Quarterly 2 · 2006

Home , Bernd Neumann, Christian Redl, German television comedy, Grischa Huber, HanWay Films, Karin Ugowski

German Films Quarterly 2 · 2006

AT CANNES Directors' Fortnight SOMMER '04 AN DER SCHLEI by Stefan Krohmer Critics' Week PINGPONG by Matthias Luthardt Cinéfondation MR. SCHWARTZ, MR. HAZEN & MR. HORLOCKER by Stefan Mueller

PORTRAITS Bernd Neumann, Valeska Grisebach, Philip Groening, Nadja Uhl, Razor Film, Atrix Film, The Match Factory

SPECIAL REPORT Location Germany German Films and Co-Productions IN THE OFFICIAL PROGRAM

In Competition In Competition In Competition

Lights in the Dusk Summer Palace The Wind that by Aki Kaurismaeki by Lou Ye Shakes the Barley by Ken Loach

German Co-Producer: Pandora Film/Cologne German Co-Producer: Flying Moon Film/Potsdam German Co-Producer: EMC Produktion/Berlin World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne World Sales: Wild Bunch/Paris World Sales: Pathé Pictures International/London

Un Certain Regard Un Certain Regard Un Certain Regard

Paris, je t’aime: To Get to You Am I Place des Fetes Heaven First by Kristijonas Vidlziunas by Oliver Schmitz & You Have to Die True by Tom Tykwer by Djamshed Usmonov World Sales: German Co-Producer: Pandora Film/Cologne German Co-Producer: Pandora Film/Cologne Victoires International/Paris World Sales: Celluloid Dreams/Paris World Sales: Studio Uljana Kim/Vilnius

Directors’ Fortnight Directors’ Fortnight Directors’ Fortnight

Sommer ’04 an Day Night Day Princess der Schlei Summer ’04 Night by Anders Morgenthaler by Stefan Krohmer by Julia Loktev

Producer: Oe Film/Berlin German Co-Producer: ZDF/Mainz German Co-Producer: Shotgun Pictures/Stuttgart World Sales: Bavaria Film International/Geiselgasteig World Sales: FaceFilm/New York World Sales: Trust Film Sales/Hvidovre OF THE Cannes Film Festival 2006

Special Screening Special Screening Un Certain Regard

Chambre 666 Room 666 The House is Hamaca Paraguaya by Wim Wenders Burning by Paz Encina by Holger Ernst

Producer: Wim Wenders Production/Berlin Producer/World Sales: German Co-Producer: World Sales: Hanway Films/London Reverse Angle International/Berlin CMW Film Company/Berlin World Sales: Scalpel Films/Paris

Cinéfondation Cinéfondation Cinéfondation

Firn Jaba Mr. Schwartz, Mr. by Axel Koenzen by Andreas Bolm Hazen & Mr. Horlocker by Stefan Mueller

Producer/World Sales: German Film & Producer/World Sales: Weltfilm/Berlin Producer/World Sales: Basementpictures/Elz Television Academy (dffb)/Berlin

Critics’ Week Critics’ Week Tous les Cinémas du Monde

Kristall PINGPONG Straehl by Manuel Flurin Hendry by Christoph Girardet by Matthias Luthardt German Co-Producer: ZDF/Mainz & Matthias Mueller World Sales: Telepool/Zurich Love in Concrete Producers/World Sales: Producer: JUNIFILM/Berlin Christoph Girardet & Matthias Mueller/Bielefeld World Sales: Media Luna Entertainment/Cologne by Franco de Pena German Co-Producers/World Sales:

Cameo Film/Cologne & ZDF/Mainz Credits not contractual german films quarterly 2/2006

focus on 6 LOCATION GERMANY

portrait Bernd Neumann 16 A FILM-FREAK IN THE CHANCELLOR’S OFFICES

directors’ portraits 18 BENEATH THE MAGNIFYING GLASS A portrait of Valeska Grisebach 20 THE TEMPERAMENT OF IMAGES A portrait of Philip Groening

producers’ portrait 22 AT THE CUTTING EDGE A portrait of Razor Film

actress’ portrait 24 TAKING IT IN HER STRIDE A portrait of Nadja Uhl

world sales portraits 26 MOVING PICTURES A portrait of Atrix Films 28 PLAYING THE MATCHMAKER A portrait of The Match Factory

30 news

in production 36 8 MILES HIGH Achim Bornhak 36 ABSURDISTAN Veit Helmer 37 THE AFRICAN TWINTOWERS Christoph Schlingensief 38 DER FAELSCHER Stefan Ruzowitzky 39 DIE FRAU VOM CHECKPOINT CHARLIE Miguel Alexandre 40 JAGDHUNDE Ann-Kristin Reyels 41 NICHTS ALS GESPENSTER Martin Gypkens 41 OFFENE WUNDEN Carsten Strauch 42 SCHWESTERHERZ Ed Herzog 43 EINE STADT WIRD ERPRESST Dominik Graf 44 VALERIE Birgit Moeller 44 VIVERE Angelina Maccarone

new german films 46 ALS DER FREMDE KAM STRANGER Andreas Kleinert 47 DIE BESSERE SEITE THE BETTER SIDE Janek Romero 48 BIS ZUM ANFANG DER WELT – SPURENSUCHE IN AFRIKA TO WHERE THE WORLD BEGAN – SEARCH AND DISCOVERY IN AFRICA Roman Teufel 49 BYE BYE HARRY Robert Young 50 CAPRI, YOU LOVE? Alexander Oppersdorff 51 EDEN Michael Hofmann 52 FC VENUS – WOMEN WITH BALLS Ute Wieland 53 FRANZOESISCH FUER ANFAENGER FRENCH FOR BEGINNERS Christian Ditter 54 FUSSBALLGOETTINNEN GODDESSES OF SOCCER Nina Erfle, Frédérique Veith 55 HAENSEL UND GRETEL HANSEL AND GRETEL Anne Wild 56 HEDY LAMARR – SECRETS OF A HOLLYWOOD STAR Donatello & Fosco Dubini, Barbara Obermaier 57 DIE HIMMELSWIESE. DIE KLEINEN WUNDER VON BAAN GERDA HEAVEN’S MEADOW. THE SMALL WONDERS OF BAAN GERDA Detlev F. Neufert 58 HISTORIAS DE ARRIBA Y ABAJO STORIES FROM ABOVE AND BELOW Thomas Boeltken 59 IM SCHWITZKASTEN NO SWEAT Eoin Moore 60 KNALLHART TOUGH ENOUGH Detlev Buck 61 LAPISLAZULI – IM AUGE DES BAEREN LAPIS LAZULI Wolfgang Murnberger 62 LITTLE SPOON Régine Provvedi 63 MAÑANA AL MAR Ines Thomsen 64 DIE MISSION – FREIWILLIGE HELFER BEIM UNHCR THE MISSION – UNHCR REFUGEE AID WORKERS Stefan Eberlein 65 MORE THAN 1000 WORDS Solo Avital 66 MOTODROM MOTO DROME Joerg Wagner 67 MR. SCHWARTZ, MR. HAZEN & MR. HORLOCKER Stefan Mueller 68 MYTHOS HEILIGER GRAL THE GRAIL’S TRACES IN FRANCE Erik Borner 69 NEUN SZENEN NINE TAKES Dietrich Brueggemann 70 NUR EIN LAECHELN JUST A SMILE Eva Demmler 71 OPEN Charlotte Siebenrock 72 OUR MAN IN NIRVANA Jan Koester 73 PINGPONG Matthias Luthardt 74 PRINZESSIN PRINCESS Birgit Grosskopf 75 ROTES HOLZ RED WOOD Agnes Karow 76 SIEGFRIED Sven Unterwaldt 77 SOMMER ’04 AN DER SCHLEI SUMMER ’04 Stefan Krohmer 78 SONJA Kirsi Marie Liimatainen 79 DER UNBEKANNTE SOLDAT THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER – WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DAD? Michael Verhoeven 80 VERFOLGT HOUNDED Angelina Maccarone 81 VIER MINUTEN FOUR MINUTES Chris Kraus 82 DIE WILDEN KERLE 3 THE WILD SOCCER BUNCH 3 Joachim Masannek 83 WINTERREISE WINTER JOURNEY Hans Steinbichler

89 film exporters

91 foreign representatives · imprint Entrance hall Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich (photo courtesy of Film Commission Bavaria) LOCATION GERMANY When you think of Germany, images of fairytale castles, oompah Since then, the AFCI has a total of seven members in Germany, in- bands and mountains of sauerkraut might inevitably come to mind, cluding Film Commission Region Stuttgart, Hamburg Film but there’s much more to the nation between Flensburg in the far Commission, Film Commission Nordrhein-Westfalen, and the Film north and Mittenwald in the deep south on the border with Austria. Commission Cologne.

Indeed, as producers and filmmakers are increasingly discovering, The development of this network of location offices was made easier locations in Germany can stand in for places as far apart as Paris, by the fact that Germany is structured federally and by the existence Naples, Las Vegas, Turkey, New York’s Bronx and Queens districts, or of an ongoing competition between the Laender (States) to promote even war-torn Kabul. their respective region as the best place to shoot a film. Usually, the location offices were established as a subsidiary of one of the existing And it’s the job of the film commissions and location offices dotted public regional film funds such as Filmstiftung NRW, around the country to spread this good news! FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, Mittel- deutsche Medienfoerderung or FilmFoerderung Hamburg. Based on the North American model of film commissions as organized under the umbrella of the Association of Film Commissioners BUT WHAT DOES A International (AFCI), a number of information offices or film commis- FILM COMMISSION ACTUALLY DO? sions sprang up throughout Germany from the end of the 1980s, with the Bavarian capital of Munich being the first in 1989 with its Film To begin with, they are non-profit organizations so the service costs Information Office as well as becoming the first German AFCI mem- nothing, it is absolutely free. Unlike a funding body, they don’t have ber. money to give to productions, but their advice can often be worth its

german films quarterly focus on location germany

2 · 2006 6 weight in gold to a production and can save valuable time in the pre- Most local location managers and production managers are likely to paration of a project. know from experience who the responsible officials are in the different public and private institutions of their city or region and so do “Film commissions are contact and information points for producers, not have to call on the services of the location office or film commis- line producers and production managers as well for writers and direc- sion. But, at the same time, it is always reassuring to know that one tors,” explains Anja Metzger of the Film Commission Bavaria in can call on the services of the film commissioners – who in Germany Munich. “This is where you can get information about the responsible are, interestingly, all women! – should the red tape become too authorities, location scouts, studios, labs, rentals, etc. They are char- unwieldy or an unforeseen “emergency” crops up. ged with improving the shooting conditions in the production location and of simplifying permit procedures. We advise and inform about In fact, the Film Commission Bavaria established a unique instrument the production possibilities in Bavaria and are the contact point for two years ago – the Shooting in Munich Task Force (“AG Drehen in questions during a project’s preparation and shoot.” Muenchen”) – to kick in when the going gets tough on a shoot.

“We work very closely with the authorities, producers and often the “For example, you are in town for a shooting and problems arise with location managers as well as location providers to promote mutual the local authorities because it’s a huge project and you need more understanding of one another’s interests,” adds Christiane Raab of parking space than they want to give you,” Anja Metzger describes a the Film Commission Berlin Brandenburg. “It is about bringing people possible worst case scenario. “Or there are changes to your shooting into a dialogue and informing about the respective needs. A clerk in dates because an international star is not able to show up, and so on.” an authority isn’t a filmmaker, so you can’t expect them to understand why a commercial wants a permit at such short notice and says that “Members of this small task group are representatives of the public they want to shoot the day after tomorrow. At the same time, we are authorities like the police, production services and the film industry,” also there to represent the interests of a location provider if a pro- she explains. “The task force deals with the problems before the duction company hasn’t behaved itself. We don’t want some black shooting starts thus preventing unnecessary conflicts – or comes in sheep to spoil things for everyone else. It makes no difference to the when trouble shows up.” film commission whether it is a funded project, a commercial, a feature film or a documentary – everyone is helped in the same way,” Organizing workshops, seminars and even the very German insti- Raab says. tution of a monthly “Stammtisch” is one of the ways the film commis- On the set of in Bavaria (photo courtesy of “Cold Void” Film Commission Bavaria)

german films quarterly focus on location germany

2 · 2006 7 cians, costume, production design, sound studio to caravan rental), are also research tools which are well used on an international level – already at the stage of scouting and during the project preparation.”

Meanwhile, Hamburg has expanded its services to include an online database for set photos, film commissioner Christiane Scholz explains. “This will be a tool to support the marketing of the shooting location of Hamburg,” she says, pointing that a secondary, more personal benefit will be that both the photographer and production company can be named on the site. Both funded and non-funded films, TV, and commercials productions can thus enhance their own PR work by being

On the set of (photo courtesy of “Tsunami” Mollzahn) Nordmedia/Sybille featured in the database.

Moreover, some of the film commissions send out mailings with the updates on the availability of certain locations and changes to procedures for permits or to the names of the officials sions can foster a closer dialogue between the filmmakers, the local responsible for processing the applications. public authorities and location providers. Moreover, many of the regions organize location tours to give producers, location managers While the film commissions are pretty uniform in the range of ser- and production managers an insight into the potential of their re- vices offered, there are some features particular to one operator: for spective region: Hamburg stages its popular harbor location tour at example, Hamburg scored a first five years ago when it launched its the end of September during the Filmfest Hamburg, while the City of Shooting Card scheme. Every production company shooting in Aachen organized a border-hopping tour in early April, visiting Hamburg who has supplied the Film Commission with its details is locations in Holland’s Limburg region and Eastern Belgium as well as eligible to apply for the Card for a specific project. This document Aachen and surroundings. then certifies that the production company, crew, script and shooting

SPREADING THE NEWS

Information is the name of game and the film commissions are no exceptions here. For instance, every film commission has compiled their own Production Guide and Location Guide (Nordmedia also has a database dedicated to actors working in Lower Saxony and Bremen) which can be accessed via the Internet with constant updates of pictures and information about new interesting locations, while the Film Commission Bavaria published a Film Producer’s Checklist giving information about local taxes, union and

working regulations, visas and work per- Nauck) Olympia Stadium in Berlin (photo © BBFC/D. mits as well as information on shooting and special permits and general facts and figures about the region.

As Marianne Gassner of Film Region Stuttgart notes, “our constantly expanded and updated online databases, the www.locationguide.de and the www.productionguide.de with over 500 locations and around 800 addresses (from blocking service through electri-

german films quarterly focus on location germany

2 · 2006 8 companies such as central contact persons at no charge and relin- quishing any shooting fees.”

Thanks to this Network, shooting has been made easier throughout Bavaria, with production of such films as Die Wolke, Raeuber Hotzenplotz, Bibi Blocksberg I and II and Das Sams. The degree to which a film shoot can have a positive promotional effect for a region is shown by the example of the popular SAT.1 series Der Bulle von Toelz which was made in the small town of Bad Toelz south of Munich. The backdrop of the town in the series was such a hit with viewers at home that the number of tourists visiting the town in- creased by 40% after the series went on air.

Similarly, there is a network of regional advisory agencies in Baden- Wuerttemberg – in addition to Film Commission Region Stuttgart – such as the Location Office Region Freiburg and Film Commission Bodensee Oberschwaben which are coordinated out of the State’s regional film fund MFG in Stuttgart.

Water studio Stollen (photo courtesy ofWater Mollzahn) Nordmedia/Sybille Moreover, North Rhine-Westphalia has its Network of Film Cities with currently 28 members including Aachen, Bonn, Gelsenkirchen, Essen and Muenster, and the aim “to provide on-site advice and support for the production of films and television programs. The cooperation between the various local authorities also ensures that shooting will in future not be restricted to a limited number of locations, but that all of North Rhine-Westphalia and its wide-ranging motifs can be offered as a location.”

BANGING THE DRUM ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE

Financial support for film and TV projects is, of course, the pre- rogative of the film funds with whom the film commissioners liaise very closely since their input can often be crucial when an outside producer is making the decision of whether to base his production in a schedule of the project are known to FilmFoerderung Hamburg and particular region. Attracting a prestigious shoot can then have a the registration helps to improve the communication and security be- knock-on benefit for a region’s local infrastructure with an exchange tween the producers and the location provider. in know-how and so help that region to score points in the competition with rival production locations at home and abroad. Film Commission Mecklenburg-Vorpommern subsequently followed Hamburg’s example and now offers producers the chance to apply for But, in order to put their limited budgets to best use, the film com- its Film Pass MV which facilitates regional support from towns and missions banded together on an informal basis as the German Film communities during production. Commissions with a dedicated website www.location-germany.de to give a higher profile to the location opportunities in the nation as a However, one shouldn’t get the impression that Germany’s film com- whole. Having such a label at a trade fair like AFCI’s Locations – missions are only in the business of promoting shoots in the big Bavaria’s Anja Metzger and Berlin-Brandenburg’s Christiane Raab conurbations and cities. True, a lot of shooting is concentrated in the were in Santa Monica at the beginning of April this year – makes more main production centers of Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, sense cost-wise than for each film commission to want to have their but there are many other locations waiting to be discovered in smal- own stand and presence. At the same time, the informal platform al- ler towns and rural areas. lows the commissioners to have a constant exchange of information about best practice and interesting projects which are intending to REGIONAL NETWORKS shoot in Germany.

This is where the various location office networks established in diffe- The film commissioners are thus also present at the Focus Germany rent parts of Germany come in. umbrella in Berlin and Cannes – together with their film funding colleagues – to answer queries ’on the spot’ about shooting conditions “Location Network Bavaria is not just a declaration of intent,” argues in their respective regions. Anja Metzger. “On our initiative, cities, regions, counties and communities in Bavaria [such as Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Moreover, German Film Commissions as a national body actively fol- Nuremberg and Wuerzburg] have banded together. The goal is to lowed the proposals for the creation of a European Film make the whole of Bavaria accessible for film shoots and to further Commissions Network and served as the hosts of a day-long con- develop the quality of the film region as a location for national and ference on the eve of the 2005 Berlinale when the need for such a international productions. We have concluded contracts with these body was the subject of much heated debate. partners, which have very attractive elements for the production

german films quarterly focus on location germany

2 · 2006 9 Harbor of Stuttgart (photo with vineyards © Film Commission Region Stuttgart)

While German locations and studios are probably first and foremost In total, half of the production budget – i.e. around €55m – was spent catering to the projects of local filmmakers, Germany has also had its in Germany, which compared favorably with another big budget pro- fair share of international productions coming to set at least part of duction, Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Enemy at the Gates, which left around their films at locations in Germany. €50m of its €90m budget in the Berlin-Brandenburg region in 2000, with some €20m spent in the Babelsberg Studios alone. Frank Coraci’s $110 million-plus Around the World in 80 Days, starring Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, showed, for Positive news about good experiences on foreign shoots travels fast example, that Brandenburg, Berlin and Central Germany can offer on the Hollywood grapevine and so it was not long before Frank everything apart from a South Seas panorama! Marshall, producer of The Bourne Supremacy, heard about how Walden Media fared with the Jackie Chan spectacular. “And the infrastructure with hotels, transport, restaurants and the large range of leisure activities are practically unbeatable,” argued 80 As producer Frank Marshall pointed out, Berlin is “the kind of city Days’ German co-producer Henning Molfenter. “Pricewise, we can with lots of exciting visual opportunities” and could even double up definitely undercut cities like Paris, London or Rome and, as for the for some Moscow scenes including one with Matt Damon in a hair- East European competitors like Prague or Budapest, our competi- raising chase sequence in the as-yet not opened Tiergartentunnel near tiveness depends a lot on the respective project. And there the finan- Potsdamer Platz. “In Paris on The Bourne Identity, we were used to cial support of the regional funds – at whatever level – is a really shooting in old warehouses with rats running around. Here the pack- essential factor for the [project] acquisition, for these monies help to age was all-in-one with the production offices, post-production facili- compensate for disadvantages in competition on a European level and ties, screening rooms and so on,” Marshall explains. “I always feel that bring money – much more than the subsidy itself – into Germany.” it is important that your home base be as close to as many locations as possible. So, the fact that we can shoot in the city, at the airport In the case of 80 Days, the €500,000 backing for the film from the and use Potsdam for Moscow within easy distance of the studio was Leipzig-based Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung was expected itself a perfect fit.” to create an "economic effect" of 300% with €1.5m being spent by the production in Goerlitz which was “standing in” for 19th century Paris Moreover, around 80% of the production’s crew on The Bourne in the film. The picturesque little town on the border with Poland Supremacy were drawn from the local industry. “That was a critical made the most of the 350-man production’s stay: menus in restau- element of the first movie that we had a European crew and a rants were adapted to offer a wider range of international cuisine, the European feel and sensibility,” Marshall said. “Our cameraman, Oliver shops’ opening hours were extended so that the cast and crew could Wood, had worked with a French crew then and was happy to be go shopping after the day’s shooting, and a specially produced post- working with Germans here.” Only the production designer, editors card with the letters of Goerlitz arranged Hollywood-style went into and costume designer were non-Germans. its fourth reprint.

german films quarterly focus on location germany

2 · 2006 10 AG DOK’s Board of Directors team of the sci-fi fantasy film film fantasy thesci-fi team of Then again,theBerlinregion theproduction alsocameuptrumpsfor wanted toshoot.” theoptionsandcameonmerittobeplacewhere we as oneof out excited Itstarted were gettingwildly aboutwhatwewere finding. taxreasons’, todoitinBerlinfor theproductionhave sideandKevin toKevin saying ’We and,suddenly,an Italianlocationtofind insteadof theSanssoucipalacebecausewehad theBronx]for andthewholeof had beenusedfor Babelsberg[which able locations.” Addtothattheback-lotstreet of nineties. We themostremark- kept intoplacesandfinding walking eightiesand here tostripbacklayers of and seventies withouthaving thesixties “The extraordinary thingaboutBerlinisthatyou canfind Earring same experienceonKevin Spacey’s Archer Street Productions madethe UK producer Paterson Andy of emnflsqatryfocuson 2 ·2006 films quarterly german production originally consideredproduction locationsinLosAngeles, originally Brasilia, Beyond theSea Originally, Paterson hadconsidered Luxembourg theshootof for andhewasthrilledbywhatfound.” and seewhathecouldfind, actors impose aquota;IjustsaidthatheshouldlookattheGerman to have itworksornot.ButIdidn’t takedoesn’t longtoknowif inGermany.”talent wefound Paterson ”Obviously, observed. he acting roles. “IthinkagainthatKevin wassurprisedbythedepthof player andweekly day withlocalactorstaking camera onthisfilm the Similarly, there presence wasaconsiderableGerman infront of toimposeanything.” withouthaving together organically itistherightproduction, thenitwillcome lance hastowork,butif realize thatthere Theba- are everywhere. toppeopletobefound crews] aspeople international [tohave that itisbecomingthenorm person.Ithink personorthatEnglish thisEnglish tohave in ushaving crew,” andnon-German German hesaid.“There wasnosense mix of u tdd’ aetedpho architecture needed. they thedepthof have , butitdidn’t as hehadalready worked there on The Pianist Aeon Flux and Rosenstrasse Beyond theSea after theParamount Pictures and recently stoodin and recently . “We hadagood Girl withaPearl of the mystery thriller themystery of co-production theGerman-Hungarian-UK Dietharz inThuringiafor inHessenandTambach- toSchlossBraunfels traveled Lambert Schwentke’sRobert hit box office Berlinfor JodieFoster of visitedLeipzig andparts Germany: airport of Similarly, foreign customersinotherparts there beensatisfied have abouttheirenthusiasm,humorandgenerosity.” butrarely efficiency German hearsof demeanor weare ledtoexpect.Onealways humorandnotthe United Statesisnottrue.Theredealof isagreat peopleinthe (German) howweperceive stereotype, of culture of aproducer for andthecast,”shesaid,notingthat“the warming mood onthesetandanexcitement anddedicationwhichisheart- SouthAfricaandAustralia.“Thereshoots inCanada,theUS, isagreat Berlin wasonparwithherbestexperiencespastinternational complicatedmovietogether,”put avery shenoted,pointingoutthat crew,a qualified anequipmentbaseandthetechnicalknow-howto weneededsoundstages, decidingfactors: “There were anumberof tecture seen.” intheregion elsewehave isasspectacularanything producereffects,” GaleAnnHurd recalled. archi- “Themodern Bregna toresort toCGI withouthaving to create theworldof locationswhichwouldenableus “We were impressed bytherangeof series. theMTVanimation thescreenCanada andAustraliafor adaptationof cnso Keira teammatesenjoyingthe andherfootball Knightley scenes of promotional agreat boostwiththe Munich; andHamburgwasgiven The Keys totheHouse starred inGianniAmelio’s andKimRossiStuart Charlotte Rampling theUScomedy sighted ontheRhinenearBonnfor and ScottGlen;SirRogerMoore andCubaGoodingJr. couldbe hiscomedy the shootingof inBaden-Wuerttemberg USbarracks for Jordan tookoveraformer chiller his theshootingof of part Christopher SmithcametoColognefor Creep with FrankaPotente inthelead,whileAustralianGregor which wasshotonlocationinBerlinand Buffalo Soldiers Buffalo Metamorphosis Flight Plan , starring JoaquinPhoenix , starring . UKhorror director , whileChristopher location germany Boat Trip .

