten.de

MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Deutsche Kinemathek Baden-Wuerttemberg mbH Museum fuer Film und Fernsehen Breitscheidstrasse 4, 70174 Stuttgart/Germany Potsdamer Strasse 2, 10785 Berlin/Germany phone +49-7 11-90 71 54 00, fax +49-7 11-90 71 54 50 phone +49-30-30 09 03-0, fax +49-30-30 09 03-13 email: [email protected], www.mfg-filmfoerderung.de email: [email protected], www.deutsche-kinemathek.de

Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung GmbH Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm e.V. Hainstrasse 17-19, 04109 Leipzig/Germany German Documentary Association phone +49-3 41-26 98 70, fax +49-3 41-2 69 87 65 Schweizer Strasse 6, 60594 Frankfurt am Main/Germany email: [email protected], www.mdm-online.de phone +49-69-62 37 00, fax +49-61 42-96 64 24 email: [email protected], www.agdok.de

nordmedia – Die Mediengesellschaft Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kurzfilm e.V. Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH German Short Film Association Expo Plaza 1, 30539 Hanover/Germany Kamenzer Strasse 60, 01099 Dresden/Germany phone +49-5 11-1 23 45 60, fax +49-5 11-12 34 56 29 phone +49-3 51-4 04 55 75, fax +49-3 51-4 04 55 76 email: [email protected], www.nordmedia.de email: [email protected], www.ag-kurzfilm.de

german films quarterly shareholders & supporters

2 · 2008 69 4 – 9 June 2008

24.TH HAMBURG INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

Organizer KURZ FILM AGENTUR HAMBURG e.V. ° www.shortﬁ lm.com ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS

Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE) · please contact Lothar Wedel Tegernseer Landstrasse 75 · 81539 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-6 42 49 70 · fax +49-89-6 92 09 10 · email: [email protected] · www.vdfe.de

Action Concept Film- & cine aktuell Filmgesellschaft mbH Media Luna Entertainment Stuntproduktion GmbH please contact Ralf Faust, Axel Schaarschmidt GmbH & Co.KG please contact Wolfgang Wilke Werdenfelsstrasse 81 please contact Ida Martins An der Hasenkaule 1-7 81377 Munich/Germany Aachener Strasse 26 50354 Huerth/Germany phone +49-89-7 41 34 30 50674 Cologne/Germany phone +49-22 33-50 81 00 fax +49-89-74 13 43 16 phone +49-2 21-8 01 49 80 fax +49-22 33-50 81 80 email: [email protected] fax +49-2 21-80 14 98 21 email: [email protected] www.cine-aktuell.de email: [email protected] www.actionconcept.com www.medialuna-entertainment.de EEAP Eastern European ARRI Media Worldsales Acquisition Pool GmbH Progress Film-Verleih GmbH please contact Antonio Exacoustos please contact Alexander van Duelmen please contact Christel Jansen Tuerkenstrasse 89 Alexanderstrasse 7 Immanuelkirchstrasse 14b 80799 Munich/Germany 10178 Berlin/Germany 10405 Berlin/Germany phone +49-89-38 09 12 88 phone +49-30-25 76 23 30 phone +49-30-24 00 32 25 fax +49-89-38 09 16 19 fax +49-30-25 76 23 59 fax +49-30-24 00 32 22 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] email: [email protected] www.arri-mediaworldsales.de www.eeap.eu www.progress-film.de