The old town of Stuttgart (photo © Film Commission Region Stuttgart) 11 city sights in Bend It Like Beckham (James Bond had already been in the million. In that field, we are only competing against other European Hansestadt for The World is Not Enough). studios.”

Moreover, US independent filmmaking icon Hal Hartley has become “Of course competition is there – we try to meet this challenge by so enamored with the production climate in Germany that he decided pointing out that we have a very creative environment for filmmaking to re-locate his life to Berlin after spending a time in the capital as a here, and the skills we have here in Berlin-Brandenburg are much bet- fellow at the American Academy. Early this year, Hartley was shooting ter than people realize before they come here. It also counts that we his latest feature Fay Grim – a sequel to his cult film Henry Fool with offer full service which has been boosted by the cooperative agree- locations around Berlin doubling up for JFK airport, part of the ment for post-production with Elektrofilm. Moreover, we can bring Queens district and even an interrogation center in Kabul – provided subsidies to the table on a continuous basis.” not surprisingly by the former Stasi headquarters in the Normannenstrasse. A FINANCING INSTRUMENT TO BOOST LOCATION GERMANY CUTTING COSTS However attractive locations may be, if the sums don’t add up, then Of course, the question of the cost of production will always raise its a film producer will look elsewhere for the best deal going with labor ugly head when considering whether to come to Germany or go to credits or other tax incentives to bring the costs down. With time, another location. Germany has been finding itself left out in the competition for international projects as other countries in Europe have established their ”At the Hollywood Lectures during the Berlinale, an American own incentive programs. lawyer said that if the cost level for the talent pool in the UK, America, France and Canada is 100, then it is 80 in Germany.” Studio The situation became even more absurd as German producers and Babelsberg board chairman Carl Woebcken recalls: “the dis- studios saw the Hollywood studios and US independent producers advantages – as far as I can see any – [of shooting in Germany] are benefiting from the fervor of private German individuals to avoid pay- that we have a cost disadvantage in the area of set construction coming tax by investing in a plethora of media funds. pared to East European studios in Budapest and Prague." Woebcken suggests, “If you are budgeting a film below the area of €20 million, I As Michael Paul of the Berlin-based media consultants Paul und think Romania and Bulgaria are very competitive for these price-sen- Collegen notes, “up to €2.5 billion was raised each year and a maxi- sitive films. But if you want to produce big films with a high budget, it mum of €50-90 million arrived again in Germany.” is still very difficult to realize them there because they don’t have the facilities yet.” “Many German producers hardly ever got their hands on the funds’ monies because they could not guarantee the demanded prospected As far as competition from other studios on a national level, return on capital and their projects were too small,” adds the consul- Woebcken argues that “there is no other studio with very large sta- tancy’s analyst Roland Schmidt. “But the German studios or produc- ges in Germany. Bavaria Film had them and used them for feature tion service companies also couldn’t profit that much from the inter- films regularly up until 15 years ago and occasionally still does for films national projects. The international caravan of ’runaway films’ was like Downfall and Perfume. Then it is only competition for lower attracted to the places where support of the production location is budget films and we are aiming rather at films with budgets of $30-50 coming from the state or the wage costs were simply more reasonable.” Cabbage field on the set of “Unveiled” (photo © Film Commission Region Stuttgart)

german films quarterly focus on location germany

2 · 2006 12 AG DOK’s Board of Directors “Heaven” set photo (photo courtesy of X Verleih) ture films willbe ture films cing share. Theminimumamountpaidouttofea- co-producer theGerman finan- more than50%of co-productions international willnotbe the caseof a Gerhard Schroedertothesettingupof agreed Chancellor As astop-gapmeasure, theadministrationunderformer industry. film theGerman capital for toattractprivate modeldeveloped should beaxed andanalternative intheirpresent form thatthemediafunds government the German A year ago, there wasbroad in consensusamongthepoliticalparties emnflsqatryfocuson 2 ·2006 films quarterly german incentives. financial inspring2006abouttheoptions for having inthediscussions Neumannis nowberevived may budget anyway, whileothersarguethatthefund inthenational thisinitiative reserved for money suggestedthatthere beenany observers hadnever putontothebackburner.was however Some theriskcapitalfund and theMedia,conceptof Culture StateMinisterfor successor tothepostof NeumannasWeiss’ Bernd and theappointmentof generalelectionlastSeptember With thefederal would belimitedtothenextthree years. supplement theinitial to and aimedtocreate arevolving fund ted films suppor- of ment positionvis-a-visotherfinanciers itsrecoup- alsospecified In theguidelines, thefund mentaries. loanswillnotexceedIndividual on guarantee. andacorresponding distributi- Germany distributionforecast for tive documentaries),withaposi- withatleast30prints(7for film distribution contractwhere thedistributorcommitstodistribute Germany. Moreover, binding alegally aproducer tofurnish willhave theloanmustbespentin byrequiring thatatleast500%of the fund For spend”elementhasbeenincorporatedinto example,a“German pre-requisitestion solongascertain are fulfilled. co-produc- orGerman nationalfilm aGerman thebudgetfor 20% of upto repayable loansof conditionally wouldbeabletogrant fund the According nowbeenmadepublic, totheguidelineswhichhave studios.”business intheGerman producers andalso ensure more for thefilm of the competitiveness Christina Weiss argued,wouldbeaninstrumentto“both strengthen Culture StateMinisterfor andtheMedia which,former tal fund € 100,000 and € 90 million of financing which financing 90 millionof € € 1.5 millionandin 30,000 for docu- 30,000 for € 90 millionriskcapi- Speaking tothe Speaking productions inGermany.” film capitalfor private 2006“atthelatest”,“inorder tomobilize be madeknownby1July measures similartothoseexistinginotherEUmemberstateswould declared They thatfiscal to secure competitiveness.” itsinternational inorder industry film improve theGerman thegeneralparametersfor wanted“to lastNovemberthatthey clear initsCoalitionAgreement coalitionmadeitsurprisingly case,theCDU-CSU-SPDgrand In any tries,” Woebcken explains. “Thiscouldalsoworktogetherwithagap andthusprefer arebate othercoun- levels systemasitexistsinmany “Obviously, weasastudiowouldlike toseeareduction inthecost cost reduction inproduction costs.” –and,secondly, filmmakers a German toachieve for – specifically “two demandsbeingmade.To films situationfor getabetter financing centered withMinisterNeumannhave on group sions intheworking According toStudioBabelsberg’s CEOCarlL.Woebcken, thediscus- technicians.” andGerman studios, creatives German German butatleastfor films, in Germany. German for Notnecessarily throughmustalsobespent which isacquired incentives, inGermany capital Private effect. “istocreate a’spendAgreement inGermany’ proposals setdownintheCoalition declared thattheaimof Sueddeutsche Zeitung earlier thisyear, Neumann location germany

On the set of “Sturmflut” in Hamburg’s harbor Berlin panorama (photo © BBFC/D. Nauck) 13 (photo © 2006 RTL/teamWorx/Stefan Erhard) finance tool. I don’t think that the government is ready to just put subsidies on top of what we already have. It is basically more about helping those producers who have proven that they are successful and can recoup their film costs.”

“We could therefore have two elements: there has to be a gap finance of, say, 20% of the budget to make Germany attractive and enable parts of the film to be made here, and also a way to reduce part of the costs through Nauck) Sanssouci (photo © BBFC/D. Orangerie in Park some kind of rebate system.”

Nevertheless, one would need to be a good crystal ball-gazer to know what option Neumann and his colleagues from the Finance and Economics Ministries might finally agree to by 1 July 2006, years and are regularly used for international co-productions from The although there is a suggestion that the minister might give a “sneak Pianist to V for Vendetta and they will continue to be available for inter- preview” of his intended course of action during the film festival in national co-productions with now over €200 million (total sum of Cannes. national and regional subsidies).”

In any case, any new legislation would not be likely to come into effect “An international co-production with a German certificate of origin until the beginning of 2007 as any bill would have to go through the can apply for project funding from the German Federal Film Board committee stage and then have readings in the Bundestag before (FFA) via its German co-producer,” Pense explains, but points out that coming onto the statute books. the conditionally repayable loan will only be granted for projects where there is a German majority co-producer. In the case of a German minority co-producer, one could board an international co- GERMAN PUBLIC FUNDING: producer with so-called “reference” funding. An alternative would be A VIABLE & ATTRACTIVE ALTERNATIVE to apply to one of the regional funds such as Filmstiftung NRW and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg where a “cultural test” to deter- In the meantime, as Hamburg media lawyer Andreas Pense of mine whether the project is a German film does not exist but rather Unverzagt von Have law firm argues, international production part- where the generation of a so-called “regional economic effect” is of ners should be reminded “that there is a mature system in Germany paramount importance. of film funding measures which have been functioning well for many According to Pense, Germany thus continues to be “an attractive partner country land for international co-productions”: thanks to these national and regional instruments. German co-producers may invariably have to console themselves with the position of a minority partner on international projects at the moment, but the future new film financing instrument planned by the German government might make it possible for the (photo © 2006 Aspekt Telefilm Produktion) (photo © 2006 Aspekt Telefilm German partner to raise the

On the set of in Hamburg “Der Mann im Strom” majority share of the budget from Germany.

Martin Blaney

german films quarterly focus on location germany

2 · 2006 14 GERMANY’S REGIONAL LOCATION OFFICES www.location-germany.de

Berlin Brandenburg Film Commission Location Office Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH Antje Nass Christiane Raab Buergermeister-Haupt-Strasse 51-53 · 23966 Wismar/Germany August-Bebel-Strasse 26-53 · 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany phone +49-38 41-61 82 00 · fax +49-38 41-61 82 09 phone +49-3 31-7 43 87 30 · fax +49-3 31-7 43 87 99 email: [email protected] · www.location-mv.de email: [email protected] · www.bbfc.de

MDM Film Commission Coordination Office Baden-Wuerttemberg Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung GmbH MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft mbH Bea Woelfling Katja Walter Hainstrasse 17-19 · 04109 Leipzig/Germany Breitscheidstrasse 4 · 70174 Stuttgart/Germany phone +49-3 41-2 69 87 16 · fax +49-3 41-2 69 87 65 phone +49-7 11-90 71 54 00 · fax +49-7 11-90 71 54 50 email: [email protected] · www.mdm-online.de email: [email protected] · www.film.mfg.de

Nordmedia Film Commission Bavaria Die Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH Anette Unger, Sybille Mollzahn Anja Metzger Expo Plaza 1 · 30539 Hannover/Germany Sonnenstrasse 21 · 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-5 11-1 23 45 60 · fax +49-5 11-12 34 56 29 phone +49-89-54 46 02 16 · fax +49-89-54 46 02 23 email: [email protected] · [email protected] email: [email protected] · www.fff-bayern.de www.nordmedia.de www.film-commission-bayern.de

Schleswig-Holstein Film Commission Film Commission Nordrhein-Westfalen Antje Reimer Filmstiftung Nordrhein Westfalen GmbH Schildstrasse 12 · 23552 Luebeck/Germany Andrea Baaken phone +49-4 51-7 90 76 65 · fax +49-4 51-7 19 78 Kaistrasse 14 · 40221 Duesseldorf/Germany email: [email protected] · www.mshfoerderung.de phone +49-2 11-93 05 00 · fax +49-2 11-93 05 05 email: [email protected] · www.locationnrw.de

Film Commission Region Stuttgart Marianne Gassner Breitscheidstrasse 4 · 70174 Stuttgart/Germany phone +49-7 11-25 94 43 0 · fax +49-7 11-25 94 43 33 email: [email protected] www.locationguide.de · www.productionguide.de

Hamburg Film Commission FilmFoerderung Hamburg GmbH Christiane Scholz Friedensallee 14-16 · 22765 Hamburg/Germany phone +49-40-3 98 37 14 · fax +49-40-3 98 37 10 (photo courtesy of Film Commission Bavaria) email: [email protected] · www.lbhh.de · www.ffhh.de

Location Hessen Hessische Filmfoerderung Kathrin Ahrens Am Steinernen Stock 1 · 60320 Frankfurt am Main/Germany phone +49-69-13 88 66 50 · fax +49-69-1 55 45 14 email: [email protected] · www.location-hessen.de

german films quarterly focus on location germany

2 · 2006 15 Bernd Neumann (photo © Seekamp/Bremen) PORTRAIT CHANCELLOR’S OFFICES CHANCELLOR’S year wasintroduced thatcolortelevision inGermany. Ayear before, Others of tothefilm – recently previews Bundestag-colleagues tofilm his heinvites school inBremen, andtoday heranafilm-club, cinema. Asaschoolboy, helovedtogothecinema.Athishigh Media intheChancellor’s hastwopassions:politicsandthe Offices, Bernd Neumann A · 2006 2 films quarterlygerman FILM-FREAK . Bernd Neumann held his first political office in 1967, the politicaloffice Neumannheldhisfirst . Bernd , the new State Minister for Culture StateMinisterfor andthe , thenew The Lives ing in German politics for almost 40years politicsfor now.ing inGerman Hebeganhispolitical title,hasbeenwork- Media, whichisNeumann’s ratherbulkyofficial The present Culture Federal Commissionerfor andthe Government Toerless the regarded highly byNeumann –received –very Volker Schloendorff hn 4-88- 13 7·fx+91 868 821 38 www.kulturstaatsminister.de 81 88-6 +49-18 37·fax 38 81 88-6 phone +49-18 1·10557Berlin/Germany Willy-Brandt-Strasse Bundeskanzleramt Kultur undMedien derBundesregierungDer Beauftragte fuer ourculture.” isanoutstandingambassadorfor film “German emphasizes: CultureState Ministerfor andtheMedia International FilmCritics’AwardInternational . (BKM) IN THE in Cannes for his first film film hisfirst in Cannesfor Bernd Neumann Young portrait 16 career in Bremen in the Junge Union, became the State Chairman of tity. In contexts where it aims to be more than entertainment, it plays the CDU in Bremen, later a member of the Bundestag and Secretary a special role in the dialogue of the cultures. Films are the best cultu- of State, and now he is State Minister for Culture and the Media ral ambassadors. Among the many foreign contributions at this year's under Chancellor Angela Merkel. In all those years, he has been able Berlinale, six films from Iran were also shown; and these were the to combine his passion for film with political tasks: Neumann was a subject of extensive discussion between filmmakers, artists and the member of a film promotion committee, in which capacity he read public. With this approach we are on the right track.” over 1000 scripts in the course of the years: “That was no longer pure enjoyment,” he muses today. He sat on the jury of the German Film Joerg Hafkemeyer Award, on numerous different committees of the film business, and on the radio broadcasting council at Radio Bremen. From 1998 to 2005, he was the CDU/CSU faction’s Representative for Culture and Media.

Today, Bernd Neumann is responsible for the culture and media politics of the Federal Government, German television abroad – the “Deutsche Welle” – and is a member of the supervisory board of the public broadcaster ZDF. Neumann is almost astonished himself: “In all those years, I have always been the youngest wherever I went; as leader of the faction, then top-candidate and also as State Chairman. Meanwhile, I am not the oldest person, but when it comes to years of service, I am by far the most senior.”

These days, films like Elementary Particles, Requiem and Summer in Berlin are shown in German cinemas, and new young directors and actors are making their careers. In the meantime, Schloendorff is one of the doyens of German film. In face of new-generation talents and the convincing content of so many productions, Bernd Neumann looks confidently towards the future of German film. However, the film industry worries him – sinking admissions are causing problems for the cinemas.

Bernd Neumann is a culture and media politician with keen intelli- gence, decades of experience and a reality-based approach to politics. He expresses himself quickly and freely, and he appears quite content with the artistic situation of German film: “German films convey a realistic picture of our society and are of high quality; increasingly, this is meeting with international approval. In 2004, a German film ran in the competition at Cannes for the first time in many years, and there were OSCAR-nominations again. At the Berlinale, three Silver Bears were awarded to German actors.”

But he is also well-aware of the difficult international competition that German film faces. Here, he has set a clear goal: “We must create comparable regulations to other EU-countries with regard to film funding.”

That won’t be easy, or so one hears from the film industry. But Neumann stands up to criticism; he points to the over €30 million in annual film support funds from the Federal Government – which he sees as an investment, not as subsidies – and to the present positive discussions between politics and the film business. He is convinced by the French model, for instance, according to which quite different instruments manage the economic conditions for the diverse French production scene. This could also be a desirable approach in Germany, says the State Minister.

Bernd Neumann likes to talk, and he loves stories. Perhaps that is why he likes films so much. And now he will be taking part in the Cannes International Film Festival for the first time as State Minister for Culture and the Media. He is looking forward to it. Neumann credits film with considerable significance and force when he says: “The medium film has immense potential as an impressive image of social reality, but it can also offer orientation and contribute to cultural iden- german films quarterly portrait

2 · 2006 17 Valeska Grisebach (photo courtesy of Peter Rommel Productions) tragedy. thecentralrole –anditwillsoonleadhimto play ina life insignificant andhis thanMarkusthe metalworker longing,muchgreater powerful thecase, itistherehidden switch;whatever now–thishugeand themusicpressed a alcohol hedrank,orperhapsthe intensityof away, anditismovingtowatchhim.Perhaps itwasdissolved inthe Robbie Williams, toandfro room; swaying intheparty heisfar, far either. real Hiseyes closed,heissmooching to “Iwannafeel love”by himstability,shoulders, andhisstarched cannolongergive whiteshirt from Markus’ hangsshapelessly brigadeuniform fire A voluntary DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT DIRECTOR’S otato Valeska Grisebach A portrait of GLASS MAGNIFYING BENEATH 2 ·2006 films quarterlygerman feeling that this film in particular would gain precision inparticular from collabor- thatthisfilm feeling “From beginning,when Iwasmaking thevery amateuractors can bringtothecinemascreen. pathos thatonly precise andthetimid observation isthemagicof All thatitconsistsof isl through theheart. himself him andhetriestoshoot leaves untilhiswife adoublelife, of the start awaitress oneday. Itis wakes upwithathumpingheadinthebedof andyet loveshiswife Zuehlen,whogenuinely Brandenburg villageof aquietyoung manfrom the of tellingthestory is objective, Valeska Grisebach THE email: [email protected] 68 48 09 phone +49-30-28 Valeska Grisebach Contact: ly wonthe ly the Competitionblockatthisyear’s Berlinaleandrecent- amateuractors, madeitto whicheven an ensembleof ( Grisebach’s todate– mostrecent film Rotterdam in2001,winningnumerous prizes. Berlin, Locarno, Toronto, Chicago, London,Istanbuland the desire adulthood. for longingand uncertain interwovenpicturemarvelous of words. Itisa bodies andexperimentingwithmeaningful relationship, afirst exploringeachother’s rituals of inexperienced actors, whogothrough thecanonand aboyandgirl,bothabout15,played by of story recognition.met withimmediateinternational Ittellsthe Film &Television inPotsdam-Babelsberg, ZDFand3sat– of ”Academy (2000), co-produced bythe“Konrad Wolf feature full-length –herfirst duation film workers onPotsdamer PlatzinBerlin.Grisebach’s gra- Berlino life, documentary loveandwork.Hersecondshort fortune, twofriends;theirexpectationsof tual gamesof In derWueste Gobi short inVienna1995.Herfirst Art Applied Museum of Nichtsprechen project in 1993.Herfilm Direction attheViennaFilmAcademy began acourseof toVienna,where she before movingtoMunichandfinally andGerman Philosophy studying upinBerlin,first grew Valeska Grisebach Sehnsucht 19)i bu ro fItalianconstruction (1999) isaboutatroop of ’s villagemelodrama Special Jury Award Special Jury , 2006)–isavillagemelodrama,alsowith Longing omdpr fanexhibitionatthe of part formed was born inBremenwas born in1968.She safl fastonishing simplicity. of is afilm Mein Stern (1997) documentstheintellec- in BuenosAires. Longing director’s portrait Longing Sprechen und ran at festivals in ran atfestivals is asfragileit Mein Stern , Ihadthe Longing 18 ation with amateur actors, whose experience, knowledge and physi- Valeska Grisebach’s cinema is a slow kind of film, in which ob- cal presence could be brought into a fictive, melodramatic story,” the servation and narration merge into one. Her art is the ability to director says in her quiet, deep voice, searching carefully for her next examine an average life and its outlines beneath the magnifying words during a pause for thought. “The fact that someone that we glass of her film camera. To sound it out, finding the uncertainties and would not normally see in the cinema appears before the camera disruption, revealing its tragic potential. This is a cinema that fits in – increases our feeling that any person can actually be the melodrama- in an exciting way – with films by a young generation of German direc- tic hero of a story.” tors, acclaimed as the “Berlin School” abroad, particularly in France, where they are known as the “Nouvelle Vague Allemande”. The project began with detailed research. She carried out more than 200 interviews with men and women around 30, asking them how “As far as we – those who are involved – are concerned, the ’Berlin they had expected their lives to turn out when they were children, School’ is a term that comes from the outside. It doesn’t describe which expectations have been abandoned as a compromise with shared aesthetics so much as a friendly, pragmatic union. Perhaps the everyday life, and which are still there waiting for fulfillment. “In those connection, as far as the content of our films is concerned, is the conversations I got the impression that love stories in particular were attempt to find an approach to reality, and thus to our own identities. often the setting for our longings. It was there that people wanted And certainly the attempt, as an author, to be individual and re- their desires to be fulfilled, for exciting things to happen, making them cognizable,” Grisebach sums up. After a short, thoughtful pause she feel alive. It was there that it was possible to become a dramatic adds: “And I think it is a good thing that the name ’Berlin School’ en- character, showing one’s true face,” Grisebach recalls, and briefly sures that we are perceived together abroad, where we would contemplates the question mark of hair that has slipped in front of perhaps be overlooked as individuals.” her eyes.

Slowly, a story emerged from this collection of people’s plans for life Birgit Glombitza, freelance writer for Die Zeit, epd Film and and love. And also from episodes she found in her own memory: Die Tageszeitung, spoke with Valeska Grisebach “Some years ago, I was in a small village in France, in Bourgogne. I was staying with friends who lived on the village main street, and opposite to us was a smart house where a builder lived. And then one day someone told me that this married man had met another woman when he was on a business trip and had fallen in love. By chance, his wife found out and nothing was as it had been after that: his wife left him, and the man shot himself in the heart with a shotgun, although he survived.” She takes a sip of coffee. “Unfortunately, I could never find out any more, but the story moved me very much. I also liked the laconic touch, the sardonic wink in that story; the fact that he was able to go on living after all. In addition, I was moved to hear that in a village where everyone is so aloof and close, someone had been able to stage his fate so powerfully and show his face so openly. In my imagi- nation, that made him into a romantic hero.”

In search of her own romantic hero, the director spent six months touring Brandenburg’s villages, its shopping precincts and events organized by the voluntary fire brigade. Two months were spent rehearsing. She wanted the actors to feel at home in the story and not to learn their lines word for word. “That just ties your brain in knots and switches off common sense,” Grisebach explains. After all, she is interested in the exact moment when reality and fiction collide and an ordered picture erupts into chaos.

The 38-year-old filmmaker had already worked with inexperienced actors for her first film Mein Stern, in which young people work out the complex rituals of a love affair with an enchanting honesty. That film was set in Berlin-Mitte. Since then, the capital city and Brandenburg have been her preferred backdrops, and that is although she studied in Vienna for eight years. “There came a point when I felt that I had to ’go back home’ and that I ought to ask myself exactly what is meant by the concept of ’home’. Berlin, which is where I grew up, is a moving city. It has this gruff quality and at the same time it has a damaged psyche. That is incredibly exciting. The same thing applies to Brandenburg, where different eras seem to run parallel to one another. The old eastern side and the new western side – I find that very stimulating. And if you look at all the towns and villages that are slowly being deserted because of migration – places where the landscape is taking something back – Brandenburg can also be a fairy-tale forest.” german films quarterly director’s portrait

2 · 2006 19 Philip Groening a nyb nesodioial nitopcieve fan of view –anintrospective beunderstoodironically can only Bresson; the35-minute theworksof of whichreminded viewers many concentrated styleof thisdirector’s story interests: Thefather-son of andrange over thelast20years, oneisquite amazedatthediversity Philip Groening as asunconventional scenes.” filmmakers There German are few there, thecharactersaretopic issuddenly there, andsoare allthekey emergesuddenly. the overnight, evening, Stories always “Inasingle DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT DIRECTOR’S otato PhilipGroening A portrait of OF THE 2 ·2006 films quarterlygerman IMAGES TEMPERAMENT . Looking at the six films thatGroening hasmade atthesixfilms . Looking Stachoviak! – whoselabel“documentary” Summer , thequiet, Sometimes Groening uses a hand-camera, sometimes he films in Sometimes Groening usesahand-camera, sometimeshefilms escapism. meditation onthesensualityof monastery, inaCarthusian about life atthesametimeaphilosophical L’Amour political assassination;thecoolromance radicalleftistsplanninga of agroup pressed bourgeoistendenciesof The Terrorists! images; fragmentary amok-runner capturedsubjective, inextremely ; andfinally hn 4-02 50 0·fx+93-65 921 09 55 +49-30-26 20·fax 09 55 phone +49-30-26 Swinemuenderstrasse 7·10435Berlin/Germany Berlin Office: ·www.groening-film.de email: [email protected] 23 91 70 11-4 phone +49-2 40474 Duesseldorf/Germany Lohauser Dorfstrasse40e Philip Groening Filmproduktion Contact: AwardAward, SpecialJury Stille highly-acclaimed highly-acclaimed Award L’Amour Witnesses Terrorists! Stachoviak! films: Workshop in1991.Sincethen,hehasmadethefollowing from theMunichScriptwriting Groening agrant received Television andFilminMunich1982. of Academy Direction atthe of 1979-1981, before beginningastudy three inMunichfor years,Medicine andPsychology tions invariouscapacities. Parallel tothis, hestudied produc- andtelevision film 19hebegantoworkfor of theSouthAmericancontinent,atage After traveling Philip Groening , , a heated film about group-dynamics andthesup- aboutgroup-dynamics , aheatedfilm , 2005, Summer Silver Camera Into Great Silence (2000, (1992, Bavarian Film Award, German FilmCritics FilmAward,Bavarian German (1988, Into Great Silence (1993), Bronze Leopard Bronze Leopard a oni usedr in1959. inDuesseldorf was born (1986, Bitola), andmostrecently, the Mexico City). Silver Hugo L’Amour, L’Argent, Main Prize L’Amour, L’Argent, , a documentary essay , adocumentary director’s portrait Locarno), Locarno), Locarno, S Chicago), ( Die Grosse Bergamo), Victims. wiss Film The 20 Cinemascope; for Into Great Silence, coarse-grained Super 8 wonderful; the meeting of two disabled people in Berlin and their trip and high-resolution HD digital images alternate with each other, deve- to Normandy – a touch of Seberg and Belmondo in German cinema. loping their own rhythm. Groening’s images can be faded and experi- Here, as always with Groening, it is not so much the stories that are mental, or crystal-clear. But despite this variety, his style and specific crucial, but the images and the feelings that they trigger. Love as a standpoint are unmistakable: “The temperament of the images and journey into the unknown, simultaneously sorrowful and beautiful. the temperament of the story have to match.” Groening works his Here, and also in Into Great Silence, his characters are outsiders, way into the material, doing considerable research, writing page after “people who live in their own universe and have conflicts with the page of scene- and working-material, and in this way he always tries outside world.” to find the form that is entirely appropriate to the film. “The characters you are presenting to your viewers move in the film. And in for- Groening describes himself as “a studio-director in principle.” What mal terms, I believe that a film must have exactly the same movement. annoys him is “that my working method is not acknowledged in a cer- That determines the style and the approach.” tain way. The results are valued, but the method is often questioned.” Groening does not like scripts, and he gets annoyed over the condi- The same thing happens once again when it comes to editing – “you tions for film support in Germany, which restrict his spontaneity and have never shot the film that you wanted to shoot. Or I never have.” force him to work on a project for years before it can be shot: “For Instead, it is about developing the voice of the material. Groening me, the exposé is the valid work form. I think it’s a catastrophe that definitely sees himself as an author filmmaker, as one who generates we are forced to have scripts. I don’t believe that films become any a certain vision of life, of the world and of the cinema in his films, and better that way.” His way of working – Groening is usually his own who attempts to realize it with remarkable consistency. It is no coin- cameraman, editor and producer – makes many things possible. “But cidence that in French, a director is called a “realisateur”, someone one is too isolated. One needs a discussion partner.” who realizes things. Philip Groening, who once wanted to become a psychiatrist, knows From the beginning, people abroad also acknowledged this: that cinema is only interesting when it alters our perception. Even Summer was a great hit – Groening made a name for himself inter- after his fourth full-length film, he is still young. Groening has the nationally with this film – which was widely discussed and praised. potential to become one of the greats. There was political dispute about The Terrorists! because the German Chancellor at the time felt personally attacked, and – un- Ruediger Suchsland, German correspondent for successfully – tried to damage the film. L’Amour, L’Argent, Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique and film critic for the L’Amour received its first award in Locarno, and then won the Max Frankfurter Rundschau and Filmdienst Ophuels Prize in Saarbruecken. The film was a sign of hope on the among others, spoke with Philip Groening German film scene: unconventional, surprising, dream-like and 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

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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] PRODUCERS’ PORTRAIT Hany Abu-Assad was the young company’s first project to go before the camera and was launched on a glittering international career with its invitation to the Berlinale’s Competition in 2005 and culminating in the awarding of a Golden Globe, the Independent Spirit Award and a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film about two young Palestinian suicide bombers preparing for an attack in Tel Aviv received the AGICOA’s Blue Angel Award for Best European Film, the Amnesty International Film Prize and the Berliner Morgenpost Reader’s Prize. Since then, the film has been shown at over 50 film festivals and received more than 13 prizes, including the European Film Award for Best Screenplay in December 2005. Razor Film’s second feature project was Running On Empty (Der Lebensversicherer) by Buelent Akinci, which had its premiere at the Berlinale 2006’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and won the section’s main prize, the Dialogue en Perspective Award. Other projects in production or development are Cutting Edge (Offene Wunden, dir: Carsten Strauch, shooting April/May 2006), Where the Grass is Greener (Wen der Berg ruft, dir: Tamara Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul Gerhard Staudt, shooting summer 2006), The Way to the Cats (dir: Jorge Gurevitch, shooting late autumn 2006), Circofolie (dir: Randa Chahoud, shooting in Berlin-based Razor Film Produktion was founded in October 2007), and new projects by Hany Abu-Assad and Benedek Fliegauf. 2002 by Gerhard Meixner und Roman Paul. Previous to setting up shop on their own, Meixner and Paul had both worked at Senator Entertainment AG as a producer and head of international acquisitions, respectively. The focus of activities at Razor is on the Contact: Razor Film Produktion GmbH production of high quality feature films in the arthouse and crossover Wassergasse 4 · 10179 Berlin/Germany segments for the national and international cinema market. The phone +49-30-6 14 58 65 · fax +49-30-61 20 18 63 Dutch-German-French-Israeli co-production Paradise Now by email: [email protected] · www.razor-film.de

AT TH E CUTTING EDGE A portrait of Razor Film

Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner were far from absolute good international network of contacts and I have a good grounding beginners when they decided to set up shop as Razor Film in the German scene.” Produktion in October 2002. “I believe that we have very good creative talents in Germany – I’d After initially working at Prokino in film acquisitions, Roman had ser- seen this when acquiring shorts for Senator – and I’d often asked my- ved as head of international acquisitions at Senator Entertainment self why one didn’t do anything with these people,” Gerhard con- from 1999-2002, while Gerhard worked for four years for the same tinues. “There are really talented writers and directors out there Berlin-based producer-distributor as a producer on national produc- whom one should give a chance to make a feature film.” tions and international co-productions such as Lammbock, Jetzt oder Nie, and The Hollywood Sign. As Roman and Gerhard point out, the choice of the company’s name was made consciously to give people a clear idea of the kind of cine- “We asked ourselves what our personal goals were and what kind of ma the two are wanting to support. “To begin with, the name refers films we wanted to make, so we decided it was time to try something to Bunuel’s The Andalusian Dog where the knife cuts through the eye, else,” Gerhard recalls. “We found that our respective contacts and but it is also about us being at the cutting edge,” Roman suggests. “The possibilities complemented one another very well. Roman has a very thing is, you can be on one side of the razor blade – or on the other!

german films quarterly producers’ portrait

2 · 2006 22 We don’t want to be serving up easily consumable fare, but rather what other cultures manage to do should also be possible here, i.e. making films where one has to take a position, whether this be on the that we should be able to contribute towards an interesting interna- content or the aesthetics. That has always been the standard we have tional film culture out of Germany. Of course, this needs time be- set ourselves because this is what cinema is all about for us.” cause you have to work at building the directors up.”

FINDING PARADISE While Paradise Now began its triumphal journey around the international festival circuit and on regular theatrical runs, Razor Film While the young company began developing a raft of German langu- went into production on its first home-grown project, the tragicomic age projects from the outset, including Buelent Akinci’s Running road movie Running On Empty by Buelent Akinci which had its On Empty and Carsten Strauch’s Cutting Edge which went into world premiere at the Berlinale 2006’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino production in April, the first project to be realized and presented to sidebar and won the Dialogue en Perspective Award from a jury of the public was an international co-production – Hany Abu-Assad’s young German and French cineastes headed by director Dominik Paradise Now. Moll. Negotiations are now underway for a German theatrical release for the co-production with ZDF’s Das kleine Fernsehspiel. “I have been friends for some time with the Israeli film producer Amir Harel,” Roman explains. “When we founded Razor Film, we dis- NEW PROJECTS cussed possible projects with Amir and he told me about Paradise Now whose subject and story I found very interesting.” Away from all of the excitement of the Golden Globe Award and the OSCAR nomination for Paradise Now, Roman and Gerhard were During the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, Roman saw Abu-Assad’s Ford in the final stages of pre-production for their third feature project, Transit and met the director in Park City. A month later, Roman had Cutting Edge by Carsten Strauch, which was shooting at locations brought Celluloid Dreams onboard as world sales agent as well as in Erfurt, Sitges/Spain, Hessen and Berlin in April and May. Hengameh Panahi’s production arm Lumen Films and structured the film as a German-Dutch-French co-production. This summer should also see the shooting of the first international co- production initiated by Razor Film itself: dffb-graduate Tamara “We always said we want to make a film that has crossover potenti- Staudt’s Where the Grass is Greener in co-production with al,” Roman says, “i.e. not a small film that is only for the festivals and Zurich-based Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion and with German micro distributors, but a film which ’intervenes’ insofar as a film is able star Anna Loos in the female lead. The romantic comedy focuses on to do this in this difficult peace process by contributing to an intelli- an unemployed young mother from eastern Germany who ends up in gent debate. It was clear for everyone that this film should be on a a summer job in the Swiss Alps. Once there, she has to cope not only larger scale than Hany’s Rana’s Wedding or Ford Transit. That is why with stubborn cows, but also with a love-smitten dairyman and illegal we shot on 35 mm and ensured that the film had an appropriately workers from the Balkans who have their eyes on a German passport. sized budget.” The project was developed with German screenwriting legend Wolfgang Kohlhaase (Best Scriptwriter at San Sebastian 2005 for In the post-production phase, the film was one of the first recipients Summer in Berlin) and the Moonstone Writer’s Lab. of financial support from the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund which was established in the autumn of 2004 and was subsequently invited Towards the end of 2006, Razor expects to work again with to compete in the festival’s Competition last year. Paradise Now’s Israeli partner Amir Harel of Lama Films on Jorge Gurevitch’s The Way to the Cats, which Roman describes as “a “Our goal was definitely to come to the Berlinale with the film, but love story between two old people in a rehabilitation clinic in Tel we never thought of getting an OSCAR nomination or winning a Aviv”. Maximilian Schell has already been cast in one of the leads for Golden Globe or the Independent Spirit Award!,” the producer duo the Israeli-German co-production which will be shot largely in admits and they are now regularly called on to relive the film’s pro- Germany with some exterior scenes in Israel. duction history for case study presentations such as at the Berlinale Co-Production Market, the Masterclass of the German-French Film Meanwhile, the duo are currently discussing with various French pro- Academy, and the dffb. duction houses about becoming a co-production partner on another project they have developed in-house, dffb-graduate Randa A GOOD TIME TO GO IT ALONE Chahoud’s Circofolie. The modern fairytale follows a Frenchman who has been living and working in Germany for some time as he Looking back over the last three-and-a-half years, they are both con- returns home to his native town in the south of France to take up an vinced that they chose the right time to take the plunge into indepen- inheritance. Principal photography is planned for 2007 for the film dent production. “Back in 2002, the whole German industry was in that will be a mix of traditional narrative and numbers from the New the dumps after the Neuer Markt stockmarket bubble had burst,” French Circus movement overseen by French circus star Philippe Gerhard recalls. “There wasn’t any money. We thought that this was Decouflé. really a good time to start because when things then started improving again, we would be there ready and waiting. Our goal was always Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner spoke with Martin Blaney to either have our productions co-produced internationally or have them appear at international festivals because we don’t want to restrict ourselves to Germany alone.”

“When we started as Razor, the German cinema didn’t have such a high profile as it does now at festivals,” Roman adds. “We felt that

german films quarterly producers’ portrait

2 · 2006 23 Nadja Uhl (photo © Joachim Gern) ACTRESS’ PORTRAIT ACTRESS’ niemn fhercolleagues, Unlike of many NadjaUhl A portrait of STRIDE HER IN IT G N I TAK to a new town and it was a new environment for measalittlegirl. environment for townanditwasanew to anew one,” Nadjarecalls. school,wemoved “WhenIwas six andstarting tomebecoming anactressapragmatic “The background isreally childhooddream.not hergreatest anactorwas acting buginhergenesfrom herparents of andthelife · 2006 2 films quarterlygerman Nadja Uhl hadn’t been given the beengiven hadn’t large stages.” other children’s plays. We played inoldpeople’s homesand oftenon and Christmasfairytales was ayoung teenagerandweperformed untilI Istayed inthisgroup and helpedmetoovercome shyness. my to joinachildren’s amateur dramagroup. home new Thatbecamemy anda teacherasked whetherImightlikeI wasquitereserved andshy email: [email protected]·www.abovetheline.de 55 38 50 +49-89-5 23·fax 84 90 phone +49-89-59 Goethestrasse 17·80336Munich/Germany Above theLineGmbH Agent: Fire? Home Brecht’s appeared insuchroles asViolainShakespeare’s her actingcareer atPotsdam’s Hans-Otto-Theaterin1994,where she MusicandTheaterbegan of Academy Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” Minutes ( ( volpe atre zampe Shattered Glass Neujahrsnacht Moerder Michael Degen’s novel autobiographical Dornroeschen erwacht recently, Nadjaworked onElmarFischer’s psychological thriller in anothertwo-parter, February 2006 (2003) andcouldbeseenonTVscreens attheendof Kaspar Heidelbach’s TVtwo-parter the received Dresen andalsomaderegular appearancesinTVproductions. She with suchdirectors asChrisKraus, MennanYapo andAndreas Award Sombogaart’s Ben theleadsinDutchfilmmaker 2002, Nadjaplayed oneof ’s drama. In BestActress herrole for inSchloendorff of category Rita The Legendsof ’s attentionin2000whenVolkercame tointernational Schloendorff Born inStralsund1972, Born 2000 Actress the BestSupporting for of was alsonominatedinthecategory actress She exaequowithfellow BibianaBeglau. herperformance for a shown InCompetitionattheBerlinaleandshereceived Sommer vorm Balkon Lautlos German FilmAward German ( as BestForeign LanguageFilm.Inthecinema,shehasworked Was tun,wenn’s brennt? The ThreepennyOpera (dir: PhiliposTsitos,(dir: 2000), , dir: MennanYapo,, dir: 2004), . A selection of her other films includes: herotherfilms . Aselectionof ( Vier Minuten Bambi Twin Sisters and (dir: ThorstenSchmidt,1999), (dir: ( Scherbentanz Die Sturmflut dl GrimmeAward Adolf (dir: SandoDionisio,(dir: 2001), and received the and received ( Die StillenachdemSchuss Nadja Uhl , dir: ChrisKraus,, dir: 2006). , dir: Andreas, dir: Dresen, 2005),and and asGretchen inGoethe’s which was nominated for the which wasnominatedfor and JoBaier’s adaptationof literary Das Wunder von Lengede What To DoInCaseof , dir: Gregor, dir: Schnitzler, 2000), , dir: ChrisKraus,, dir: 2001), , byJorgoPapavassilou. Most trained atLeipzig’s “Felix Summer inBerlin Latvian FilmPrize Nicht allewaren for her performance in herperformance for As You Like It actress’ portrait Schnee inder My Sweet Soundless Silver Bear Faust Academy , Polly in Four in the ) was . She La 24 By her teenage years, Nadja had well and truly caught the acting bug lead in the TV two-parter Die Sturmflut – “the water was so icy” and didn’t need much persuading when the head of the children’s – but the part of Michael Degen’s mother in Jo Baier’s adaptation of drama group asked if she could imagine making acting her profession. the actor’s autobiography Nicht alle waren Moerder was an “I have since found out that the adults had already spoken about this unexpected challenge: “It was mentally straining which was something and decided that I should be helped in reaching this goal,” Nadja I hadn’t known before – of playing the situation of being persecuted explains. “In fact, there is a common thread running through my life: every day.” at points where I least believed in myself, there were others who were on hand to give support. And this continues through to the pre- Moreover, the role of Nike in Andreas Dresen’s Summer in sent day.” Berlin also proved a challenge in its own way “because I wasn’t sure whether the kind of person Nike is was someone I could relate to. Living in Berlin, Nadja naturally applied to study at the Ernst Busch She wasn’t as hard [to play] as Anna Degen but you had to look else- Drama Academy in East Berlin, which was regarded as the top where for the blackest depths; they were really tucked away behind address in the former East Germany, but was subsequently accepted this Berlin facade of brashness and lightfootedness. At first one thinks by Leipzig’s “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” Academy of Music and that nothing can touch Nike, but the fragility is there, hidden deep Theater. “I immediately saw that this was the right place for me. I down.” never regretted going there and it provided me with the basis for my craft as an actor,” Nadja recalls. “More importantly, we learned the After the success of Summer in Berlin at last year’s San Sebastian techniques for playing on big stages and how to work with classical Film Festival and at the German box office early this year as well as texts, something that is fundamental when you are appearing on the her headlining performance in the TV two-parter Die Sturmflut, stage night after night. Moreover, I had very charismatic teachers, Nadja has been suddenly catapulted on to the front pages of maga- people who made demands on us to develop our character and take zines and hailed as one of the great new hopes of the German our own decisions. That left its mark on me.” cinema.

As she points out, her time in the theater, including the four years at However, while enjoying the public attention and professional recog- the Hans-Otto-Theater in Potsdam, played an important role in her nition of her work in the recent productions, she isn’t letting her way preparation for working later in the cinema and on television. “It was of life be dictated by the current buzz. “I have taken things slowly very significant that as a young person I was able to take personal res- over the years and that makes me all the stronger today,” she ponsibility for my work in the theater and have the courage to bring explains. “I have always worked on quality films and fine small pro- my own personality into the characters,” Nadja explains. “My training ductions. Now I have Summer in Berlin, Dornroeschen helped me to develop the strength I need to perform, to turn fear erwacht and Die Sturmflut and there is a large interest from the into strength. This background was then useful for my film work press which wasn’t there before. I get questions like ’How do you because you are left more to your own devices in cinema. In the thea- cope with the success?’, but I can observe all of this with great com- ter, you have months to develop a part, but in the cinema you have posure because, in principle, I haven’t changed anything in my way of more freedom to work on the characters. In a short time, you give working. It is less threatening for me than for someone who wasn’t everything and then are able to withdraw completely.” able to slowly grow into things.”

In her film and television work Nadja has worked with a broad spec- Consequently, Nadja is taking her time in choosing the next roles. trum of directors, from new faces like Elmar Fischer and Chris Kraus “Both Jo Baier and Peter Rommel said that I should have the courage through to more established names like Andreas Dresen and such to pause and take my next steps only after careful consideration,” she “old hands” as Jo Baier and Volker Schloendorff. says. “People have said to me: Nadja, take care that you don’t waste yourself.” “I always see the differences in the personality rather than in the age,” Nadja remarks on her experiences with the different generations of While it would be "a dream" to work internationally after her first directors: “Jo Baier, for example, is a steadfast person and personality forays into foreign productions with the Italian children’s film La in the same way as Andreas Dresen where I have the feeling that I volpe a tre zampe and the OSCAR-nominated Dutch film Twin have at long last found a master craftsman again. I can and must learn Sisters, she isn’t packing her bags and jetting off to Hollywood to from them because they have something to say to me. Then you have try her luck in Tinseltown at all costs. “I was often asked in Germany a director like Chris Kraus who is relatively new in his profession, but after the OSCAR nomination if I wanted to go to Hollywood, but I showed in Shattered Glass that he has an incredible creative think that’s a ridiculous thing to contemplate," Nadja argues. "But if potential. He might not have had as much experience as Juergen someone in Hollywood sees something in me that they would like to Vogel or me, but he was always prepared to be open to our sugges- have there, then I am someone who would give my all. However, I tions and made for a very creative atmosphere which has stayed with wouldn’t do this for any price as I would want to be able to remain me in my memory.” true to my personality.”

“Meanwhile, Andreas knows every second what he is wanting to do Nadja Uhl spoke with Martin Blaney and I have seldom experienced someone who is so well prepared,” she notes. “The same goes for Jo Baier – he even paints little story- boards of each scene. It is great when a director has a strong personality and doesn’t feel threatened or taken too seriously by the actors. You need to have a mixture of respect, authority and freedom.”

Looking back at the film and TV roles she has played to date, Nadja agrees that the most physically challenging was doubtless the female german films quarterly actress’ portrait

2 · 2006 25 WORLD SALES PORTRAIT

Atrix Films GmbH Nymphenburger Strasse 79 · 80636 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-64 28 26 11 · fax +49-89-64 95 73 49 email: [email protected] · www.atrix-films.com

Owner and managing director: Beatrix Wesle

Founded: 2001

Catalogue includes:

Blind Spot – Hitler’s Secretary (2002) by André Heller & Othmar Schmieder, Kandahar (2002) by Mohsen Makmalbaf, September 11 (2003) by 11 directors including Sean Penn, Samira Makhmalbaf, Since Otar Left … (2003) by Julie Bertucelli, The Story of the Weeping Camel (2003) by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni, The Return (2003) by Andrej Swjaginzew, It Is Easier for a Camel … (2003) by Valeria Bruno-Tedeschi, The Forest for the Trees (2003) by Maren Ade, Silentium (2004) by Wolfgang Murnberger, Antares Three Sides of Love (2004) by Goetz Spielmann, Fog of War (2004) by Errol Morris, Arktos – Mike Horn – Le Voyage Interieur (2005) by Raphael Blanc, Hitler Cantata (2005) by Jutta Brueckner, Shadow of the Sword (aka The Headsman, 2005) by Simon Aeby, The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005) by Byambasuren Davaa, Winners and Losers (2006) by Kjell Sundvall, Valo (2006) by Kaija Juurikkala, Lotte from Gadgetville (2006) by Janno Poldma & Heiki Ernits Beatrix Wesle MOVING PICTURES A portrait of Atrix Films Celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, Beatrix Wesle’s Munich- “because they are so moving and full humanity. Naturally, it has also based company focused its activities from the outset on four key areas helped when these films were submitted for the OSCAR by their own – consulting and strategies, world sales, packaging and film financing, countries because that gives them a greater international awareness and national distribution – for high quality feature films, arthouse titles which one could use in the marketing.” and documentaries. Before setting up shop as Atrix Films, Wesle worked as head of “Our interest is in being involved in films that move us emotionally, business communications at the publicly listed media company regardless of whether the film is in English or not,” is how Wesle Advanced Medien AG where she worked on film financing and licen- describes her company’s philosophy. “I may be based in Germany, but sing deals as well as collaborative ventures with the US production this does not mean that I want to restrict myself only to German pro- companies U.F.O. Film Productions and Wolfgang Petersen’s Red Cliff jects as I want to be open to quality films regardless of their nationa- Productions. Prior to that, she served as head of theatrical acquisi- lity.” tions for Tobis Filmkunst, concluding deals for such films as The Fifth Element, In & Out, and American Buffalo. “I see myself as being someone who is very director-driven in my choice of projects,” Wesle adds, pointing out that she has enjoyed Since going independent, Wesle worked as a non-exclusive European working on films from such countries ranging from Argentina to Iran representative for a US sales agent to sell such films as Juan Jose german films quarterly world sales portrait

2 · 2006 26 Campanella’s OSCAR-nominated Son of the Bride, Bahman Ghobadi’s Marooned in Iraq, and the Austrian documentary Blind Spot – Hitler’s Secretary to various European territories and also acquired films like Mika Kaurismaeki’s music documentary Moro no Brasil, and Rolf Schuebel’s love triangle Gloomy Sunday for the sales agent’s North American theatrical arm.