Atlas International Film GmbH Exportfilm Bischoff & Co. GmbH SOLA Media GmbH please contact please contact Jochem Strate, please contact Solveig Langeland Philipp Menz, Susanne Groh, Dieter Menz Philip Evenkamp Osumstrasse 17, 70599 Stuttgart/Germany Candidplatz 11 Isabellastrasse 20, 80798 Munich/Germany phone +49-7 11-4 79 36 66 81543 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-2 72 93 60 fax +49-7 11-4 79 26 58 phone +49-89-21 09 75-0 fax +49-89-27 29 36 36 email: [email protected] fax +49-89-21 09 75 81 email: [email protected] www.sola-media.net email: [email protected] www.exportfilm.de www.atlasfilm.com TELEPOOL GmbH german united distributors please contact Wolfram Skowronnek ATRIX Films GmbH Programmvertrieb GmbH Sonnenstrasse 21, 80331 Munich/Germany please contact Beatrix Wesle, please contact Silke Spahr phone +49-89-55 87 60 Solveig Langeland Breite Strasse 48-50 fax +49-89-55 87 62 29 Aggensteinstrasse 13a 50667 Cologne/Germany email: [email protected] 81545 Munich/Germany phone +49-2 21-92 06 90 www.telepool.de phone +49-89-64 28 26 11 fax +49-2 21-9 20 69 69 fax +49-89-64 95 73 49 email: [email protected] Transit Film GmbH email: [email protected] www.germanunited.com please contact Loy W. Arnold, Mark Gruenthal www.atrix-films.com Dachauer Strasse 35 Kinowelt International GmbH 80335 Munich/Germany Bavaria Film International Futura Film Weltvertrieb phone +49-89-59 98 85-0 Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH im Filmverlag der Autoren GmbH fax +49-89-59 98 85-20 please contact Thorsten Ritter please contact Stelios Ziannis email: [email protected], Bavariafilmplatz 7 Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 10 [email protected] 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany 04107 Leipzig/Germany www.transitfilm.de phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 phone +49-3 41-35 59 60 fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 fax +49-3 41-35 59 64 19 uni media film gmbh email: [email protected] email: [email protected] please contact Irene Vogt, Michael Waldleitner www.bavaria-film-international.com www.kinowelt-international.de Bavariafilmplatz 7 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany Beta Cinema phone +49-89-59 58 46 Dept. of Beta Film GmbH fax +49-89-54 50 70 52 please contact Andreas Rothbauer email: [email protected] Gruenwalder Weg 28d www.unimediafilm.com 82041 Oberhaching/Germany phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88 email: [email protected] www.betacinema.com

german films quarterly association of german film exporters

2 · 2008 71 MEET THE GERMAN FILM SCENE IN CANNES!

GERMAN PAVILION · #125 · INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE GERMAN FILMS · phone +33-(0)4-92 59 02 52 · fax +33-(0)4-92 59 02 53 · www.german-films.de FOCUS GERMANY · phone +33-(0)4-92 59 02 50 · fax +33-(0)4-92 59 02 51 · www.focusgermany.de GERMAN FILMS: A PROFILE

German Films Service + Marketing is the national infor- German Films’ range of activities includes: mation and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide. It was established in 1954 under the name Export-Union of Close cooperation with major international film festivals, in- German Cinema as the umbrella association for the Association of cluding Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Locarno, San German Feature Film Producers, since 1966 the Association of New Sebastian, Montreal, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, Nyon, Shanghai, German Feature Film Producers and the Association of German Film Rotterdam, San Francisco, Sydney, Goeteborg, Warsaw, Exporters, and operates today in the legal form of a limited company. Thessaloniki, Rome, and Turin, among others In 2004, new shareholders came on board the Export-Union which from then on continues operations under its present name: German Organization of umbrella stands for German sales companies Films Service + Marketing GmbH. and producers at international television and film markets (Berlin, Cannes, AFM Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Shanghai) Shareholders are the Association of German Feature Film Producers, the Association of New German Feature Film Producers, Staging of ”Festivals of German Films“ worldwide (Madrid, the Association of German Film Exporters, the German Federal Film Paris, London, New York, Buenos Aires, Moscow, Copen- Board (FFA), the Association of German Television Producers, the hagen, Stockholm, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne) Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, the German Documentary Association, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Filmstiftung NRW re- Staging of the ”German Premieres“ industry screenings in New presenting the seven main regional film funds, and the German Short York, Los Angeles, Washington D. C., and Rome Film Association. Providing advice and information for representatives of the Members of the advisory board are: Alfred Huermer (chairman), international press and buyers from the fields of cinema, video, Peter Dinges, Antonio Exacoustos, Dr. Klaus Schaefer, Ulrike Schauz, and television and Michael Weber. Providing advice and information for German filmmakers and German Films itself has 13 members of staff: press on international festivals, conditions of participation, and Christian Dorsch, managing director German films being shown Mariette Rissenbeek, public relations/deputy managing director Petra Bader, office manager Organization of the annual NEXT GENERATION short film Kim Behrendt, PR assistant/festival coordinator program, which presents a selection of shorts by students of Sandra Buchta, project coordinator/documentary film German film schools and is premiered every year at Cannes Simon Goehler, trainee Christine Harrasser, managing director’s assistant/project coordinator Publication of informational literature about current German Angela Hawkins, publications & website editor films and the German film industry (German Films Quarterly), Barbie Heusinger, project coordinator/distribution support as well as international market analyses and special festival Nicole Kaufmann, project coordinator brochures Michaela Kowal, accounts Martin Scheuring, project coordinator/short film An Internet website (www.german-films.de) offering informa- Konstanze Welz, project coordinator/television tion about new German films, a film archive, as well as information and links to German and international film festivals In addition, German Films has 10 foreign representatives in nine and institutions countries. Organization of the selection procedure for the German entry German Films’ budget of presently €5.4 million comes from film for the OSCAR for Best Foreign Language Film export levies, the office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and the FFA. The seven main regional film Collaboration with Deutsche Welle’s DW-TV KINO program funds (FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderung Hamburg Schleswig- which features the latest German film releases and inter- Holstein, Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG national productions in Germany Baden-Wuerttemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, and Nord- media) make a financial contribution – currently amounting to Organization of the ”German Films Previews“ geared toward €343,000 – towards the work of German Films. European arthouse distributors and buyers of German films