In addition, Wesle’s strong personal interest in films addressing political or ethical issues has led her in the past to acquire the German theatrical rights to such films as Mohsen Makhmalbaf ’s Kandahar, the omnibus film September 11, Mahsen Makhmalbaf ’s Afghan Alphabet or Udi Aloni’s Local Angel – Theological Political Fragments for release in Germany.

WORKING WITH GERMAN FILMMAKERS

Two years ago, Wesle was responsible for the sales and distribution on behalf of Munich’s Academy of Television & Film (HFF) for its production of Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni’s OSCAR-nominated box office hit The Story of the Weeping Camel (Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel) which was sold to more than 60 territories and took more than $10 million worldwide.

In 2004, she collaborated again with Davaa on her next film, The Cave of the Yellow Dog (Die Hoehle des gelben Hundes), by sealing a distribution deal with a partner in Switzerland and consulting on deals for the UK, France, and the Benelux countries ahead of the start of principal photography.

“I think the German cinema is experiencing a real upswing in its for- tunes at the moment,“ Wesle notes. “You see films like Good Bye, Lenin! and Downfall having success and making money abroad as well as at home. What’s more, I believe that German Films’ Distribution Support program has made a real difference for foreign distributors when they are releasing German films.”

Apart from working with Byambasuren Davaa, Wesle also brokered a sales agent deal for Maren Ade’s The Forest for the Trees (Der Wald vor lauter Baeumen) with Sola Media.

Atrix’s own sales lineup includes such films as Raphael Blanc’s documentary Arktos - The Adventures of Mike Horn and Hitler Cantata (Hitlerkantate) by Jutta Brueckner, but Wesle’s sales activities are supplemented by her collaboration with Solveig Langeland’s Stuttgart-based sales outfit Sola Media to handle fare as varied as the Goetz Spielmann’s Antares, Simon Aeby’s historical adventure Shadow of the Sword, the Estonian children’s animation film Lotte from Gadgetville, and Rick Elgood and Don Letts’ romantic drama One Love. Martin Blaney

german films quarterly world sales portrait

2 · 2006 27 WORLD SALES PORTRAIT

The Match Factory GmbH Sudermanplatz 2 · 50670 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-2 92 10 20 · fax +49-2 21-29 21 02 10 email: [email protected] · www.the-match-factory.com

Owner and managing director: Michael Weber

Founded: 2006

Catalogue includes:

Eden (2005) by Michael Hofmann, Madeinusa (2005) by Claudia Llosa, El Custodio (2006) by Rodrigo Moreno, Lucky Emma (WT, 2006) by Sven Taddicken, Grbavica (2006) by Jasmila Zbanic, Lights in the Dusk (2006) by Aki Kaurismaeki 2006, Madonnas (2006) by Maria Speth, The Great Match (2006) by Gerardo Olivares, Tough Enough (2006) by Detlev Buck Michael Weber

PLAYING THE MATCHMAKER A portrait of The Match Factory

Michael Weber couldn’t have had a better start for his new Tough Enough (Knallhart) was awarded the FIPRESCI Award and Cologne-based sales outfit The Match Factory, whose lineup the Europa Cinemas label. made its first market appearance at the European Film Market in Berlin in February 2006. “This first lineup [which also includes Gerardo Olivares’ The Great Match, Claudia Llosa’s Madeinusa, and Rotterdam pickup Eden To begin right at the top, first-time Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Zbanic by Michael Hofmann] reflects what we are wanting to do with the mix won the Golden Bear for her hard-hitting drama Grbavica as well as of debut films and more established filmmakers, with films from the Peace Film Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Award. Another com- Germany, Eastern Europe and Latin America,” Weber explains. petition film, El Custodio, by Argentine director Rodrigo Moreno received the Alfred Bauer Award, while Detlev Buck’s Panorama entry After spending almost ten years transforming Bavaria Film german films quarterly world sales portrait

2 · 2006 28 International into one of the leading players in the international sales The Match Factory has also taken on Maria Speth’s latest film arena, Weber felt the time had come last year to take the plunge and Madonnas (Madonnen), starring Silver Bear-winner Sandra set up his own outfit. “It was part of a personal development be- Hueller (Requiem); Sven Taddicken’s (WT) Lucky Emma cause I wanted to be closer to the filmmakers again,” says Weber (Emmas Glueck); Stanislav Mucha’s first fiction film Hope, which who brought Pandora Film producers Karl ’Baumi’ Baumgartner and began shooting in April; and Jaime Rosales’ La Soledad which goes Reinhard Brundig onboard as shareholders in the new company. into production this summer.

Naturally, the company’s name was a reverential nod in the direction Martin Blaney of Aki Kaurismaeki [whose latest feature Lights in the Dusk is being sold by The Match Factory ], “but it also refers to our intended role as a matchmaker,” Weber argues. “We want to be a link between the producers and distributors and want people to see us as their partner.”

“The structure with ’Baumi’ and Reinhard Brundig is such that there is no output deal with Pandora, but I will have a ’first look’ arrange- ment,” he notes, pointing that The Match Factory and Pandora will scout together to discover and nurture new talent.

Baumgartner and Brundig, who had had a previous foray into world sales in 2000 with Orfeo Films, seemed the ideal partners for Weber’s new venture as they had worked well together over the past four to five years on such films as Kim Ki-Duk’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … Spring or Juan Rebella and Pablo Stoll’s Whisky. “That showed we have a similar taste in films,” Weber says.

According to Weber, the films on his books will “distinguish themselves through story and statement, originality and style”, while the emphasis will be on arthouse although with the potential for crossover. “We want to remain small and flexible with a maximum of around 12 titles being handled each year,” Weber says, suggesting that The Match Factory’s structure makes it quite unique in the German world sales landscape.

“The reaction to me going it alone with this new company has been surprisingly very good in the industry,” Weber recalls. “I often had the feeling that people were behaving as if the company had been around for a while, even though it had just been launched.” But this probably came from the fact that Weber had built up an enviable track record through the international distribution of such titles as Run Lola Run (Lola rennt), Good Bye, Lenin!, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … Spring and The Man Without a Past during his time at Bavaria Film International. Moreover, his sales team – among others – consists of Tobias Pausinger, Martina Knabe, Brigitte Suarez and Kathrin Bergmann: all old hands at the international sales business.

While this year’s Berlinale and the European Film Market proved to be the perfect launchpad for The Match Factory – with over a dozen sales sealed for Golden Bear-winner Grbavica in the first week after the festival – Weber and his team are not resting on their laurels and waiting for producers to knock on their door.

The Match Factory has already added a number of forthcoming films from both young and established directors to its sales lineup.

For example Aki Kaurismaeki’s latest feature Lights in the Dusk, which is In Competition this year at Cannes. The third part of Kaurismaeki’s ’unemployment trilogy’ opened theatrically in Finland at the beginning of February and is, in addition to it’s Grande Lumière screening in Cannes, already scheduled to have a Piazza Grande screening at August’s Locarno Film Festival as part of this year’s retrospective dedicated to the Finnish director.

german films quarterly world sales portrait

2 · 2006 29 NEWS 2/2006 Industry Tigers 2006 (photoIndustry © Norbert Tigers Kesten)

FFA’S INDUSTRY TIGERS 2006

The German Federal Film Board (FFA) awarded the distribution. The successful Munich-based team (with most successful producers and distributors of German films like Die weisse Massai, Vom Suchen und Finden films – the so-called Industry Tigers – a total of €19.7 der Liebe and Napola) received a total of €3.5 million in reference support funds. Like never be- million in reference funding. Reference funding is fore, the new festival and awards points, which based on the legal claims of producers and were introduced into the film funding law three distribution companies as outlined in the film years ago, made a big difference: 20% of the funding law, which provides for financial funding support (that’s €3.1 million) was achiev- support for new cinema productions and ed solely through this new criteria. In this marketing campaigns based on the audience category, the most successful producers were and festival success of their films. The funds X Filme Creative Pool with its films Alles auf are available with no binding pre-requisites to Zucker! and Agnes und ihre Brueder, and the Erfurt- location and television broadcasters and can be based Kinderfilm with Die Blindgaenger. In addition to used without having to obtain further consent festival points, the number of tickets sold also played a from support committees. large role. For the third time, Constantin Film was awarded the Golden Industry Tiger in both categories: production and

german films quarterly news

2 · 2006 30 GERMAN FILMS’ DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT IN BERLIN

During the Berlin Film Festival in February, German Films and the Association of German Film Exporters invited international distributors to a “Distributor’s Cocktail” in the Restaurant Essenza located in the heart of the festival center. It was the ideal meeting place for the distributors and their German world sales contacts, directors and pro- International Film Festival) ducers. A highlight of the event was the raffle of an exclusive BMW mountain bike donated by the sponsor BMW. German actress Christiane Paul made Ephraim Gilad, president of the Israeli distribution company Nachshon Films, the lucky winner of the evening. Nicole Guillemet, Andrea Dittgen, OliverNicole Guillemet, Andrea Mahrdt, Beki Probst, Wim Wenders (photo courtesy of Wim Wenders Beki Probst, Miami

WIM WENDERS: A TRIBUTE IN MIAMI

Prior to the screening of his latest film Don’t Come Knocking, veteran director Wim Wenders received the Career Achievement Tribute at the Gusman Center during the 2006 Miami International Film Festival. Wenders has been a major force on the international film scene since his debut as one of the leaders of the New German Cinema of the 1970s and continues to impress international audiences and festival Christiane Paul & Joerg Schweizer (BMW) Christiane Paul with his distinctive signature. Christian Dorsch (German Films), Ephraim Gilad, W-FILMS’ NIGHT OF THE SHORTS IN HUNGARY

With its “Night of the Shorts”, W-film offers cinemagoers the possi- The cocktail was also an occasion to highlight German Films’ new bility to discover new worlds, whether in theme nights or country funding program Distribution Support which came into effect in specific programs. For the last five years, W-film Distributors takes its 2005. Many representatives of distribution companies that had al- audiences to faraway film worlds and brings short films to the silver ready benefited from the program were present at the cocktail, screen. After the successful start of Night of the Shorts in Hungary in among them Miguel Angel Perez and César Clemente from Karma 2005, now comes the second edition of the internationally active Films/Spain. Karma Films has already received Distribution Support short film label’s program to Hungarian cinemas. Last year the Night twice, once for the very successful release of Luther and recently for of the Shorts and the European Film Award-winning short films the forthcoming release of Byambasuren Davaa’s The Cave of the enthused some 3,500 cinemagoers alone in this small country. And Yellow Dog. since 7 March 2006, W-film has invited Hungarian audiences to dive into the creative world of German shorts with “German Short Pieces”. Seven German short film productions are on a three-month tour of Hungary’s most popular cinemas. And the short film “jewels” bring some of Germany’s most popular actors to the screen: Jasmin Tabatabai, Franka Potente and Walter Giller. Subtitling support has been provided by the German Short Film Association and German Films. Further information is available at www.kurzfilmkino.de. Miguel Angel Perez,

PREMIERE PRESENTATION OF SHORT FILM STUDY

Byambasuren Davaa & César Clemente Byambasuren The German Short Film Association presented its Short Film Study during this year’s Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. After a year of preparation and research, the authors Reinhard W. Wolf, Michael Jahn and Christina Kaminski offered their compre- hensive work to the public. The study presents up-to-date information and figures about the German short film scene, the circumstances under which it functions, and its place within the German film industry as a whole. More information about the study can be found at www.ag-kurzfilm.de.

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2 · 2006 31 GERMANS CELEBRATE IN VILLA AURORA

The traditional annual German Films Academy Award Nominee Reception on Saturday 4 March 2006 at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles was a great success. Despite heavy rain in the days before, the sun came out just in time for the reception, allowing the guests to mix and mingle in the beautiful garden of the former Feuchtwanger Mansion overlooking the Pacific ocean. Some 500 Scene from “Roll That Stone” Scene from guests attended to celebrate their fellow countrymen, including Mittelmass) (photo © Unteres OSCAR-alumni Volker Engel, as well as Juergen Prochnow, Ralph Moeller and Sir Brian Cox.

GERMAN SHORT FILMS IN CANNES (photo © Malcolm Lesavoy) The German Short Film Association (AG Kurzfilm) is once again present this year in Cannes: within the framework of the Short Traditional Villa Aurora group Villa Aurora photo Traditional Film Corner, the association is offering, with support from German Films, a podium for German shorts and the possibility to further expand its network with international buyers. A total of 16 current German short films have been selected, including: Daniel Nocke’s new animation No Room for Gerold (Kein Platz fuer Gerold), the documentary Moto Drome (Motodrom) by Joerg Wagner, the music video Roll That Stone by Boris Kanzow, Kai Kullack and Frank Herbort, as well as the short feature Tanguero by Daniel Seideneder and Hernando Tascón. With its presence at the Short Film Corner, the AG The German filmmakers of nominations in various categories were: Kurzfilm hopes to further increase the international awareness of Marc Rothemund (director, Sophie Scholl, Best Foreign Language Film), German short films, which already enjoy great success at festivals Ulrike Grote (director, Ausreisser, Best Live Action Short Film), Roman around the world. Paul and Gerhard Meixner (co-producers, Razor Film, Paradise Now, Best Foreign Language Film), Benjamin Herrmann and Christopher Cannes is also the kick-off for German Films’ own NEXT Borgman (co-Producers, Senator Film, Merry Christmas, Best Foreign GENERATION program. This year’s selection of 10 of the best Language Film) and Michael Ohoven (one of the three producers of shorts from German film schools will be premiered on 21 May at Capote, Best Motion Picture). Thanks to the efforts of the German 20:00 h in Cannes’ Star 2 cinema. Consul General, Dr. Stocks, the 87-year-old professor Dr. Joseph Wittenstein, member of The White Rose, also attended the event as a surprise guest and was introduced by Marc Rothemund. After a 20- INTERNATIONAL FILM CONGRESS 2006 hour odyssey caused by snow storms in Munich, lead actress Julia IN COLOGNE Jentsch also made it to the reception and was presented to the local media and press. The event was hosted by German Films in partner- In order to avoid an organizational conflict with the 2006 FIFA World ship with the German Consulate Los Angeles and Villa Aurora, Cup™, this year’s medienforum.nrw will be taking place in May, Foundation for European American Relations. overlapping with the Cannes Film Festival. As a result, the Filmstiftung NRW will be hosting its International Film Congress, albeit on a smaller scale, as usual within the framework of the medienforum.nrw from 20 – 22 May. The program will consist of discussions about the relationship of film to other art forms and promising festival strategies for filmmakers as well as discussion rounds on short and documentary films, the latter in cooperation with the Producers’ Association NRW.

The congress will be opened with a big film premiere and the three-

(photo © Bert Spangemacher) day event will offer not only a lot to talk about, but also a lot to see. Together with the Cologne Conference, the Filmstiftung will stage a

Joseph Wittenstein, Marc Rothemund Joseph Wittenstein, Marc series for international up-and-coming films: the Spectrum Young Film. Information about the International Film Congress is available at www.filmstiftung.de.

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2 · 2006 32 phones or on IP-TV. With the unique combination of rights clearance, encoding and digital delivery services, reelport makes films accessible at all times to buyers from all around the world. The Online Film Catalogue thus offers to the buyer and rights owner a time saving digi-

Berlinale Camera Berlinale Camera tal allround service. So no more complicated ordering of preview copies, time consuming search for film copies and endless negotiations of rights. Costs for transport and subtitling are reduced. The new Online Film Catalogue is a digital market place, where film files and rights will be easily accessible. More information is available at www.reelport.com. Laurence Kardish with his Kardish Laurence FRESH IMPETUS FOR LOCATION HAMBURG

Since January, more than 35 productions are either in their prepara- tory phase or currently being shot in the Hanseatic City. These include numerous crime series, TV movies and funded cinema films such as Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald by Nicolette Krebitz and the production Nichts als Gespenster by Martin Gypkens, based on stories by Judith Hermann. (photo courtesy of FFHH) On the set of “When Darkness Falls”

BERLINALE CAMERA FOR LAURENCE KARDISH

Within the framework of the 56th International Film Festival Berlin, various personalities were recognized for their services to the film world and awarded Berlinale Cameras. In addition to the German DoP Michael Ballhaus and the German director Juergen Boettcher, Laurence Kardish – senior curator of the Film & Media Department at Five feature films, 18 TV movies, crime series and romantic series, as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York – was honored. well as three short films have been registered in an internal Film For over 30 years, the MoMA has been presenting German films every Commission set of statistics for the period January – May. Alexandra autumn in its program KINO! New German Films. The event was first Luetkens and Christiane Scholz were in contact with all of the pro- staged in 1972 as Laurence Kardish, together with the local Goethe- duction companies and were able to support the filmmakers with Institut, invited young German filmmakers to the Big Apple. Since advice and extensive services. Since May these have grown to include then, Kardish has been presenting, in close cooperation with German a databank of set-photos. Popular shooting locations include the Films, a selection of films every year. One of the most successful harbor, traditional Hanseatic motifs, villas and parks, as well as streets events was the Fassbinder Retrospective, held on the occasion of the and spaces with harbor ambience. A stunt for the German-Swedish 10th anniversary of the director’s death. co-production When Darkness Falls required major roadblocks in agreement with the police.

REELPORT: ONLINE FILM CATALOGUE DOKVILLE 2006 Search and view films all around After its great success last year, the MFG-funded documentary sector the world, ac- meeting Dokville 2006 will take place this year for the second time quire film rights from 1 – 2 June 2006 in Ludwigsburg. By working with case studies, and copies – this event goes into the matters of copyright and rights pertaining to online! With its new Online Film Catalogue, reelport offers a service for documentary productions. Entitled Walking the Narrow Path – rightsowners on the one hand and buyers on the other hand: In the Copyrights and Rights, it gives a current review and takes into account Online Film Catalogue buyers can not only search, view and acquire film the filmmakers’ situation and their rights to quotations as well as the rights, they can also obtain the digital film file in the quality that is demands of archives and music companies. Is there a documentary required for exhibition in cinemas, VoD-services, schools, on mobile original quote? Can filmmakers make money out of their own

german films quarterly news

2 · 2006 33 footages? Dokville 2006 is organized by the Documentary Film Center in cooperation with MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, the City of Ludwigsburg and the Film- and Mediafestival Company. The participation fee is €30; the reduced fee, e.g. for students, is €20 Euro and a single day pass €20. Further information is available at: www.dokville.de or www.mfg.de/film. Heading the 2nd Indo-German Film Festival: Bavaria’s (photo courtesy of MFG) Minister of Gonsalves Maureen Economy Erwin Huber, (Goethe Institut Bangalore) and Dr. Klaus Schaefer (FFF) and Dr. (Goethe Institut Bangalore)

SUPPORT, AWARDS AND PROMOTION

Shortly before its 10th anniversary, several films supported by FilmFernsehFonds Bayern made impressive appearances at

Scene from MFG-funded “Workingman’s Death” MFG-fundedScene from “Workingman’s German and international festivals and award shows. Sophie Scholl – The Last Days by Marc Rothemund was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Production. Family film Robber Hotzenplotz by Gernot Roll was presented at the Berlinale’s Children’s Film Festival, whereas Florian Henckel von TELEVISION’S MAGIC MOMENTS Donnersmarck’s extraordinary debut feature The Lives of Others, winner of four Bavarian Film Awards, also heads the nomination list for the From the beginning of June on, the newly created Television Museum German Film Award 2006 aspiring 11 “Lolas”. completed the Filmhaus on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin to become a “House of Moving Images”. The permanent exhibit will present tele- But the Bavarian film fund not only supports, it also promotes films: vision programing to the visitors as a photo album, in which they, The FFF-reception at this year’s Berlinale served as the opening plat- according to their own age and biography, will be able to recognize form for the 2nd Indo-German Film Festival in Chennai and Bangalore. parts of their own history. In five rooms on two floors, the new mu- The event will be attended by Bavaria’s Minister of Economy Erwin seum intends to solidify the public image of the historical and cultural Huber. It will take place in November 2006 and again bring together value of the audiovisual medium. some of the most prolific filmmakers from Bavaria and South India.

In the center of Berlin, a new and lively forum for the history and presence of German television will emerge, highlighting the magic ZIEGLER RETROSPECTIVE AT THE MOMA moments of programming history. Not only will the different developments in East and West German television past be presented, but Call of the Toad (Unkenrufe) by Robert Glinski, based on the novel of also debates about current media policy. From 5 May – 30 July, a spe- the same name by Guenter Grass, opened a retrospective at the cial exhibit entitled “Goal! Football and Television” will be on display beginning of April in New York dedicated to the Berlin-based pro- as an Official Element of the Artistic and Cultural Program of the ducer Regina Ziegler. Federal Government to the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in cooperation with 2006 FIFA World Cup Organising. Regina Ziegler (photo © Erik Hackenschmidt) Inside the Television Museum Berlin Inside the Television

Laurence Kardish, the MoMA’s senior film curator, is an aficionado of German filmmaking and presents a program of select new German films in the MoMA each autumn in cooperation with German Films. By

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2 · 2006 34 deciding this year to also dedicate a retrospective to a German woman producer, he shows the high esteem held for the work of the Berlin producer who has realized a broad spectrum of productions over the past 25 years.

Although Regina Ziegler has received many awards during her career as a producer, the honor in the MoMA is something quite special. Scene from “Wattlaufer” Scene from “Among the distinctions a producer dreams of, this one on the American East Coast is the greatest. I see this retrospective also as a sign that there is greater attention being paid to the German cinema in the USA.“

Apart from the opening film, the retrospective also included: the Erotic Tales-episode The Waiting Room by Jos Stelling, Cloud Door by Mani (photo courtesy of Filmarbeit) BV Kommunale Kaul and An Erotic Tale by Dito Tsintsadze, the documentary Rodina heisst Heimat by Helge Reidemeister, Malou by Jeanine Meerapfel, Fabian by Wolf Gremm, Summer Guests by Peter Stein as well as the TV two-parter Der Verleger by Bernd Boehlich. GERMAN SHORT FILM AWARD 2005 ON TOUR

The nominees for the German Short Film Award 2005 and Gerhard Friedl’s documentary feature Hat Wolff von Amerongen Konkursdelikte begangen? are on a nation-wide tour of German communal cinemas. All of the films exhibit high cinematic quality and originality. And this year’s program addresses social and existential topics, showing many of the protagonists at turning points in their lives: five of the films deal with the postive and tragic aspects of getting older. Taboos such as sexuality and Alzheimer’s Disease are shown in an extraordinary manner. The two feature-length programs are titled Wendepunkte (“Turning Points”) featuring Vorletzter Abschied by Heiko Hahn, Jam Nordmedia’s Media/Production Guide Media/Production Nordmedia’s Session by Izabela Plucinska, Wattlaeufer by Dennis Jacobsen, Chaim by Jonathan Greenfield as well as Goodbye by Steve Hudson, and Fixpunkte (“Checkpoints”) featuring Christina ohne Kaufmann by Sonja Heiss, female/male by Daniel Lang, Mast Qalandar by Till Passow, Cousin Cousine by Maria Mohr and Heim by Marc Brummund.

NORDMEDIA UPDATES INDUSTRY DIRECTORY

Nordmedia has revised and updated its directory and published a “female/male” Scene from new Media/Production Guide. The industry directory is available online at www.nordmedia.de as well as in handbook form. The guide is geared toward the needs of the film and media industries and helps make the search for information involved in production preparation much easier for all involved. With over 1,000 addresses, the bilingual (photo courtesy of Filmarbeit) BV Kommunale reference guide offers an overview of the media landscape in Lower Saxony and Bremen. In addition to its Location and Actors guides, the new Media/Production Guide is yet another important service Nordmedia makes available to all film and media makers. The tour is an initiative of and supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Event organizers include 3Rosen, Script House and the Association of Communal Cinemas. Tour dates and further information is available at www.kommunale- kinos.de and www.kurzfilmpreisunterwegs.org.

german films quarterly news

2 · 2006 35 IN PRODUCTION loved. Freedom meant for her the nomadic life.”

Although the key moments in Obermaier’s turbulent life provide the common thread running through 8 Miles High, the production has allowed itself some artistic freedoms in the screenplay “but only insofar as it was dramaturgically necessary,” as Junkersdorf notes, while a physical similarity with the historical figures played an essential role in (photo © Neue Bioskop) Scene from “8 Miles High” Scene from the choice of actors for the main parts such as Obermaier (the first major feature film role for 26-year-old Natalia Avelon), the adventurer and bar-owner Dieter Bockhorn (David Scheller) and the communard Rainer Langhans (Matthias Schweighoefer). Obermaier was on hand to give Avelon advice about preparing herself for the role and was overwhelmed on their first meeting: “It was incredible,” she recalls. “My friends reacted in surprise: ’We never knew that you have a daughter’. That’s how much we look alike!” Meanwhile, Schweighoefer was a must to play Langhans for director 8 Miles High Bornhak, a graduate of the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg, who is making his feature film directorial debut with 8 Miles High. Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama, Love Story “[Matthias] brings the talent not only to convince as Friedrich Schiller, Production Company Neue Bioskop Film Erste Produktions- but also to slip into the skin of the 68ers – he masters every role,” says gesellschaft/Munich, in co-production with Neue Bioskop Film/ Junkersdorf. Munich, Hofmann & Voges/Munich, Senator Film Produktion/Berlin, TV60 Film/Munich, Kinowelt Filmproduktion/Leipzig, Babelsberg Since the film also shows that Obermaier was just as much at home in Film/Potsdam, Studio Babelsberg/Potsdam With backing from the world of pop music with such superstars as Jimi Hendrix or the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Medien- Rolling Stones as friends, Junkersdorf and producer/partner board Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM, MEDIA Producers Eberhard Dietmar Guentsche wanted to have the rock musicians appear- Junkersdorf, Dietmar Guentsche Director Achim Bornhak ing in the story be cast with people with the necessary musical talent. Screenplay Olaf Kraemer, Achim Bornhak, based on a draft by C.P. “That’s why we got the up-and-coming Swedish star Victor Norén, Hant, Dagmar Benke, Olaf Kraemer Director of Photography the lead singer of the hot band Sugarplum Fairy, for our film. Not only Benjamin Dernbecher Editor Sebastian Schulz Production can he hold his guitar, he can also play on it!” Design Eduard Krajewski Principal Cast Natalia Avelon, Matthias Schweighoefer, David Scheller, Alexander Scheer, Victor Noren “Achim Bornhak is still at the beginning of his career and com- Casting Marquardt & Koch Format 35 mm, color, cs, Dolby SR pensates for the lack of experience with intensive commitment to the Shooting Language German Shooting in Munich, Berlin story, to our project,” Junkersdorf notes. “Also the way he works with (Studio Babelsberg), India, December 2005 – May 2006 German the actors has so convinced us that we have complete faith in him.” Distributor Warner Bros. Entertainment/Hamburg MB Contact Neue Bioskop Film GmbH Koeniginstrasse 11 Rgb. · 80539 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-4 09 09 20 · fax +49-89-40 90 92 20 email: [email protected] · www.bioskop.de

“We were not looking to make a biopic,” says producer Eberhard

Junkersdorf about his latest production 8 Miles High which is Zolan) (photo © Yesim based on the life of the legendary top model Uschi Obermaier, the sex symbol of the 1968 generation of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. “Rather, our film is a gripping love story and the story of a strong woman: Location motif for “Absurdistan” Uschi Obermaier didn’t just dream of a free life then, she was also very focused in making these dreams reality – she took freedoms which were simply unimaginable in the society of those days.”

As Junkersdorf explains, Munich-born Obermaier – who will celebrate her 60th birthday in September – consciously deployed her aura, physical presence and charisma, and the men worshipped her. But she Absurdistan never let herself be blinded by the trappings of wealth or any kind of promises. “She always remained independent and true to her own Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Romantic Comedy dreams,” he argues. “She did her ’own thing’ and, in the 1970s, that Production Company Veit Helmer-Filmproduktion/Berlin, in was an around-the-world trip for several years with the man she cooperation with SWR/Baden-Baden, BR/Munich, ARTE/Strasbourg german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 36 With backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MEDIA the last count – I have hired to organize casting calls around the “New Talent” Program, Mediterranean Film Institute, Sources 2, world,” he says. BMW Group Producer Veit Helmer Commissioning Editors Thomas Martin, Bettina Ricklefs, Andreas Schreitmueller Director The last two years have seen the director traveling to casting calls a- Veit Helmer Screenplay Veit Helmer, Gordan Mihic, Zaza Buadze round Europe and further afield thanks to support from MEDIA’s Director of Photography George Beridze Editor Vincent “New Talent” program. Moscow, Casablanca, Budapest, Madrid, Assmann Production Design Vaja Djalagania Casting Zora Lisbon, Paris, Los Angeles are just a handful of stops on his marathon DeHorter, casting directors in 28 countries Format 35 mm, color, itinerary and he even booked his airline tickets to make visits to 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting in Azerbaijan, July – September Teheran and Cuba as well! 2006 Such a complicated pre-producton would make a film in itself and Contact Helmer admits that he has kept a video diary of sorts off and on. “I Veit Helmer-Filmproduktion don’t believe in weblogs, but would occasionally turn on my video Wormser Strasse 4 · 10789 Berlin/Germany camera and then chat about developments. I am planning to have a phone/fax +49-30-2 17 77 77 ’making of ’ documentary entitled The Long Journey to Absurdistan and email: [email protected] · www.veithelmer.com will have two young Berlin filmmakers, Jakob Preuss and Felix Korfmann, come to follow the shoot when we begin filming in July.” Director Veit Helmer hit on the idea for his third feature film Absurdistan after reading a short article in Berlin’s Der Tagesspiegel MB daily newspaper in 2001 about the women in a Turkish village going on strike, refusing sex until their men repaired the water pipe.

“I visited the actual village in Turkey and knew that this story would have to be told in a magical, fantastic way like a fairy tale for adults,” recalls Helmer who then traveled through Central Asia, the Crimea and the Balkans to find an Oriental-looking village to be the setting for his film. “I found the perfect location in Azerbaijan. We can film there without having to construct any big sets – everything is ’ready to shoot’!” (photo © Filmgalerie 451)

During the past two years, Helmer has been busy setting up a pro-

duction infrastructure for his film as nothing has been shot in the re- “The African Twintowers” Scene from gion since the end of the Soviet Union, and the Berlin-based filmmaker got a taste of production conditions on the ground in Azerbaijan when he shot three commercials for the local mobile phone provider Azercell. “I am bringing technicians in from Georgia, including my DoP George Beridze and the caterers will also be from Georgia because I always think that catering is very important on The African Twintowers a shoot.” Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Experimental, Absurdistan was selected as one of the three finalists for the Melodrama Production Company Filmgalerie 451/Stuttgart- Sundance/NHK Award 2006. The screenplay, co-written with Berlin, in co-production with ZDF/Mainz With backing from Gordan Mihic and Zaza Buadze, was developed with support Filmstiftung NRW, MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, Medienboard Berlin- from the Mediterranean Film Institute and the Sources 2 script pro- Brandenburg Producer Frieder Schlaich Director Christoph gram. Schlingensief Screenplay Christoph Schlingensief Directors of Photography Meika Dresenkamp, Patrick Waldmann Editor The romantic comedy centers on two childhood sweethearts who Robert Kummer Music by Richard Wagner Production Design are destined for one another. But when the women of their isolated Aino Laberenz Principal Cast Irm Hermann, Robert Stadlober, small village somewhere between Europe and Asia go on a sex strike, Klaus Beyer, Karin Witt, Norbert Losch, Dirk Rohde, Patti Smith their first night of love is in danger. “Stylistically, the humor is more in Format HDV, blow-up to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital the direction of my short Surprise,” Helmer explains. “Tuvalu was Shooting Language German and English Shooting in darker, while this is a much brighter film. And I am trying once more Luederitz/Namibia, October 2005 to find a universal language: the actors will not be speaking any lines of dialogue – instead, the story will be recounted by two narrators off Contact camera who will be recorded later according to the respective lan- Filmgalerie 451 Filmproduktion OHG guage version.” Saarbruecker Strasse 24 · 10405 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-33 98 28 00 · fax +49-30-33 98 28 10 If scouting for the ideal location and creating an appropriate produc- email: [email protected] · www.filmgalerie451.de tion infrastructure weren’t big enough challenges in themselves, Helmer has gone one step further with a veritable casting marathon Last October, Christoph Schlingensief traveled to south-west to find the right actors. “I think the film will be a candidate for the Africa to the town of Luederitz in Namibia to shoot The African Guiness Book of Records with the number of casting directors – 29 at Twintowers – his first feature film in eight years. german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 37 Some of the shooting was done in the corrugate-iron “Area 7” township on the edge of Luederitz where Schlingensief had a so-called animatograph constructed to pursue his experimentation in “three- dimensional cinema” and “social sculpture” which began with his staging of Wagner’s Parsifal in Bayreuth in 2004.

Since then, he has been developing a series of installations which not

only dispel with traditional concepts of theater but also leave behind “Der Faelscher” Scene from the familar actionist theater. For Schlingensief, the animatograph’s revolving stage is “like a living organism on which the spectator (photo courtesy of Beta Cinema) travels, lives and becomes a part.”

Described as “a shortened form of the Ring of the Nibelungen, interwoven with September 11, 2001, i.e. the quest for lost capital, passion and love”, The African Twintowers also touches on such issues as German colonial guilt and the mythology surrounding the legend of the Holy Grail. Schlingensief suggests though that the Der Faelscher film “is less about September 11 than about Africa. We talk about 3,500 people who were murdered on September 11. In Africa, Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama, History 35,000 die each day.” Production Companies Magnolia Filmproduktion/Hamburg, Aichholzer Film/Vienna, in co-production with Babelsberg The experiences with the animatograph in the African slum were then Film/Potsdam, Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures/Potsdam, adapted by Schlingensief in a further installation erected at Vienna’s ZDF/Mainz, ORF/Vienna With backing from Medienboard Burgtheater this January under the title of AREA 7 – St Matthew’s Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), FilmFoerderung Expedition which also featured many of the actors from the film such Hamburg, Oesterreichisches Filminstitut, Filmfonds Wien, as Robert Stadlober, Irm Hermann, Klaus Beyer, Dirk Filmfoerderung Oberoesterreich, Filmfoerderung Niederoesterreich Rohde, Karin Witt and the American rock poetess Patti Producers Nina Bohlmann, Babette Schroeder, Josef Aichholzer Smith. Director Stefan Ruzowitzky Screenplay Stefan Ruzowitzky Director of Photography Benedict Neuenfels Editor Britta For Frieder Schlaich, there was no hurdle to taking up the reins Nahler Production Design Isi Wimmer Principal Cast Karl as producer for Schlingensief ’s latest enterprise. “With Filmgalerie Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, August Zirner, Martin 451, I have been releasing Christoph’s films on video and DVD for Brambach Casting Heta Mantscheff Format Super 16 mm, color, more than ten years so we know and trust one another,” he remarks. 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting Language German Shooting in “Three years ago, I then produced a feature film version of Vienna, Potsdam-Babelsberg, Monte Carlo, March – May 2006 Schlingensief ’s VIVA TV series Freakstars 3000.” German Distributor Falcom Media Group/Berlin

Schlaich explains that The African Twintowers “does not World Sales follow on from Christoph’s last films, but is rather the attempt to Beta Cinema · Dept. of Beta Film GmbH transfer something from his fantastic stage works to the screen. If we Andreas Rothbauer succeed in doing this, that will be something quite new for the cine- Gruenwalder Weg 28 d · 82041 Oberhaching/Germany ma.” phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 · fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88 email: [email protected] Apart from the challenges of filming “at the end of the world” in the www.betacinema.com Area 7 township, Schlaich also didn’t have an easy ride on the film’s financing “fighting against Christoph Schlingensief ’s image as a trash The dark chapter in German history between 1993 and 1945 pro- filmmaker and provocateur because his art and theater work haven’t vides constant inspiration for producers and filmmakers alike as yet necessarily made an impression on film people.” shown by such recent films as Downfall, Napola, Nowhere in Africa and Sophie Scholl – The Final Days. MB Now Hamburg-based production house Magnolia Film has turn- ed its attention to the case of a Nazi operation code-named “Operation Bernhard” from 1942 at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Millions of counterfeit Bank of England pound notes were produced on a printing press in the camp by 142 inmates – including the Slovakian Jew Adolf Burger – with the aim of wreaking havoc on the British economy.

According to Burger, the forgers also successfully copied the US $100 bill and were to start printing the first million dollars in February 1945, but an order from the Reich Security main office ordered the work to stop and the machinery to be dismantled. When Sachsenhausen was evacuated in April 1945, the Operation Bernhard team was trans- german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 38 ferred to Ebensee in Austria where they were liberated by the US Army on 5 May 1945.

Magnolia’s Nina Bohlmann says they had always wanted to work with director Stefan Ruzowitzky, but didn’t have a concrete story idea for him. “When we decided to develop Der Faelscher, it was really immediately clear that he is the right one for the story,” she recalls. “We sent him the book The Devil’s Workshop (Des Teufels Miguel Alexandre Director

Werkstatt) by Adolf Burger and he found the story just as gripping as (photo © Christine Schroeder) we did.”

By coincidence, the Austrian producer Josef Aichholzer had ap- proached Ruzowitzky with a similar idea, but they subsequently decided to pool forces and develop the project together as a German- Austrian co-production.

In the painstaking preparation of his screenplay, Ruzowitzky met with Die Frau vom another contemporary witness from Sachsenhausen in addition to Adolf Burger himself. “The whole script development was ac- companied by a historian – and Adolf Burger was also involved in the Checkpoint Charlie script development and kept on making comments about the diffe- Type of Project TV Movie (2 parts) Genre Drama Pro- rent versions,” Bohlmann adds. “Both of them are now also there duction Company UFA Fernsehproduktion/Leipzig, in co-pro- during the project development.” duction with MDR/Leipzig, ARD Degeto Film/Frankfurt, BR/Munich, RBB/Potsdam-Babelsberg, ARTE/Strasbourg With backing “Ruzowitzky showed with Siebtelbauern and Anatomy that he has a from Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung Producers Norbert sure feeling in arthouse as well as mainstream cinema,” Bohlmann Sauer, Cornelia Wecker Director Miguel Alexandre Screenplay says. “After Stefan had occupied himself with the subject matter and Annette Hess Director of Photography Joerg Widmer met with Adolf Burger, we sat together and discussed how this story Commissioning Editor Jana Brandt Editor Andreas Herzog could be realized as a film.” To the producers’ delight, the director Music by Dominic Roth Production Design Lothar Holler had identified the same elements from the story that they had found Principal Cast Veronica Ferres, Peter Kremer, Filip Peeters, Goetz interesting. “In the counterfeiter workshop, this grotesque holiday Schubert, Julia Jaeger, Michael Schenk, Charlotte Schwab, Elisa camp version of a concentration camp, it is suddenly no longer a Schlott, Maria Ehrich Casting Cornelia Wecker, L.E.Vision/Leipzig question of saving life and limb, but one’s own soul – and how much Special Effects Roland Tropp Format Super 16 mm, color, 16:9, more difficult (and important) that is, is something that our principal Dolby Shooting Language German Shooting in Leipzig, Berlin, character also has to see in the end.” Helsinki, Bucharest, April - July 2006

Shooting for the €4.2 million production was on locations in Vienna Contact and Monte Carlo with the concentration camp interiors recreated on UFA Fernsehproduktion GmbH · Cornelia Wecker sound stages at Studio Babelsberg. The cast of German and Austrian Diana Strasse 21 · 14482 Babelsberg/Germany actors is headed by Karl Markovics (Hinterholz 8), August phone +49-3 31-7 06 01 27 · fax +49-3 31-7 06 01 09 Diehl (The Ninth Day), Devid Striesow (Distant Lights), August email: [email protected] · www.ufa.de Zirner (Taking Sides), and Martin Brambach (Klimt). In this true story, German superstar Veronica Ferres plays Jutta MB Gallus, a Dresden woman who was sentenced to three years in prison for attempting to leave East Germany. West Germany purchased her freedom but her two daughters were denied exit visas. Gallus waged a one-woman campaign for natural justice, highlighting the arbitrary and inhumane nature of the East German dictatorship. Known around the world as “The Woman from Checkpoint Charlie” for her daring and courageous protests, it was 1988 and after four long years before she was finally able to embrace her children again.

“Checkpoint Charlie was the international symbol for a divided Germany, but to date there haven’t been so many films on the subject,” says UFA Fernsehproduktion managing director and the film’s producer Norbert Sauer. “We read Gallus’ biography by Ines Veith and were touched by her fate.”

As always, the proof of the pudding is in the ingredients and, as Sauer says, “the main character carries the film. I’ve known Veronica for years, offered her the role and she said yes immediately.”

german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 39 Soon to be seen alongside John Malkovich in Klimt, Ferres’ extensive Music by Henry Reyels Production Design Grit Wendicke credits include Schtonk!, Das Superweib, Rossini, Les Miserables and Kein Principal Cast Constantin von Jascheroff, Josef Hader, Luise Himmel ueber Afrika, among others. Berndt, Sven Lehmann, Judith Engel, Ulrike Krumbiegel Casting Ulrike Mueller Format Super 16 mm, blow-up to 35 mm, color, The choice for director fell on Miguel Alexandre because “he’s 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting Language German Shooting in very into real details,” says Sauer. “He goes for reality and is very Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, February - March 2006 much an actor’s director. Veronica is always keen to work with him. And we chose Annette Hess to write because, credit where cre- Contact dit is due, supervising editor Jana Brandt recommended her to us. credofilm GmbH · Susann Schimk It was a very, very good tip.” Schiffbauerdamm 13 · 10117 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-2 57 62 40 · fax +49-30-25 76 24 22 Anyone who has been to Berlin recently will know that the real email: [email protected] · www.credofilm.de Checkpoint Charlie has long since been consigned to property de- velopers, which is why, says Sauer, “we’re building it again! To its ori- Sixteen-year-old Lars lives with his father Henrik in a small village in ginal scale but in Leipzig where we found a street that looks just like the Uckermark, one of the loneliest parts of the country, having the then Friedrichstrasse. We have the same architect who built the moved there from Berlin after his parents separated. The locals ignore Berlin Wall for Sonnenallee!” them to the extent that nobody even comes to their Christmas party.

Recent German history is currently the big draw for local event- Lars’ life suddenly improves when he meets the deaf, eighteen-year- movies, as evidenced by UFA subsidiary teamWorx’s Die Luftbruecke, old Marie. But then his Aunt Jana arrives and it’s clear she and his Dresden (which broke viewing records for ZDF) and the upcoming father are having a relationship and she’s planning to stay. Lars seeks Flucht und Vertreibung. refuge with Marie who shows him her world and that it’s possible to say a great deal without words. But her father is unhappy at the teen- UFA, Germany’s largest production company, is also currently pre- agers’ relationship, fearing he’ll lose his daughter. paring a two-parter on the sinking by a Russian submarine of the liner Wilhelm Gustloff in the final months of the war, while transporting The festive season takes a turn for the worse when Lars’ mother, refugees from the advancing Red Army. More than 9,000 people died, complete with her new and much younger boyfriend turns up. the greatest loss of life at sea. Christmas becomes a disaster as the retreat to the countryside turns into the battlefield for a family that has never learned to talk with each “It’s a story ideal for a mammoth project,” says Sauer. “Josef Vilsmaier other. Lars seeks refuge with Marie and enjoys the happiest Christmas (The Comedian Harmonists, Stalingrad) is directing. The script is ready of his life. But fate hasn’t finished with them. to go.” SK Jagdhunde marks the feature debut of Ann-Kristin Reyels, who studied at Potsdam-Babelsberg’s renowned “Konrad Wolf ” film school. Her short film, dim, featured in German Films’ NEXT GENERATION 2005 program.

For those of you who remember their Latin, the root of credofilm’s name says it all. For those who don’t, credo means “I believe” and there is a fundamental faith underlying its activities.

The company was founded in 2001 by Susann Schimk and Joerg Trentmann to produce features and documentaries and, in the words of Schimk, “remains loyal to individual storytellers: personal and always unique! We support good ideas, motivated filmmakers and quality work.”

Scene from “Jagdhunde” (photoScene from © credofilm) “We believe filmmaking is a very emotional affair,” says Schimk’s partner and company co-founder Trentmann. “We want to fascinate people cinematically and convince them, as a team. That is our com- Jagdhunde mitment for eternity.” Among credofilm’s previous credits are Mirko Borscht’s Kombat Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama, Family Sechzehn (nominated for the First Steps Award 2005) and several pro- Production Company credofilm/Berlin, in co-production with ductions for Germany’s public broadcasters, including for the re- Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf ’/Potsdam- nowned ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel. Babelsberg, ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz With backing SK from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmfoerderung Mecklen- burg-Vorpommern Producers Joerg Trentmann, Susann Schimk Director Ann-Kristin Reyels Screenplay Marek Helsner, Ann- Kristin Reyels Director of Photography Florian Foest Commissioning Editor Christian Cloos Editor Halina Daugird german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 40 also saw the casting tapes.”

As Gypkens notes, “the subjects dealt with by Judith Hermann in her stories are a logically consistent continuation of my first film Wir. What were the parties in Wir are now the journeys in Nichts als Gespenster. A possibility of escape from oneself, from unpleasant courtesy of film) box! Nichts als Gespenster” obligations, from the boring reality. The only thing is the characters have now become older, quieter; they have come to terms with their (photo fears, they have tended to bring them under control, but their dreams have also become more modest and stepped into the background. Scene from “ Scene from What one couldn’t find at home in one’s circle of friends, at work or in a relationship, is now looked for in faraway places. Traveling here always represents a double symbol for me: one of longing and of speechlessness.”

After one-and-a-half years of casting, Eicher and Gypkens put an Nichts als Gespenster impressive cast of young, hot German actors together, including August Diehl (The Ninth Day), Maria Simon (Good Bye, Lenin!), Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama Wotan Wilke Moehring (Antibodies), Stipe Erceg (The Production Company box! film/Hamburg, in co-production Edukators), and Fritzi Haberlandt (Peas at 5:30). with Senator Film Produktion/Berlin, Marco Polo High Definition/ Halle, RBB/Potsdam, ARTE/Strasbourg With backing from The film will be shot on high definition video with practically every Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutche Medienfoerderung, scene from a hand-held camera because “the idea is to be really close FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), MEDIA Plus up to the characters,” Eicher explains. “That is the special thing about Producer Andreas Eicher Director Martin Gypkens Judith Hermann which readers like: the characters are all so familiar, Screenplay Martin Gypkens Director of Photography Eeva just like you and me, they aren’t stylized artificial people from the Fleig Editor Karin Jacobs Production Design Joerg Prinz world of film.” Principal Cast August Diehl, Maria Simon, Brigitte Hobmeier, Jeanette Hain, Janek Rieke, Wotan Wilke Moehring, Stipe Erceg, Fritzi “It is a very unconventional project with five separate stories that are Haberlandt, Ina Weisse Casting Annette Borgmann Format HD, interwoven and playing on different continents,” adds Eicher who is blow-up to 35 mm, color, cs, Dolby Shooting Language German aiming for a world premiere of the film at next year’s Berlinale. “I Shooting in Iceland, Germany, Venice, USA and Jamaica, March - think it is a film that could travel because, although it is a German film, July 2006 German Distributor Senator Filmverleih/Berlin not so much is actually located in Germany. Indeed, the spirit of this project is that we are breaking new ground.” World Sales MB 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

Martin Gypkens’ globetrotting second feature Nichts als Ge- spenster (translation: “Nothing But Ghosts”) began its marathon shoot on Iceland at the beginning of March and will have continued its progress around the globe to the Nevada Desert, Venice and Germany before wrapping on the Caribbean island of Jamaica in July.