German Films is a founding member of the European Film Promotion, Selective financial Distribution Support for the foreign releases a network of 27 European film organizations (including Unifrance, of German films Swiss Films, Austrian Film Commission, Holland Film, among others) with similar responsibilities to those of German Films. The organiza- On behalf of the association Rendez-vous franco-allemands du tion, with its headquarters in Hamburg, aims to develop and realize cinéma, organization with Unifrance of the annual German- joint projects for the presentation of European films on an inter- French film meeting national level. In association and cooperation with its shareholders, German Films works to promote feature, documentary, television and short films. german films quarterly german films: a profile

2 · 2008 73 presents in cooperation with

GERMAN FILMS PREVIEWS 2008

10-13 July in Cologne For more Information contact Martin Scheuring, [email protected] FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES IMPRINT

Argentina France (until 30 June 2008) Spain Gustav Wilhelmi Cristina Hoffman Stefan Schmitz Ayacucho 495, 2º ”3“ 33, rue L. Gaillet Avalon Productions S.L. C1026AAA Buenos Aires/Argentina 94250 Gentilly/France Pza. del Cordón, 2 phone +54-11-49 52 15 37 phone +33-1-40 4108 33 28005 Madrid/Spain phone/fax +54-11-49 51 19 10 fax +33-1-49 8644 18 phone +34-91-3 66 43 64 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] fax +34-91-3 65 93 01 email: [email protected] China Italy Anke Redl Alessia Ratzenberger United Kingdom CMM Intelligence A-PICTURES Iris Ordonez B 621, Gehua Tower Villa Pamphili 37 Arnison Road No. 1, Qinglong Hutong Via di Forte Bravetta 4 East Molesey KT8 9JR/Great Britain Dongcheng District 00164 Rome/Italy phone +44-20-89 79 86 28 Beijing 100007/China phone +39-06-48 90 70 75 email: [email protected] phone +86-10-64 07 05 62 fax +39-06-4 88 57 97 fax +86-10-64 07 05 64 email: [email protected] USA/East Coast & Canada email: [email protected] Oliver Mahrdt Japan Hanns Wolters International Inc. Eastern Europe Tomosuke Suzuki 211 E 43rd Street, #505 Simone Baumann Nippon Cine TV Corporation New York, NY 10017/USA L.E. Vision Film- und Suite 123, Gaien House phone +1-212-714 0100 Fernsehproduktion GmbH 2-2-39 Jingumae, Shibuya-Ku fax +1-212-643 1412 Koernerstrasse 56 150-0001 Tokyo/Japan email: [email protected] 04107 Leipzig/Germany phone +81-3-34 05 09 16 phone +49-3 41-96 36 80 fax +81-3-34 79 08 69 USA/West Coast fax +49-3 41-9 63 68 44 email: [email protected] Corina Danckwerts email: [email protected] Capture Film International Hollywood Center Studios, Building 5/Upper Loft 1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038/USA phone +1-323-962 6710 fax +1-323-962 6722 email: [email protected]

German Films Quarterly is published by: Editor Angela Hawkins

German Films Production Reports Martin Blaney, Simon Kingsley Service + Marketing GmbH Herzog-Wilhelm-Strasse 16 Contributors for this issue Martin Blaney, Simon Kingsley 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-5 99 78 70 Translations Lucinda Rennison fax +49-89-59 97 87 30 email: [email protected] Design & Art Direction Werner Schauer, www.triptychon.biz www.german-films.de Printing Office ESTA DRUCK GMBH, ISSN 1614-6387 Obermuehlstrasse 90, 82398 Polling/Germany

Credits are not contractual for any Printed on ecological, unchlorinated paper. of the films mentioned in this publication. Cover Photo Scene from “Cloud 9” © German Films Service + Marketing GmbH (photo © RF 2008)

german films quarterly foreign representatives · imprint

ARRI Film & TV www.arri.de/film_tv, ARRI Rental www.arri.com ARRI Schwarzfilm www.schwarzfilm.com, ARRI CSC www.arricsc.com ARRI Media London www.arrimedia.com, ARRI Worldsales www.arri-mediaworldsales.de