The story of five different journeys in five different countries has been adapted by Gypkens from Judith Hermann’s best-selling collection of short stories of the same name and from a story in her first book The Carsten Strauch (photo courtesy of Razor Film) Summer House, Later, which appeared in 1999 and has since been translated into over 20 languages. Offene Wunden The film’s producer Andreas Eicher of box! Film Hamburg first became aware of Gypkens during his work as a selector for the Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Comedy Max Ophuels Festival in Saarbruecken where his debut feature Production Company Razor Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co-pro- Wir won the Director Support Award in 2003. “That summer, Martin duction with 3L Filmproduktion/Dortmund With backing from showed me Judith Hermann’s book and asked if that would be some- Hessische Filmfoerderung, MEDIA Plus, Medienboard Berlin- thing we could work on together,” Eicher recalls. “It was our great Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, BKM, Kuratorium fortune that they immediately found a level to work on. Judith was junger deutscher Film, Hessen Invest, MTV Films Europe/London always following the project: she and Martin met regularly, and she Producers Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner Director Carsten german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 41 Strauch Screenplay Carsten Strauch, Nina Werth, Rainer Ewerrien Director of Photography Nina Werth Production Design Daniele Drobny Principal Cast Carsten Strauch, Rainer Ewerrien, Cosma Shiva Hagen, Christoph Maria Herbst, Burghart Klaussner Casting Tina Boeckenhauer Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital SR Shooting Language German Shooting in Erfurt and Benidorm/Spain, April – May 2005 German Distributor 3L

Filmverleih/Dortmund Film) (photo © Egoli Tossell Scene from “Schwesterherz” Scene from

Contact Razor Filmproduktion GmbH Wassergasse 4 · 10179 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-6 14 58 65 · fax +49-30-61 20 18 63 email: [email protected] · www.razor-film.de

Carsten Strauch had seemingly been one of German cinema’s best kept secrets until Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner of Schwesterherz Razor Film became aware of him. Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama Pro- “We saw the short Das Taschenorgan [which featured in German duction Company Egoli Tossell Film/Cologne, in co-production Films’ NEXT GENERATION 2001 program] and died laughing!,” with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, ARTE/Strasbourg, GFP recalls Paul about their first encounter with multitalent Strauch. “We Medienfonds/Berlin With backing from Filmstiftung NRW found his contact details via Google and were surprised that nobody Producer Judy Tossell Co-Producer David Groenewold else had been in touch as he already had so much experience and Director Ed Herzog Screenplay Heike Makatsch, Johanna success. Such a thing would never be conceivable in the USA, that can Adorján Director of Photography Sebastian Edschmid Com- only happen in Germany.” missioning Editors Lucas Schmidt, Andreas Schreitmueller, Anne Even Editor Uta Schmidt Music by Max Martin Schroeder Indeed, Strauch has made a name for himself over the past ten years Production Design Brigitte Schloegel, Emanuel Schleiermacher writing, acting and directing in such shorts as the 1996 animation film Principal Cast Heike Makatsch, Anna Maria Muehe, Marc Futter, which won the German Short Film Award in Gold and awards at Hosemann, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Ludwig Trepte, Denis Moschitto, festivals in Dresden and Oberhausen, the 1999 parody Nachbarn, and Grischa Huber Casting Bernhard Karl, Anja Dihrberg Format 2001’s Das Taschenorgan which was nominated for the German Short HDTV, color, cs, blow-up to 35 mm, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting Film Award and won the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Short Film Award and Language German Shooting in Duesseldorf, Cologne, the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. Benidorm/Spain, December 2005 – February 2006 German Distributor Timebandits Films/Potsdam “It is also a peculiarity of the German market that he doesn’t come from Munich or Berlin, but from Offenbach,” Paul adds. Indeed, Contact Strauch stayed in his home town to study Visual Communication at Egoli Tossell Film AG · Judy Tossell the local College for Design (HfG) and graduated as a qualified de- Torstrasse 164 · 10115 Berlin/Germany signer in 2001. phone +49-30-24 65 65 0 · fax +49-30-24 65 65 24 email: [email protected] Razor Film worked with Strauch on the idea of a black comedy www.egolitossell.com about two hospitals using every means available to fight for survival in the new economic climate. “There was the question whether this Anne’s life appears perfect. She is young, beautiful and has a high- would still be topical and in the zeitgeist when the film came to be powered job in the music industry. But a holiday with her much made,” Paul recalls. “While the film is not primarily about the changes younger sister forces her to rethink her priorities and values. What is to the health reform, it is a subject that’s out there. Some of the more important, Prada or God? things we thought up for the story seemed a step further on from reality, but then have become real! That rather shocked us a bit, but it “I wrote this script with Johanna Adorján,” says Heike also confirmed that we were on the right way.” Makatsch, “because we believe that Anne’s story is an honest depiction of the problem facing a new generation: a generation that The producers also landed something of a coup by bringing MTV avoids any kind of further development because the preservation of Films Europe onboard as an investor for the film. “The English exe- youth is treated as its most valued commodity.” cutives at MTV in London had seen Carsten’s shorts and said that these were the first German comedies they really found funny,” Paul Makatsch, one of the hottest actresses working in today’s German explains. “The film is macabre and black; everyone can understand and international cinema (her credits include Love Actually, Das and empathize with the situations here because it is not specifically Wunder von Lengede, Anatomie 2, Resident Evil and Nackt) is aware of about the German health system.” the irony. After all, today’s industry and cinema values youth ’ueber MB alles’.

“I can tell you,” Makatsch avers, “that I and many girlfriends of mine recognize ourselves in the character of Anne and have so greatly german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 42 wished the film industry would tackle this subject – the lack of World Sales identity for women after they are no longer girls.” ZDF Enterprises GmbH Lise-Meitner-Strasse 9 · 55129 Mainz/Germany Schwesterherz marks her second collaboration with director Ed phone +49-61 31-99 10 · fax+49-61 31-99 12 60 Herzog, after Almost Heaven, and is the first theatrical feature from www.zdf-enterprises.de journalist Johanna Adorján. A thriller must be a thick and juicy steak you can bite into. So if you “I’m fascinated by the role age plays for women,” says Adorján. are going to blackmail someone or something, why not an entire city? “Today, 13-year-olds wear the same clothes as their mother and listen That’s exactly what happens in Eine Stadt wird erpresst (trans- to the same music. What is there for adult women? What IS an adult lation: “A City is Blackmailed”). woman? What is there for a woman to aspire to in becoming older? Especially when advertising, the media, film stars all say it’s downhill Here it is, the eastern German city of Leipzig. A bomb explodes; the from thirty onwards and she should think seriously about Botox, face criminals demand a ransom in diamonds and, having planned with per- lifts and liposuction.” fect precision, escape with the booty. The search leads Haupt- kommissar Kalinke (Uwe Kockisch) and his two colleagues Producer was born in England, moved to Berlin to Judy Tossell Kommissar Banderes (Misel Maticevic) and Kommissarin Maria study German and started her career as an assistant, later producer, Rogalla (Julia Blankenburg) to a village at the edge of the brown at Regina Ziegler Filmproduktion. She founded Tossell Pictures in coal mining-region. While Kalinke is forced to confront his own past 1996 and merged with Egoli Films in 2001 to form Egoli Tossell Film. and entanglements, the villagers pose their own puzzles. Nothing and nobody is what and who he seems. It ends in a life-risking showdown Recent credits include Big Girls Don’t Cry (2002) and Mouth to Mouth in a luxury hotel. (2004). The latter premiered at the San Francisco Film Festival 2005 and took the Best Feature & Jury Prizes at the Brooklyn International “This is a real police thriller with action,” says producer Andreas Film Festival the same year: the Toronto Globe and Mail called it “exqui- Bareiss. “It has tension, a deep reaching story, a great deal of huma- site … fresh and alive.” Look for more of the same from nity, characters with edges and angles and a good portion of action. It . Schwesterherz will also work in the cinema and in terms of production values we are SK so close to the line between a TV movie and a feature film I stopped counting each time we crossed it!”

Eine Stadt wird erpresst also marks Bareiss’ ninth collaboration with director Dominik Graf. “It’s always fun to work with him,” says Bareiss. “It’s always a challenge, it’s always hard work and at the end we always have a great film. He is the master of the German thriller.”

Graf, fresh off his Berlinale 2006 success Der Rote Kakadu, has piled (photo © Julia von Vietinghoff) up a number of awards for his prolific theatrical and TV work, including four Adolf Grimme Awards, three VFF TV Movie Awards and the Scene from “Eine Stadt wird erpresst” erpresst” “Eine Stadt wird Scene from German Film Award.

Co-author Rolf Basedow worked with Graf on Sperling, which cul- minated in their joint nomination for Best Script in the 1999 German Television Awards. Basedow also worked with director Doris Doerrie and Ruth Stadler on Bin ich schoen?, which won the 1998 Bavarian Film Eine Stadt wird erpresst Award. TV Movie Thriller Type of Project Genre Production Kockisch, with more than twenty features and forty TV productions BurkertBareiss Development/Munich, TV60 Companies under his belt, is an old hand at the police game and since 2003 has Film/Munich, for ZDF/Mainz Andreas Bareiss, Gloria Producers made the role of Commissario Brunetti in pubcaster ARD’s versions Burkert, Bernd Burgemeister Director Dominik Graf Screenplay of the Donna Leon thrillers his. Rolf Basedow, Dominik Graf Director of Photography Alexander Fischerkoesen Commissioning Editor Caroline von Blankenburg worked with Graf on his 2002 TV movie Hotte im Senden Editor Hana Muellner Music by Sven Rossenbach, Paradies, as did Maticevic, who went on to feature in Graf ’s 2003 Florian van Volxem Production Design Claus-Juergen Pfeiffer melodrama, Kalter Fruehling. Principal Cast Uwe Kockisch, Misel Maticevic, Julia Blankenburg SK Casting An Dorthe Braker Special Effects Nefzer/Babelsberg, Rolf Hanke Format 16 mm, color, 1:1.78, Stereo Shooting Language German Shooting in Leipzig, Berlin, February – March 2006

german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 43 she has opted for an insightful and detailed study of what happens to an individual when everything they have previously taken for granted loses its validity, when everything that has, up to now, defined that person and their existence is not only called into question, but funda- mentally challenged. (photo © credofilm) Scene from “Valerie” Scene from “It’s the human condition at its most basic,” says Moeller. ”There is not only that element of ’there but for the grace of God go I’ but also the nagging fear and doubt that, I believe, is at the root of all human existence.”

If Valerie sounds tailor-made for misogynists then prepare to be disappointed, because, as Moeller says, “the film stands and falls on your perception of the title figure. There is much about Valerie that is unattractive, but nobody wants to spend ninety minutes in the company of a character they don’t care about. As the layers of her pre- Valerie vious life are stripped away, she emerges anew. She is, if you like, a constant work in progress. At the end of the film she is a totally dif- Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama ferent person to the woman we meet at the beginning. There is Production Company credofilm/Berlin, in co-production with redemption and newly-born hope.” SK Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie (dffb)/Berlin, ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz With backing from Medienboard Berlin- Brandenburg Producers Susann Schimk, Joerg Trentmann Director Birgit Moeller Screenplay Ruth Mehmet, Ilja Haller, Milena Baisch, Birgit Moeller, Elke Sudmann Director of Photography Kolja Raschke Commissioning Editor Lucas Schmidt Editor Piet Schmelz Production Design Dorothee von Bodelschwing Principal Cast Agata Buzek, Devid Striesow,

Guntbert Warns, Birol Uenel, Anne Sarah Hartung Casting Troeber (photo © Thekla Ehling) Casting/Berlin Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting Language German Shooting in Berlin, December 2005 - Elsner in “Vivere” Hannelore February 2006

Contact credofilm GmbH · Susann Schimk Schiffbauerdamm 13 · 10117 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-2 57 62 40 · fax +49-30-25 76 24 22 email: [email protected] · www.credofilm.de Vivere It no longer counts for anything how beautiful, desirable and desired you are if you find yourself stranded without a penny to your name. Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama, That’s as in not just short of cash for the moment, lacking some ready Melodrama, Road Movie Production Company elsani change, being less than liquid, but meaning you do not have any means Film/Cologne, in co-production with Screenart/Berlin, Revolver to pay for anything. Film/Rotterdam With backing from Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, That’s exactly the situation Valerie (Agata Buzek), the title figure Rotterdam Film Fund Producer Anita Elsani Director Angelina of Birgit Moeller’s dffb graduation film, finds herself in. She is a Maccarone Screenplay Angelina Maccarone Director of photo model, used to the finest things in life and so unprepared for Photography Judith Kaufmann Editor Bettina Boehler Music the high speed curve-ball life has just thrown in her face. by Jakob Hansonis, Hartmut Ewert Production Design Peter Menne Principal Cast Hannelore Elsner, Esther Zimmering, Kim Fans of Schadenfreude can start salivating here because, compoun- Schnitzer, Egbert-Jan Weeber, Tygo Gernandt Casting elsani ding Valerie’s financial predicament, she is currently without work, has film/Cologne Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Stereo no prospects of getting any, it’s Christmas Eve and she’s stuck in the Shooting Language German Shooting in Cologne, underground carpark of the luxury Hotel Hyatt in Berlin! Unable to Rotterdam, March - April 2006 cope and forced to sleep in her car, Valerie finds herself embarking on a double life from which she is able to extract herself only through her World Sales developing friendship with Andre (Devid Striesow), the parking Media Luna Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG attendant. Ida Martins Hochstadenstrasse 1-3 · 50674 Cologne/Germany Award-winning commercials and video director Moeller (her spots phone +49-2 21-8 01 49 80 · fax +49-2 21-80 14 98 21 for Nike won her Gold at the Spotlight Festival 2003 and the First email: [email protected] Steps Commercial Award 2003) could have crafted a comedy. Instead, www.medialuna-entertainment.de german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 44 Three women on the run, saving each other, saving themselves – that’s the strapline for Vivere. If that’s not enough to get buyers heading for Media Luna Entertainment’s pitch at the Cannes Marché du Film 2006 here’s the plot: On Christmas Eve, Francesca’s little sister, Antonietta, is running away to Rotterdam with her musician boyfriend. On the way to Rotterdam, Francesca picks up Gerlinde, a suicidally lovesick woman: now she has two lives to save. With the paths of three lost souls criss-crossing in Amsterdam, it soon is hard to tell who is saving whom …

Writer-director Angelina Maccarone is a filmmaker who is very much an actor’s director, not frightened to challenge stereotypes or push envelopes.

Maccarone says, “I like the themes of absurdity, the absurdity of norms, and of crossing boarders, of overstepping the line.” This was evidenced by her film Unveiled (Fremde Haut) – the story of an Iranian asylum seeker forced to assume the identity of a dead man – and, as Vivere shows, she hasn’t finished yet.

Of the cast, Hannelore Elsner (Gerlinde) is one of the stalwarts of modern German cinema. If you’re looking for lightweight, look elsewhere. For penetrating and searing performances that leap off the screen with an intensity that comes from the depths of the soul (and this woman digs deep) then check out Elsner in No Place to Go (Die Unberuehrbare, 2000, dir: Oskar Roehler). elsani film was founded in June 2003 by Anita Elsani. The company specializes in international arthouse; the first production, the German-Albanian Magic Eye (dir: Kujtim Cashkus), was finished in August 2005. Elsani studied Professional Producing at UCLA then completed the international producing class at the Cologne ifs international film school in 2002. Since 1994 she has worked for several German film production companies, most recently for Wueste Film West in Cologne, as a producer.

Elsani is currently developing the tragicomedy Overslept (script Katja Kittendorf and Arzu Carkin, dir: Buket Alakus). The film tells the story of a Turkish entrepreneur who fails at, well, everything due to his complete inability to get up early! He finally saves the day, and his family, with one last, desperate venture: a slumber salon offering nap opportunities to busy vendors and customers of the bazaar and, of course, to the owner himself! SK

german films quarterly in production

2 · 2006 45 Als der Fremde kam STRANGER Scene from “Stranger” (photo © Colonia Media) Scene from

Anne and Mathias Wernicke have been married for duction Company Colonia Media Filmproduktion/Cologne twenty years and lead a calm and eventless life in a small Principal Cast Goetz George, Dagmar Manzel, Gudrun Ritter, village that could be nearly everywhere in Germany. Christian Redl, Aljoscha Stadelmann Casting Anja Dihrberg Mathias and son Uli are both factory workers; Anne works Length 90 min Format Super 16 mm, color, 16:9 Original as a cook in the same company. The family finds out that Version German Sound Technology Stereo Festival the factory will be dismissing most of the employees, even Screenings Baden-Baden 2005 though the company is doing financially well. Compensations and social welfare packages are promised Andreas Kleinert was born in Berlin in 1962. He worked as a in order to help moderate the company’s decisions. Dr. props assistant and intern at the DEFA feature film studios and was Robert Stubenrauch, a trade unionist, arrives on the scene also an assistant director to filmmakers like Rainer Simon and to help support the employees. While staying at the Hermann Zschoche. He studied Directing at the Academy of Film Wernicke’s house, he falls in love with Anne. He tries to & Television (HFF/M) in Babelsberg from 1984-1989 and made ignore his feelings, particularly since he has also become several shorts and documentaries. He graduated with Farewell, close friends with Mathias and Uli. But his feelings for Joseph (Lebewohl, Joseph, 1989), which was nominated for a Anne give him the strength and motivation to really make Student OSCAR, and has since directed Lost Landscape things happen like he did 30 years ago. He advises the (Verlorene Landschaft, 1992), Outside Time (Neben workers to go on strike: a decision that has serious conse- der Zeit, 1995), In the Name of Innocence (Im Namen quences. Anne too begins to fall in love with Robert and der Unschuld, 1997), Paths in the Night (Wege in die leaves Mathias. But not only Mathias, the other workers Nacht, 1999), Klemperer – Ein Leben in Deutschland also feel left by the wayside … (TV, 1999/2000), Kelly Bastian – Geschichte einer Hoffnung (TV, 2001), Coming Home (Mein Vater, TV, Genre Drama Category TV Movie Year of Production 2002), Mensch Einstein (TV, 2005), and Stranger (Als der 2005 Director Andreas Kleinert Screenplay Hans Werner Fremde kam, 2005), as well as several episodes of the series Honert, Andreas Kleinert Director of Photography Johann Polizeiruf 110 and Schimanski. Feindt Editor Gisela Zick Music by Andreas Hoge Production Design Stefan Schoenberg Producer Sonja Goslicki Pro-

World Sales (please contact) Colonia Media Filmproduktions GmbH · Sonja Goslicki Moltkestrasse 131 · 50674 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-9 51 40 40 · fax +49-2 21-9 51 40 44 email: [email protected] · www.coloniamedia.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 46 Die bessere Seite THE BETTER SIDE Scene from “The Better Side” (photo courtesyScene from of Perzl) Andreas

The boy sitting at the railway station, wistfully observing Janek Romero was born in 1979 in Starnberg. After working for passing trains, is called Joci. His village, Nyirmihálydi, is a “Publicis”, a company producing commercials located in Munich, he Roma settlement in the east of Hungary. Nyirmihálydi is a began to study Audiovisual Design at the University of Applied place where people live according to their own traditions, Sciences in Mainz. Since 2002 he has been studying at the Film dance to their own music and speak their own language. Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg, with the main focus on directing It is a place where growing up means getting ready to documentary films. In 2006 he worked for the Goethe-Institut in follow in your father’s footsteps. Joci, however, dreams of Barcelona and as a commissioning editor for the cultural news on a life beyond the railway tracks. What awaits him, if he Barcelona Televisió. His films include: Kanakmaen (2000), opposes his father and leaves his village? The Better Side Open Your Eyes (2003), Ciao Warschau (2003), Fremd accompanies Joci in his everyday life, trying to find his (2004), and The Better Side (Die bessere Seite, 2006). roots, and his journey to Budapest, a world unknown and filled with promise.

Genre Coming-of-Age Story, Family, Music Category Semi Fictional Documentary Year of Production 2006 Director Janek Romero Screenplay Janek Romero Director of Photography Frank Lamm Editor Katja Fischer Music by Friedemann von Rechenberg Producer Andreas Perzl Production Company Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg/ Ludwigsburg Length 43 min Format DV, color, 1:1.85 Original Version Hungarian Subtitled Versions English, German Sound Technology Stereo With backing from Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg

World Sales (please contact) Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg · Eva Steegmayer Mathildenstrasse 20 · 71638 Ludwigsburg/Germany phone +49-71 41-96 91 03 · fax +49-71 41-96 95 51 03 email: [email protected] · www.filmakademie.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 47 Bis zum Anfang der Welt – Spurensuche in Afrika

TO WHERE THE WORLD BEGAN – SEARCH AND DISCOVERY IN AFRICA Scene from “To Where the World Began” (photo © RTV-Studio) the World Where “To Scene from

The camera accompanies an artist and painter on his inspi- Roman Teufel embarked on his filmmaking career in the late ring travels through West Africa, back to the roots of 1970s as a freelancer for television. He took part in the production human civilization – into the heart of the Sahara desert. of international nature documentaries and successful TV series Two related but very different media meet and comple- about Africa. In the early 1980s he founded a media production ment one another – painting and cinematic art. company, producing documentaries characterized by extra- ordinarily high aesthetic standards. His films include: Adventure With a scant commentary in the form of a diary mono- Africa (1981-1986, a series of 7 films about the culture of Africa), logue, the film conveys the breath of Africa, and lets the Castaways (1991), The Royal Art (1997), Around the pictures and atmosphere speak for themselves. The fasci- World in 24 Hours (2000), Footsteps (2002), and To nating music of West Africa lends the film a special, dis- Where the World Began (2005). tinctive rhythm. The viewer experiences the black con- tinent in a unique manner through the eyes of a traveling painter, or of a painting traveler – on the trail to himself and the roots of the world.

Genre Art, Road Movie Category Documentary TV Year of Production 2005 Director Roman Teufel Screenplay Roman Teufel Director of Photography Roman Teufel Editor Gaby Scheewe-Pfeil Producer Roman Teufel Pro- duction Company RTV-Studio/Aichhalden Principal Cast Richard W. Allgaier Narrator Erik Hansen Length 50 min Format HD 1080, color, 16:9 Original Version German Dubbed Versions English, French Sound Technology Dolby Surround

World Sales (please contact) RTV-Studio Roman Teufel Reisser 23 · 78733 Aichhalden/Germany phone +49-74 22-56 01 70 · fax +49-74 22-56 01 71 email: [email protected] · www.rtv-studio.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 48 Bye Bye Harry Scene from "Bye Bye Harry" Bye (photo "Bye © NFP/DetlefScene from Overmann)

Emma and Ian used to be together, and if only Emma Genre Action Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of hadn’t been so impulsive, and Ian hadn’t always come up Production 2006 Director Robert Young Screenplay with crazy get-rich-quick schemes, who knows, they’d pro- Graham Alborough Director of Photography Hannes bably still be a couple! For the moment they’re back Hubach Editor Jeremy Strachan Music by James Barker, Tim together since Ian claims to have a buyer for the classic Despic/Veneration Music Production Design André Fonsny, Jaguar that Emma has poured all her savings into. Ian is Viera Dandova Producers Patrik Pass, Jean-Luc Van Damme, convinced that if he strikes it rich, he’ll win Emma back. Ruth Baumgarten, Eliza Mellor, Gabriela Pfaendner, Alexander Thies On the way to the mystery buyer, Ian plans to visit his Production Company NFP teleart/Halle, in co-production brother Stuart and sister-in-law Sophie at their country with No Snow Productions/London, Banana Films/Brussels, Trigon chalet. Ian wants to show his brother, who’s always Productions/Bratislava Principal Cast Iddo Goldberg, Joanna mocked his harebrained schemes, that he’s finally going to Page, Veronica Ferres, Tim Dutton, Bela B. Felsenheimer, Til make it. Unfortunately, he only makes it into a tree, since Schweiger Casting Irene Lamb Length 92 min, 2,505 m he lost control of the Jaguar and flipped over. To get the Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version English Sound car back onto the road and running again, Stuart calls on Technology Dolby Digital 5.1 With backing from Eurimages, two Moldavian goons. The good news: they get the car Motion Investment Group/CinePartners Belgium One, Hessen down from the tree. The bad news: they totally wreck it Invest, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, Medienboard Berlin- in the process. Ian has to come up with another idea to Brandenboard, Hessische Filmfoerderung, MEDIA Plus, Ministry of make money. How about kidnapping the corpse of famed Culture of the Slovak Republic German Distributor NFP comedian Harry Hackett, who just died, and demanding a marketing & distribution*/Berlin ransom? No sooner said than done. The only thing is, Stuart does it first, with the help of the Moldavians, whom Robert Young studied Acting and Theater in London. He went he tries to double-cross. Before anyone can say “Bye Bye to the U.S. with the Old Vic Company and worked as a stage direc- Harry” for good, confused cops give chase to bumbling tor from 1963 to 1967. He began directing for 20th Century Fox in body snatchers, while romantic escapades provide respite 1967. His feature film credits include Captain Jack (1998), for the stressed plotters. In the end, Ian still isn’t rich – but Fierce Creatures with John Cleese, Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee at least he’s won back the heart of his beloved Emma … Curtis (1995), and the Eric Idle comedy Splitting Heirs (1993). A prolific TV director, his many small-screen productions include LWT’s Jane Eyre (1996), episodes of The Infinite Worlds of H.G. World Sales Wells (2000) and the Inspector Lynley (2001) detective series. 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

A cinematic chamber-piece, set on the mystical isle of Alexander Oppersdorff was born in 1965 in Frankfurt and Capri. studied at the London Film School. He has also lived in Rome and worked for the Spoleto Festival. His first documentary was about Over the course of one weekend, in an idyllic villa close the legendary opera composer Gian Carlo Menotti. In 2003, he by the Blue Grotto, two men and two women meet. As founded OFF-Produktion in Berlin. Capri, You Love? (2006) is the hours pass, they find themselves entangled in a his feature debut. humorous clash of attraction and ego.

We follow the ebb and flow of their stories as their lives tilt and spin by sometimes small and other times significant degrees.

Genre Comedy, Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director Alexander Oppersdorff Screenplay Alexander Oppersdorff Director of Photog- raphy Ian Blumers Editor Anne Fabini Music by Jacopo Fiastri Producer Alexander Oppersdorff Production Company OFF-Produktion/Berlin, in co-production with Wasabi Film/ Munich, DRIFE PRODUCTIONS/Munich Principal Cast Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey, Chiara Schoras, Markus Meyer, Kathrin Angerer Casting Uwe Buenker Length 86 min Format HD Cam, color, 16:9 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR

World Sales (please contact) OFF-Produktion Neue Gruenstrasse 23 · 10179 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-27 58 28 45 · fax +49-30-27 58 28 46 email: [email protected] · www.off-produktion.com german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 50 Eden Charlotte Roche in “Eden” (photo © Gambit & C-Films)

Eden, a married woman, falls under the spell of the 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English “Cucina Erotica” of eccentric master chef Gregor. Their Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festival Screenings platonic gourmet meetings jolt both Eden and Gregor out Rotterdam 2006, Berlin 2006 (German Cinema) Awards Tiscali of their humdrum everyday lives; Eden’s marriage blos- Audience Award & Lion’s Award Rotterdam 2006 With backing soms as a result. But they live in a small town in which from MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), nothing remains secret for long, and after Eden’s husband Swiss Federal Office for Culture (EDI) German Distributor Xaver experiences the erotic cuisine for himself, he is for- Pandora Film Verleih/Aschaffenburg ced to take action or else lose his wife. Michael Hofmann was born in 1961. He worked as a designer Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of and director for the LINTAS ad agency from 1988-1990 before Production 2005 Director Michael Hofmann Screenplay becoming a freelance writer and director in 1991. He received a Michael Hofmann Director of Photography Jutta Pohlmann grant to attend the Munich Script Workshop in 1994 and made his Editors Bernhard Wiessner, Isabel Meier Music by Christoph feature film debut in 1998 with Trouville Beach (Der Strand Kaiser, Julian Maas Production Design Joerg Prinz Producers von Trouville) after directing several shorts and penning a num- Michael Jungfleisch, Robby Geisler Production Company ber of screenplays. His other films include: Kleine Fische (short, Gambit Film/Ludwigsburg, in co-production with C-Films/Zurich, 1988), An ganz normalen Tagen geschehen Dinge wie SWR/Baden-Baden, BR/Munich, Cine Plus Media/Berlin, SF diese (short, 1991), The Tale of the Girl and the Bear DRS/Zurich, Teleclub Switzerland/Zurich Principal Cast (short, 1992), Lunapark (short, 1993), Fleischgerichte, Charlotte Roche, Josef Ostendorf, Devid Striesow, Leonie Stepp, buergerlich (short, 1993), Big Eyes (documentary, 1993), Sex Max Ruedlinger, Roeland Wiesnekker Casting Sigrid Emmerich & Drugs (short, 1994), Sophiiiie! (2002), and Eden (2005). Length 98 min, 2,695 m Format HD Blow-up 35 mm, color,

World Sales The Match Factory · Michael Weber Sudermanplatz 2 · 50670 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-2 92 10 20 · fax +49-2 21-29 21 02 10 email: [email protected] · www.the-match-factory.com german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 51 FC Venus - Women with Balls Scene from “FC Venus – Women with Balls” (photo © Wueste Film/Britta Krehel) with Balls” (photo © Wueste – Women “FC Venus Scene from

Paul and Anna live a happy life together in Berlin. Then Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Paul gets a call from his hometown Imma. His old friend Production 2006 Director Ute Wieland Screenplay Jan Steffen, captain and co-founder with Paul of the local soc- Berger Director of Photography Peter Przybylski Editor cer club, Eintracht Imma 95, needs him to fulfill a prom- Martina Matuschewski Music by Oliver Biehler Production ise: Paul has to come back and help out his old friends. Design Thilo Mengler Producers Ralph Schwingel, Stefan Eintracht Imma is about to lose its standing. But Paul’s Schubert Production Company Wueste Film/Hamburg, in co- plans to move back home seriously jeopardize his rela- production with Egoli Tossell Film/Berlin, SevenPictures Film/ tionship to Anna, who hates soccer and loves Berlin. Only Unterfoehring, in cooperation with SAT.1/ Berlin, GFP Medien- a lie can get her to go back to Imma with him. For Anna, fonds/Berlin Principal Cast Nora Tschirner, Christian Ulmen, it is a step into soccer hell. Soon Paul outs himself as a soc- Florian Lukas, Anneke Kim Sarnau, Heinz Hoenig Casting Heta cer junkie, who only has thoughts for Eintracht Imma. And Mantscheff Special Effects Peter Wiemker, Frank Schlegel his buddies terrorize their wives and girlfriends with all the Length 99 min, 2,709 m Format 35 mm, color, cs Original things that soccer junkies terrorize their women with: Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Astro Turf in the bedroom, team bed sheets and week- Technology Dolby Digital With backing from Film- ends at the soccer grounds. When Anna realizes that he foerderungsanstalt (FFA), FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Medienboard only returned to Imma for his beloved team, she rounds Berlin-Brandenburg German Distributor NFP marketing & up her fellow sufferers and challenges Paul and his friends distribution*/Berlin, 20th Century Fox (Germany)/Frankfurt to the ultimate duel: the women vs. the men, on the field. If the women win, bye bye soccer forever and Paul has to Ute Wieland’s award-winning films include: Im Jahr der move back to Berlin with Anna. If the men win, the Schildkroete (1988), Polizeiruf 110 – Hetzjagd (TV, women have to stop complaining. Problem is though that 1997), Wie angelt man sich seinen Chef? (TV, 1999), none of the women can play soccer and their team, FC Morgen gehoert der Himmel mir (TV, 1999), Dich Venus, is under (wo-)manned. And the only way to be- schickt der Himmel (TV, 2000), Die Mutter meines come a member of FC Venus is to have had sex with one Mannes (TV, 2001), Eiskalte Freunde (TV, 2002), Italiener of the members of Eintracht Imma within the last year! und andere Suessigkeiten (TV, 2003), Miss Texas (TV, The heat is on to get both teams up to par … 2004), and FC Venus - Women with Balls (2006).

World Sales TELEPOOL GmbH · Wolfram Skowronnek 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 · 2006 52 Franzoesisch fuer Anfaenger FRENCH FOR BEGINNERS Scene from “French for Beginners” (photo “French © Constantin Film, Muenchen) Scene from

Henrik thinks France is really uncool, in particular his Despouy, David Groenewold Line Producer Frank Siegmund finicky French teacher Monsieur Nouvelleville, who is Production Company NEOS Film/Munich, in co-production always hassling him. But when Henrik meets Valerie, it’s with Rat Pack Filmproduktion/Munich, Hector Films/Paris, Zweite love at first sight. He is so in love with her that he can Medienfonds German Filmproductions/Berlin, Rhône-Alps hardly speak when she is around. And as if that weren’t Cinéma/Lyon, Open Arts Productions/Paris Principal Cast enough, it comes out that Henrik doesn’t like France. And Francois Goeske, Paula Schramm, Elodie Bollée, Lennard Bertzbach Valerie is half French. Oh no! His chances for a date are Casting Daniela Tolkien Length 92 min, 2,700 m Format 35 not looking good, and then along comes the German- mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German/French/English French exchange program. Not much later, Henrik finds Subtitled Versions French, English Sound Technology himself with his best friend Johannes, Valerie and a group Dolby Digital With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, of weird chanson-singing and guitar-playing nerds in a bus Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Eurimages, Rhône-Alps-Cinema, on the way to France. Upon arrival, Henrik gets bitten by CNC German Distributor Constantin Film Verleih/Munich the savoir-vivre bug: wild parties, a crazy host family, night- time outings, the ups and downs of his first big love and Christian Ditter was born in 1977 and studied at the Academy his lack of knowledge of the French language make what of Television & Film (HFF/M) in Munich. His films include: first looked like an undesired holiday suddenly the most Verzaubert (short, 1999), the cinema commercials In- unforgettable summer in his life. dividualist and Mission (both 2002), Grounded (short, 2003), four episodes of the television series Schulmaedchen (2004), Genre Romantic Comedy, Coming-of-Age Story Category and French for Beginners (Franzoesisch fuer Feature Film Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director Anfaenger, 2006). Christian Ditter Screenplay Christian Ditter Director of Photography Christian Rein Editor Patricia Rommel Music by Philipp F. Koelmel Production Design Eva Maria Stiebler Producer Christoph Menardi Co-Producers Christian Becker, Anita Schneider, Julien Auger-Ottavi, Marc-André Brunet, Gérard

World Sales (please contact) NEOS Film GmbH & Co. KG Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-64 98 12 25 · fax +49-89-64 98 19 99 email: [email protected] · www.neosfilm.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 53 Fussballgoettinnen GODDESSES OF SOCCER Scene from “Goddesses ofScene from Soccer” (photo © unique productions)

Goddesses of Soccer submerges us into the everyday life Genre Society, Sports Category Documentary Cinema Year of of women and their passion for soccer. The film goes far Production 2006 Directors Nina Erfle, Frédérique Veith beyond the game, giving an exceptional portrait of four Directors of Photography Klaus Hennrich, Mark Liedtke, women and their surroundings. Guillermo Atocha Arias, Kai Ehlers, Henning Bruemmer, Fariba Nilchian Editors Anja Neraal, Neliah Ibeh Music by Eike Trautchen has given her best years to her soccer club. Her Hosenfeld, Moritz Denis Producer Jenni Kriegel Production emancipation went hand in hand with her work on and Company unique productions/Berlin Length 92 min Format around the soccer field. Here she began to blossom and HD, color, 16:9 Original Version German Subtitled Version learned to stand her ground. The retired Berliner keeps English Sound Technology Stereo With backing from her role as a big mouth and boss on the renowned mid- Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Saarland Medien, Kulturelle city soccer field. Life just won’t let her slow down. Beatrix Filmfoerderung Schleswig-Holstein, Filmstiftung NRW German needs strong nerves, she is one of Germany’s youngest Distributor Edition Salzgeber/Berlin soccer referees. She’ll take up any challenge. The 16-year- old seems to have almost everything under control, if it Nina Erfle was born in 1971 in Munich and studied Cultural wasn’t for her adolescence. Devoted fan Bettina draws all Studies, Art History and Film in Berlin. Since graduating in 1999, she her energy from a packed stadium. She couldn’t imagine has been working as a researcher and production manager for life without her soccer club. Her run-of-the-mill life as an various cultural documentaries (ZDF, ARTE, Deutsche Welle TV, insurance agent is compensated through thriving emotions NHK and Fuji TV). as a soccer fan. Viola has been playing soccer since she was a child. Today she is a soccer world champion. But Frédérique Veith was born in 1972 in Munich and studied being a top-notch player means being under constant pres- German & French Studies in Metz, Strasbourg and Saarbruecken. sure and being completely dedicated. She also studies Since 1999 she has been lecturing for radio workshops of a Sports at the university and hopes that her female succes- German-French youth project in Paris and also works as an editor sors have it easier one day in the male dominated world for France 3 and the Saarland broadcasting station and has created of soccer. over 400 short to mid-length television features for various television broadcasters.

Goddesses of Soccer (Fussballgoettinnen, 2006) is their World Sales (please contact) first full-length documentary since finishing the one-year Producer unique productions GmbH Program at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin. Erkelenzdamm 59, Portal 1 · 10999 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-69 04 13 02 · fax +49-30-69 04 13 03 email: [email protected] · www.uniqueproductions.de · www.fussballgoettinnen.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 54 Haensel und Gretel HANSEL AND GRETEL Scene from “Hansel and Gretel” (photo © Kinderfilm “Hansel and Gretel” Scene from GmbH)

Money is scarce and there are too many mouths to feed. Storm, Nastassja Hahn, Henning Peker, Claudia Geisler, Christian To solve the problem, Hansel and Gretel’s stepmother con- Habicht Casting Annekathrin Huebner Length 78 min, 1,009 m vinces their father to abandon them, in the deepest forest. Format Super 16 mm, color, 1:1.66 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Stereo Left to their own devices, the siblings don’t know how to Festival Screenings Berlin 2006 (Kinderfilmfest) With find their way back home. They have no food and they are backing from Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung very hungry. Lured by the delicious goodies on the outside walls of a small cottage, they accept an old lady’s invitation Anne Wild was born in 1967 in Bielefeld. She studied German to eat and spend the night. She promises, after all, not to Literature, Philosophy and Art History at the University of Freiburg eat them … from 1986-1988, followed by Acting from 1988-1992 at the Academy of Music and Applied Arts in Stuttgart. In 1994, she work- The next morning the children find out they are trapped: ed in New York as a production assistant for advertisements, music Hansel is locked up in a cage and the evil old lady makes videos and feature films. She has also done text writing for ad- Gretel slave away for her. Will they be able to out-wit the vertising agencies in Hamburg and Berlin, and has participated in evil old witch? numerous screenplay seminars. In 1999, together with Stefan Daehnert, she received the first Baden-Wuerttemberg Script Prize for Genre Family Category Feature Film Cinema Year of What to do in case of fire? (Was tun, wenn’s brennt, 2001). Her other Production 2006 Director Anne Wild Screenplay Peter films include Nachmittag in Siedlisko (2000), Ballet Was Schwindt, based on the Grimm Brother’s fairy tale Director of Canceled (Ballett ist ausgefallen, 2001), her feature debut Photography Wojciech Szepel Editor Dagmar Lichius Music My First Miracle (Mein erstes Wunder, 2001), and by Mari Boine Production Design Martina Brunner Hansel and Gretel (Haensel und Gretel, 2006). Producers Ingelore Koenig, Ernst Geyer, Juergen Haase Production Companies Kinderfilm/Erfurt, Moviepool/ Munich, ZDF/Mainz Principal Cast Sybille Canonica, Johann

2 · 2006 55 Hedy Lamarr – Secrets of a Hollywood Star (photo © C Produktion) Scene from “Hedy of LamarrScene from - Secrets a Hollywood Star”

MGM-tycoon Louis B. Mayer called Hedy Lamarr “the Madrid 2006, Cracow 2006 With backing from Eurimages, most beautiful girl of the century.” A psychological portrait EDI, City of Zurich, Succès Cinéma, Filmstiftung NRW German of glamour star Hedy Lamarr who became scandalously Distributor Real Fiction Filmverleih/Cologne famous in 1933 as the first nude on the screen with her appearance in the Austrian/Czech film Ecstasy. She then Donatello and Fosco Dubini were born in 1955 and 1954, had an extraordinary career in more than 25 Hollywood respectively, in Zurich. Together, their films include: Blind- films. Don’t forget her historic patent for a torpedo guided gaenger (1983), Ueber mir der Himmel, unter mir ein system from 1942 which serves today as the basis for schwarzes Loch (1984), The Disappearance of Ettore mobile phones. The documentary contains interviews with Majorana (Das Verschwinden des Ettore Majorana, Mickey Rooney, Lupita Kohner, Kenneth Anger and many 1986), Klaus Fuchs – Atom Spy (Klaus Fuchs – Atom- other personal friends of Hedy. With clips from Ecstasy by spion, documentary, 1989), J.K. – Experience in Dealing Gustav Machaty and Hedy by Andy Warhol. with One’s Own Ego (J.K. – Erfahrungen im Umgang mit dem eigenen Ich, documentary, 1991), Ludwig 1881 Genre Biopic, History Category Documentary Cinema Year (1993), Jean Seberg – American Actress (documentary, of Production 2006 Directors Donatello & Fosco Dubini, 1995), The Journey to Kafiristan (Die Reise nach Barbara Obermaier Screenplay Donatello & Fosco Dubini, Kafiristan, 2001), Thomas Pynchon – A Journey into Barbara Obermaier Director of Photography Donatello the Mind of P. (documentary, 2001), and Hedy Lamarr – Dubini Editors Donatello & Fosco Dubini Producers Cardo Secrets of a Hollywood Star (2006). Dubini, Donatello Dubini, Fosco Dubini, Barbara Obermaier, Monique Indra Production Company Tre Valli Film- Barbara Obermaier was born in 1965 in Bad Reichenhall and produktion/Zurich, in co-production with Dubini Filmpro- studied Modern Literature, Art History and Media Sciences in duktion/Cologne, Obermaier Film/Cologne, MI Films/Vancouver Salzburg, Vienna, Paris, Orléans, and Constance. She has been in Length 84 min Format Betacam SP, color/b&w, 16:9 Original film production since 1995 and became a PR agent in 1997 for Version German/English Subtitled Version English Sound various filmmakers and production companies. Hedy Lamarr – Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings FIPATEL Biarritz Secrets of a Hollywood Star marks her directorial debut. 2006, Solothurn 2006, Kiev 2006 (In Competition), Documenta

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2 · 2006 56 Die Himmelswiese. Die kleinen Wunder von Baan Gerda

HEAVEN’S MEADOW. THE SMALL WONDERS OF BAAN GERDA (photo © GTMA) Scene from “Heaven's Meadow. The Small Wonders of The Small Wonders “Heaven's Meadow. Scene from Baan Gerda”

“Death is never a welcome guest. It can be cruel, a release, Original Version Thai/English/German Dubbed Versions or as tender as a child’s kiss. Death has its place in God’s Thai, English, German, French, Bhutanese, Djermain, Haussa universal order. But that doesn't mean we have to accept Subtitled Version Chinese Sound Technology Stereo its every whim.” Festival Screenings Guangzhou 2005 German Distributor GTMA German Thai Media Association/Berlin How can a film about AIDS orphans uplift your spirit? There will be 24 millions AIDS orphans by 2010. Their life Detlev F. Neufert studied German Language, Philosophy, expectancy will be less then 12 years. Baan Gerda, a spe- Theology and Drama and lives and works today in Berlin and cial purpose village in Thailand, provides a unique alterna- Bangkok. He started his first documentaries for German television tive that shows what true care and real love can achieve. and made short films about pop stars, including Bob Dylan, Frank Watch lives being transformed in Heaven’s Meadow. Zappa and Patti Smith. His feature Take Away the Night (1982) was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard. A moving story about AIDS orphans who were supposed He is also a lecturer in the USA, China and Africa, an author, and to die. A film that places HIV/AIDS firmly within the contributes to various international travel magazines. His films in- wheel of life. clude Family Life (short, 1979) and Heaven’s Meadow. The Small Wonders of Baan Gerda (2005). Genre Culture, Education Category Documentary Cinema Year of Production 2005 Director Detlev F. Neufert Screenplay Detlev F. Neufert Director of Photography Inigo Westmeier Editor Jana Teuchert Music by Andy Groll Producers Detlev F. Neufert, Paleologos Koukouvelis Pro- duction Company GTMA German Thai Media Association/ Berlin Studio Shooting Sun Light Studio/Bangkok, Waveline/Berlin Length 92 min Format Beta, color, 16:9

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2 · 2006 57 Historias de Arriba y Abajo STORIES FROM ABOVE AND BELOW Scene from “Stories from Above and Below” (photo © Christian Stollwerk) “Stories from Scene from

Roberto had always wanted to run his own hotel in the Genre Culture, Fairy Tale, Society Category Documentary city of La Paz/Bolivia. Now it's four floors high and ex- Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director Thomas Boeltken panding. Viviana still dreams of owning her own grocery Screenplay Thomas Boeltken Director of Photography store. The miniatures in her shrine are wishes that Ekheko, Christian Stollwerk Editor Thomas Boeltken Music by Fidel Vies, the God of abundance, will turn into reality, just as he did Erwin Caimani, Macario Chita Producer Christian Stollwerk for Roberto. Production Company Neue Monopolfilm/Leipzig Principal Cast Clemente Mamani, Marisol Quispe, Roberto Bozo Bollati, Marisol the Shepherd leaves behind her llamas. She grows Viviana Ticona, Mario Larico Huanca Length 87 min Format DV, wings so she can soar with the Condor, with whom she color, 1:1.85 Original Versions English & Spanish Subtitled falls in love. The Flower Bird's house is so tiny that the girl Version English Sound Technology Dolby Stereo he seduced with his melodies will not fit inside. And the travelers, shaken by the bus, stare down into the abyss, Thomas Boeltken was born in Duesseldorf in 1971 and spent hoping to soothe the demons who lurk by the sides of the most of his childhood in Ivory Coast. Having finished his M.A. in steep Andean roads. Film Studies he played the drums for the German-American band Kool Ade Acid Test and is currently working on his first feature film Stories from Above and Below transports us to the Freie Fahrt fuer Freie Buerger!. vibrant world of Andean fairy tales, which lies at the very heart of day-to-day Bolivian life. From the ice-capped peaks of the Cordillera, through the winding city of La Paz, to the jungle below, we experience a syncretism of history, fiction and modern life in a region striving for a reawakening of its roots.

World Sales (please contact) Neue Monopolfilm · Christian Stollwerk Bernhard-Goering-Strasse 159 · 04277 Leipzig/Germany phone +49-1 78-5 36 29 40 email: [email protected] · www.historias-de-arriba-y-abajo.com german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 58 Im Schwitzkasten NO SWEAT Scene from “No Sweat” (photo © Moneypenny/AlexScene from Trebus)

The recession’s got people in a headlock. They’re grapp- Uwe Kohlschmidt, Warner Poland Production Design Annette ling, struggling, sweating, but there’s no escape. And while Lofy Producers Anne Leppin, Sigrid Hoerner Production they are sweating, why not really sweat? So Toni, Karin, Company Moneypenny Film/Berlin, in co-production with ZDF Dani, Monika and Norbert meet every Thursday in the Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, Workshop Leppin Moore Berlin sauna “Schwitzkasten” (Sweatbox), run by the sister Hoerner/Berlin Principal Cast Christiane Paul, Charly Huebner, and brother team Nadine and Jost, to brood over the situa- Andreas Schmidt, Esther Zimmering, Steffi Kuehnert, Laura Tonke, tion in the country and life in general while wallowing in Edgar Selge Casting Eoin Moore Length 97 min, 2,654 m mud pack and massage. Toni, long-term jobless and impo- Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German Sub- tent, has lost all confidence to return to his old profession. titled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SRD Karin, who has opened her own business, makes a nui- Festival Screenings Hof 2005, Luenen 2005, Goteborg 2006, sance of herself by trying to sell useless things to anyone Berlin 2006, Dublin 2006 With backing from Medienboard who crosses her path. Stewardess Dani, who thinks the Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM German Distributor Alamode best is just about good enough for her, finds out that the Film/Munich world runs on different time when she’s out of work. Monika, incorrigible do-gooder, has enjoyed an academic Eoin Moore was born in 1968 in Dublin/Ireland. He studied at education with the result that she goes on social welfare the German Film & Television Academy Berlin and has worked as a until she decides whether to marry and have kids or teach soundman and cameraman. He graduated in 1998 with Break sewing to women in Rwanda. And finally there’s Norbert, Even (Plus-Minus Null), which won four awards at interna- the Goethe expert who writes speeches for his wife, a tional festivals and was shown at over 40 festivals in 25 countries. liberal member of parliament. The microcosm of the His other films include: Spiel mir das Lied vom toten sauna opens his eyes to the world as it really is. Will he at Trabbi (short, 1991), So oder so (short, 1992), Children of least have the courage to do something about it? Light (documentary, 1992), Digital Video Ballet (short, 1993), Driver (short, 1993), Loops of Infinity (short, 1994), Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Der Duft des Mannes (short, 1994), Storm Rising (short, Production 2005 Director Eoin Moore Screenplay Eoin 1995), Neuneinhalb Minuten (short, 1996), Conamara Moore, Jens Koester, Sven Poser Director of Photography (2000), Why Don’t We Do It in the Road? Bernd Loehr Editors Antje Zynga, Eoin Moore Music by Kai- (Verkehrsinsel, 2001), Pigs Will Fly (2002), and No Sweat (Im Schwitzkasten, 2005). 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 · 2006 59 Knallhart TOUGH ENOUGH Scene from “Tough Enough” (photo © Boje Buck Produktion GmbH) Enough” (photo © Boje Buck Produktion “Tough Scene from

Fifteen-year-old Michael Polischka is thrown into the gritty min, 2,695 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version urban world of a rough ethnic neighborhood, far from the German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology posh suburbs he’s used to. Beatings and extortion by a Dolby SRD Festival Screenings Berlin 2006 (Panorama) gang of violent bullies makes public high school miserable Awards FIPRESCI Award, Label Europa Cinemas Award Berlin 2006 for Michael. Life at home isn’t much better since he has to With backing from Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), BKM, put up with the guys his pretty young mom entertains in Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg German Distributor Delphi her desperate search for a new man. Michael’s life turns Filmverleih/Berlin around when urbane crime lord Hamal takes him under his wing. Michael’s honest face makes him the perfect guy Detlev Buck was born in Bad Segeberg in 1962 and grew up on for drug deliveries to local dealers. The teenager handles his parents’ farm in Schleswig-Holstein. He studied at the German the tension of these dangerous missions like a pro. Michael Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin from 1985-1989. He proves he’s tough enough, but eventually finds out he’s made a number of short films during his studies, including Normal actually in way over his head. Bitte (1986), Eine Rolle Duschen (1987), and Was drin ist (1988), and graduated in 1989 with the 55-minute film Hopnick. Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of His feature-length films include: Erst die Arbeit und dann Production 2006 Director Detlev Buck Screenplay Zoran (1984), Little Rabbit (Karniggels, 1991), No More Mr Drvenkar, Gregor Tessnow Director of Photography Kolja Nice Guy (Wir koennen auch anders, 1993), Jailbirds Brandt Editor Dirk Grau Production Design Udo Kramer (Maennerpension, 1996), Love Your Neighbor! (Liebe Producer Claus Boje Production Company Boje Buck/ Deine Naechste!, 1998) Liebesluder (2001), and Tough Berlin, in co-production with WDR/Cologne, ARTE/Strasbourg Enough (Knallhart, 2006). He has also made acting appearan- Principal Cast David Kross, Jenny Elvers-Elbertzhagen, Erhan ces in several of his own films, as well as in films by other directors Emre, Inanc Oktay Oezdemir, Kida Khodr Ramadan, Arnel Taci, Kai such as Leander Haussmann, Max Faerberboeck, and Bernd Michael Mueller, Hans Loew Casting Astrid Rosenfed Length 98 Eichinger.

2 · 2006 60 Lapislazuli – Im Auge des Baeren LAPIS LAZULI Scene from “Lapis Lazuli” (photo © Dor Film/Petro Domenigg) “Lapis Lazuli” (photo © Dor Film/Petro Scene from

Right in the middle of the Alpine wilderness, a fiery Producers Danny Krausz, Kurt Stocker Co-Producers Gerd meteorite crashes into a glacier and brings a frozen Huber, Claudia Krebs, Volker Krappen, Jani Thiltges Production Neanderthal boy to life. This boy, Bataa, meets Sophie, a Company Dor Film/Vienna, in co-production with Dor Film young girl who has run away from a holiday cottage in the West/Munich, Cobra Film/Munich, Krebs & Krappen/Hamburg, mountains. At the beginning, they seem to be separated Samsa Film/Luxembourg Principal Cast Clarence John Ryan, by language and time, but soon they discover some simi- Julia Krombach, Hans-Werner Meyer, Lena Stolze, Paula Nocker, larities: Sophie lost her mother and cannot seem to get Christoph Waltz, Gregor Bloéb, Vadim Glowna Casting Markus along with her new patchwork family. Bataa too feels lost Schleinzer, Faith Martin Length 106 min, 3,042 m Format 35 and longs for his family. They both need each other and mm, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version experience a special friendship which suddenly becomes English Sound Technology Dolby Digital SR Festival endangered when scientists start to track them down and Screenings Berlin 2006 (Kinderfilmfest) With backing from try to capture Bataa like a wild animal. Sophie helps him MEDIA, EAVE, Kuratorium junger deutscher Film, Oester- to escape. They hide in an old cave, a sacred site for the reichisches Filminstitut, ORF, Film Fonds Wien, Eurimages, BKM, Neanderthals, and Bataa dyes his hair the color of lapis FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Filmstiftung NRW, Film Fund lazuli. When Bataa falls ill, Sophie convinces him to go Luxembourg, Cine Tirol German Distributor 20th Century with her into the valley. But the closer they get to modern Fox (Germany)/Frankfurt civilization, the worse Bataa’s illness becomes. Sophie realizes that Bataa cannot survive in today’s world and a Wolfgang Murnberger was born in 1960 in Wiener Neustadt. race against time begins. He studied Scriptwriting, Directing and Editing at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. His films include: Himmel Genre Children and Youth, Family Category Feature Film oder Hoelle (1990), Ich gelobe (1994), Attwengerfilm Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director Wolfgang (1995), Komm suesser Tod (2000), Silentium (2004), and Murnberger Screenplay Volker Krappen, Wolfgang Murnberger Lapis Lazuli (2006) as well as numerous TV movies and episodes Director of Photography Fabian Eder Editor Britta Nahler for various television series. Music by Mischa Krausz Production Design Christoph Kanter

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The loneliness of an old man, trapped in his daily rituals Régine Provvedi was born in France and moved to Berlin to and routines, trying to keep at least one foot on the study Art Direction and Fine Arts at the HDK Art Academy. She has ground. However, slowly but surely, he loses touch with worked as a production manager on various international film pro- reality. jects and directed a number of short films, including: Leben aus 2ter Hand (1984), Vehlefanz (1992), Requin (1993), Die Genre Drama Category Short Year of Production 2005 Arche/Lurch (1999), and Little Spoon (2005). Director Régine Provvedi Screenplay Régine Provvedi Director of Photography Isabelle Casez Editor Volkmar Umlauft Production Design Hanna Solms Producers Sven Paul, Régine Provvedi Production Company bluefilm/Berlin Principal Cast Otto Sander Length 15 min, 428 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version no dialogue Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festival Screenings Dresden 2005 (In Competition), Interfilm Berlin 2005, exground Wiesbaden 2005 (In Competition), Vendome 2005 (In Competition), Wuerzburg 2006 (In Competition) With backing from Film- foerderungsanstalt (FFA)

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Imagine the beach of Barcelona in winter, a deserted Genre Culture, Society Category Documentary Cinema Year place, sometimes blustery, on the edge of the vibrant city, of Production 2006 Director Ines Thomsen Screenplay open to the sea. Waves are coming and going. So too are Ines Thomsen Director of Photography Ines Thomsen some few citizens, perhaps called upon by the waves. Or Editor Lars Spaeth Producers Christin Meyer, Anke Jungfleisch, do they simply render visible something timeless and Bettina Walter, Carles Brugueras Production Companies eternal in this fluid flux and reflux? gop03/Berlin, Polar Star Films/Barcelona, in co-production with ZDF/Mainz, in collaboration with ARTE/Strasbourg, Televisió de There is José, nearly ninety, jogging through the sand and Catalunya/Barcelona, Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad there is Paulina, an elderly lady, singing Cuban boleros Wolf ’ (HFF/B)/Potsdam-Babelsberg Principal Cast Paulina from her youth while she swims in the icy sea, her crutch Ubiedo Pardo, José Boadas, Antonio Martín Lengths 83 & 55 min waiting on the sand. Then we encounter Antonio, around Format S 16 mm Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original eighty, scrutinizing the ocean from his home-made cement Version Spanish/Catalan Subtitled Versions English, German throne on the coast's jagged rocks. The three of them, Sound Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings Ophuels towards the end of life, are part of an elderly community, Festival Saarbruecken 2006 (In Competition), Documenta Madrid whose passion draws them every morning to the sea. 2006 (In Competition) Awards Best Documentary Saarbruecken 2006 With backing from Kulturelle Filmfoerderung Schleswig- The film follows these vivid, humorous and lovely indivi- Holstein, Institut Català de les Industries Culturales German dualists and becomes an accomplice to their loves and Distributor gop03/Berlin lives, as they challenge wind, weather and time. The camera never leaves the beach, which appears to be their natu- Ines Thomsen was born in 1975 in Pinneberg. After working in ral environment, a stage for an almost ritual encounter Paris, she worked as a 1st and 2nd camera assistant in New Zealand with the sea, whose rhythm determines the film. and Germany. During her studies at the “Konrad Wolf ” Academy of Film & Television in Potsdam, she spent a year at the ESCAC film Jury of the Film Festival Max Ophuels Prize: school in Barcelona. Her award-winning films include: sportfrei “We fell in love with the wonderful beach-philosophers in (short, 2000), Cantando La Vida (short, 2002), Spiel- this witty, entertaining and serene movie. We very much gefaehrten (short, 2004), Een Land. Twee Meere (short, hope that these stories find their way into cinemas.” 2004), and Mañana al mar (2006). She has also served as DoP on over 15 other films. World Sales (please contact) gop03 GmbH · Christin Meyer, Anke Jungfleisch Choriner Strasse 23 · 10435 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-44 04 38 53 · fax +49-30-44 04 38 11 email: [email protected] · www.gop03.de german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 63 Die Mission – Freiwillige Helfer beim UNHCR THE MISSION – UNHCR REFUGEE AID WORKERS UNHCR” (photo courtesy of Sued) EIKON Scene from "“Die Mission - Freiwillige Helfer beim "“Die Mission - Freiwillige Scene from

“What motivates a person to put their organized life and Stefan Eberlein was born in 1967 in Laupheim. He studied their secure job temporarily on hold, to throw themselves Communication Sciences, Sociology and History in Munich. In into a crisis area in some corner of the world and help the 1994/1995 he served as a production assistant on Romuald refugees there in their daily struggle for survival?” Karmakar’s Der Totmacher. A selelction of his documentary films includes: Keine Schonzeit fuer Fuechse (1998), Der The 5-part documentary series The Mission – UNHCR Katzenfreund (1999), and The Mission – UNHCR Re- Refugee Aid Workers attempts to answer this question. fugee Aid Workers (Die Mission – Freiwillige Helfer beim UNHCR, 2005). He is currently in preparation on his next Every year, the UNHCR trains voluntary aid workers. film Gelber Himmel, Gruenes Meer. People from a secure environment, who are prepared to risk their lives in a crisis area to help others. The film follows two refugee aid workers: Claas (31) from Germany, and Anita (43) from Austria, from their 10-day training through to their dangerous mission and the return home. Will this frontier experience change their lives?

Genre Society Category Documentary TV Year of Production 2005 Director Stefan Eberlein Screenplay Stefan Eberlein Director of Photography Aldo Gugolz Editor Mark Haenecke Producer Susanne Petz Production Company EIKON Sued/Munich Length 5 x 26 min, 1 x 52 min Format DV Cam, color, 16:9 Original Version German/English Sound Technology Dolby

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2 · 2006 64 More Than 1000 Words Scene from “More Than 1000 Words” (photo courtesy of Than 1000 Words” “More Scene from TELEPOOL)

Ziv Koren’s photographs have become instantly recogniz- Length 77 min Format DigiBeta, color, cs Original Version able icons that have helped to shape our perception of the Hebrew/English Subtitled Versions English, German Sound conflict in the Middle East. In More Than 1000 Words Technology Stereo With backing from The New Israeli director Solo Avital followed internationally awarded Ziv Foundation for Cinema & TV over a two-year period, shooting in the heart of riots, terror attack scenes, secret meetings with wanted militants, Solo Avital founded Happy Zoda in 1999 as a facility to produce all the way to Israel’s pullout from Gaza. his films and record his music. He has been a musician since age 11, and at 15 he directed, filmed and edited his first short documentary. This movie, however, is not about the Israeli/Palestinian As an expert in 3D character animation he was invited to conflict; it’s a movie about a married man’s struggle with Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam where he was employed as a special the history of a fierce war in which he is involved on a effects supervisor for digital composing. For 5 years he directed daily basis, and the place he finds for himself in it. The various high budget commercials and made special effects for sever- movie does not seek history through the photographer’s al blockbuster films (The Legend of the Pianist by Giuseppe lens – it seeks the photographer through the lens of Tornatore and Lost in Space by Stephen Hopkins, among others). history and the universal through the most intimate per- Since 2002 he has completed several documentaries, More Than sonal. 1000 Words is his latest work.

Genre Contemporary Politics Category Documentary TV Year of Production 2006 Director Solo Avital Screenplay Solo Avital Director of Photography Solo Avital Editor Solo Avital Music by Danni Reichental, Tomer Biran Producer Oliver Berben Production Company MOOVIE-the art of entertainment/Berlin, in co-production with GFP Medienfonds/Berlin

2 · 2006 65 Motodrom

The world of the hell-riders in their wooden barrel: men Joerg Wagner was born in 1967 in Stuttgart and studied and motorbikes, speed and stunts, gasoline and adrenaline. Audiovisual Media. He has worked as a projectionist and presented A dying fairground attraction, portrayed in a thrilling various short film events and live comedy shows. He also writes homage with 5000 rounds per minute. scripts for film and television productions. His films include: the shorts Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job Genre Art, Experimental Category Documentary Short Year (2001), Pop Musik (2002), and Moto Drome (2006). of Production 2006 Director Joerg Wagner Screenplay Joerg Wagner Director of Photography Peter Drittenpreis, Ayhan Salar, Patrick Orth Editor Andrew Bird Producer Dirk Manthey Production Company HKP 9/Hamburg Principal Cast Hugo Dabbert, Jagath Perera, Tomasz Wyszormirski Length 9 min, 250 m Format 35 mm, b&w, 1:1.66 Original Version no dialogue Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festival Screenings Tampere 2006 (In Competition), IndieLisbo 2006 (In Competition), Oberhausen 2006 (In Competition), Soest 2006 (In Competition) With backing from FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Kulturelle Filmfoerderung Schleswig- Holstein, BKM

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2 · 2006 66 Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker (photo © Stefan Mueller) Scene from “Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker” Hazen & Mr. Schwartz, Mr. “Mr. Scene from

Disturbed by loud music from one of his neighbors, Mr. Stefan Mueller was born in 1974 in Limburg and studied Schwartz calls the police. But initially the officer cannot Communication Design at the University of Applied Sciences ascertain anything. Then the film starts again from the Wiesbaden and the Universidad Complutense Madrid. His films view of every tenant and allows the spectator to see what include: the shorts Stauproblem geloest (2005) and Mr. really happened in each apartment: The history of a Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker (2006). butterfly effect.

Genre Comedy Category Computer Animated Short Year of Production 2006 Director Stefan Mueller Screenplay Stefan Mueller Director of Photography Stefan Mueller Editor Stefan Mueller Music by Stefan Mueller, Steffen Winkler, Frank Nachtigall, Educated Idiot Sessions Production Design Stefan Mueller Producer Stefan Mueller Production Company Basementpictures/Elz Length 7 min 28 sec, 208 m Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version no dialogue Sound Techno- logy Stereo Festival Screenings exground Wiesbaden 2005, Dresden 2006 (In Competition), Cannes 2006 (Cinéfondation), Annecy 2006 Awards First Place Wiesbaden 2005, Golden Horseman: Best Animation & Best Sound Dresden 2006 With backing from Hessische Filmfoerderung German Distri- butor Basementpictures/Elz

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2 · 2006 67 Mythos Heiliger Gral THE GRAIL’S TRACES IN FRANCE Scene from “The Grail’s Traces in France” (photo © Tellus Film) in France” (photo © Tellus Traces “The Grail’s Scene from

Dan Brown found one of the most important sources for revealed how the Maquette is meant to be read and his book The Da Vinci Code in French research about the where the marks in the landscape can be found. Can Holy Grail. This documentary follows a group of resear- Joseph of Arimathea’s grave be located and is this where chers on their quest to find the Holy Grail in France and the legend of the Holy Grail comes full circle? charts the most important historical stages. The result is surprising: Is the grave of Joseph of Arimathea, the first Genre History Category Documentary TV Year of keeper of the grail, located in the South of France? And is Production 2005 Director Erik Borner Screenplay Stefan that where he also left the grail? The filmmakers set out to Friedrich Director of Photography Oliver Pabst Editors follow the grail’s traces in the South of France, from Rafael Metz, Lodur Tettenborn Music by Kraans De Lutin Pro- antiquity to the present day. As one of the first camera ducer Stefan Friedrich Production Company Tellus teams, they visit the grail caves near Vicdessos and show Film/Vaihingen Length 54 min Format BetaSP, color, 4:3 fascinating footage of the castle of Montsegur where the (Letterbox) Original Version German Dubbed Versions community of the Cathars found its gruesome end. You English, French Sound Technology Dolby Digital 2.0 German will find out why the Nazis under Heinrich Himmler tried Distributor Tellus Film/Vaihingen to exterminate a whole village to carry out a building project of unbelievable scale: a new ’Grail Castle’ in the heart Erik Borner has been working as a director since 1987. He start- of Germany. However, the center of attention is a village ed with short fiction films and won the Main Prize at the 8th in the Southern French Pyrenees: Rennes-le-Château. Frankfurt Youth Film Festival with one of his first films Schlag Hundreds of researchers have been puzzled by its mystery neun (1994). He then started directing industry films and com- to this day. In 1900, village priest Abbe Saunière is alleged mercials. After directing a pilot for the TV series Nur fliegen ist to have found the grail. A model of the local landscape, a schoener (2002), he co-founded Tellus Film in 2005 and directed his so-called ’Maquette’, which supposedly shows the location first documentary The Grail’s Traces in France (Mythos of the grave, was found in his estate. For the first time it is Heiliger Gral, 2005).

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Nine sad, funny and absurd situations about 20-year-olds, Dietrich Brueggemann was born in 1976 and studied at the who know where they want to go, but have no idea how "Konrad Wolf" Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam. His films to get there. At the same time, it is also a film about include: the shorts Heavy Rotation (2001), Mehr Licht parents. (2003), Warum laeuft Herr V. Amok (2003), Katja kann fast alles (2004), numerous music videos, and his graduation Genre Tragicomedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of feature Nine Takes (Neun Szenen, 2006). Production 2006 Director Dietrich Brueggemann Screen- play Anna Brueggemann, Dietrich Brueggemann Director of Photography Alexander Sass Editor Vincent Assmann Music by Ferienlager Wedding Production Design J. Michael Birn Producers Gesine Reicherstorfer, Sven Boeck Production Company Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf ’ (HFF/B)/Potsdam-Babelsberg, in co-production with KOPP- FILM/Berlin Principal Cast Anna Brueggemann, Christian Ehrich, Richard Kropf, Leslie Malton, Heio von Stetten, Hans-Heinrich Hardt, Julia Heinemann, Klaus Manchen, Hildegard Kuhlenberg, Alexander Hoerbe, Lena Lessing, Joerg Bundschuh Special Effects KOPPFILM/Berlin Length 105 min Format HD Cam, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings Berlin 2006 (Perspectives German Cinema)

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You look at me smiling, Eleonore, and you look at yourself and World 2005, LA Shorts 2005 (In Competition), Palm Springs 2005 smile again. (J. W. Goethe) (In Competition), Kiev 2005 (In Competition), Evora 2005 (In Competition), Clermont-Ferrand 2006, Tiburon 2006 (In Com- When Giuseppe the shy pizza baker is kneading his dough petition) With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, for the day, he looks out of the window of his small, shab- Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) German Distributor Wfilm/ by pizzeria. While outside life is going on, he spends most Cologne of his time on his own. One day he looks at the lovely smile of the most beautiful woman he ever set his eyes on. Eva Demmler was born in 1966 and studied Italian, Spanish and At first completely paralyzed, he manages to smile back Dutch at the Free University in Berlin. After spending two years timidly. Work is much easier afterwards. From this day on, abroad in the USA and Italy, she started working as a producer, jour- Giuseppe waits for the beautiful woman every day at the nalist and director for numerous television productions. A selection same time. He waits for a smile which is only for him. But of her work includes the television reports Zerstoerer aus one day he has to find out that this smile is a very special Leidenschaft – Sprengmeister in Aktion (2000), Ein- one. seifen, wischen, abkassieren – Polnische Akkordar- beit im Ampeltakt (2001), Berlins Unterwelt (2002), Genre Comedy, Love Story Category Short Year of Pro- Risiko Bus – Polizeikontrollen vor der Klassenfahrt duction 2005 Director Eva Demmler Screenplay Eva (2003), Rettung in tierischer Not (2004), and Elefant, Demmler Director of Photography Simon Bahlsen Editor Tiger & Co. (2005), among others, and the short Just a Smile Lars Pienkoss Music by Matthias Schwab Production Design (Nur ein Laecheln, 2005). Gaby Bahlsen Producers Simon Bahlsen, Gaby Bahlsen Production Company Risiko Film art&entertainment/Gstadt Principal Cast Mike Zaka Sommerfeldt, Stefanie Poljakoff Casting Gaby Bahlsen, Eva Demmler Length 10 min, 290 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.66 Original Version no dialogue Sound Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings Montreal

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Open is a short film about a long story: about the possi- Charlotte Siebenrock was born in 1962 and studied Acting in bilities of love, three women, chances and the omnip- Berlin. Since 1984 she has worked both in front of and behind the otence of fear and threat. camera for Christoph Eichhorn, Christel Buschmann and Christoph Schlingensief, who took her with him to the Volksbuehne in Berlin Genre Psycho Thriller, Tragicomedy Category Short Year of as a guest actress. Between 1997 and 2000 she wrote and directed Production 2005 Director Charlotte Siebenrock Screenplay fictional television shorts. In 2000 she became head of the casting Charlotte Siebenrock Director of Photography Peter Nix department at GrundyUFA TV Production. Open (2005) is her Editor Peter Nix Music by Rainer Oleak Production Design first short film for the cinema. Anita Moeller Producer Renée Gundelach Production Company Preussen-Film Medien/Teltow Principal Cast Judith Sehrbrock, Karin Ugowski, Katharina Zapatka Casting Charlotte Siebenrock Studio Shooting GrundyUFA TV Production/Berlin Length 7 min, 190 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version no dialogue Sound Technology Dolby DRS Festival Screenings FICA 2006 (In Competition) With backing from BKM

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John, a rock star, is playing a concert with his band. He Jan Koester was born in 1978 in Berlin and studied at the dies accidentally and gets to Nirvana. There he has to face “Konrad Wolf ” Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam. His his wishes and deeds … films include: Veag (2001), Puls (2001), Muesli (2002), and his graduation film Our Man in Nirvana (2006). Genre Animation Category Short Year of Production 2006 Director Jan Koester Screenplay Jan Koester Director of Photography Jan Koester Editor Jan Koester Music by Benjamin Dickmann, Eat Static Production Design Jan Koester Producers Holger Lochau, Ole Nicolaisen Production Company Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen 'Konrad Wolf' (HFF/B)/Potsdam-Babelsberg Length 11 min, 290 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version no dialogue Sound Technology Dolby Digital SR Festival Screenings Berlin 2006 (Short Competition), Dresden 2006 Awards Silver Bear Berlin 2006, Golden Horseman: Best Animation & Minister of Art Promotion Prize Dresden 2006 German Distributor Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen 'Konrad Wolf' (HFF/B)/Potsdam- Babelsberg

World Sales (please contact) Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen 'Konrad Wolf' (HFF/B) · Cristina Marx Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 11 · 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany phone +49-3 31-6 20 25 64 · fax +49-3 31-6 20 25 69 email: [email protected] · www.hff-potsdam.de german films quarterly new german films

Paul, 16-years-old, turns up uninvited to visit his relatives. Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festival Having recently lost his father, Paul is searching for an Screenings Cannes 2006 (Critics’ Week) With backing ideal world, and he intrudes upon the seemingly ideal from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medien- family. foerderung

After rejecting him at first, Aunt Anna slowly drags him Matthias Luthardt was born in 1972 in Leiden/The onto her side. Paul is attracted to her. Only too late he Netherlands and grew up in Germany. After his civil service, he realizes that he has been drawn under control, and is now spent six months in Lyon, followed by studies in German, French at her mercy. and Journalism in Tuebingen, Paris and Hamburg. From 1998-2005, he studied at the ’Konrad Wolf ’ Academy of Film and Television in Paul’s hurt drives him into an act of desperation. Potsdam-Babelsberg. In 1999, he co-founded the production company “risingstar”. From 2001-2002, he participated in the Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Masterclass of the German-French Film Academy in Ludwigsburg Production 2006 Director Matthias Luthardt Screenplay and Paris. A selection of his films includes: Blindgaenger (short, Meike Hauck, Matthias Luthardt Director of Photography 2001), von wegen wir (short, 2001), Abgefahren! (docu- Christian Marohl Editor Florian Miosge Music by Matthias mentary, 2002), Menschen brauchen Hobbies (documen- Petsche Production Design Friederike Hagen Producer tary, 2004), and PINGPONG (2006). Niklas Baeumer Production Company JUNIFILM/Berlin, in co- production with Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf ’ (HFF/B)/Potsdam-Babelsberg, MDR/Leipzig, KOPPME- DIA/Halle Principal Cast Sebastian Urzendowsky, Marion Mitterhammer, Clemens Berg, Falk Rockstroh Casting Karen Wendland Length 89 min, 2,536 m Format HD Cam Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled

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2 · 2006 73 Prinzessin

It's between Christmas and New Year's Eve in a typical wounded. Yvonne pulls out the revolver and shoots one West German suburb: Christmas lights still adorn the dull of the other gang members. Katharina tries everything to apartment blocks, cheap motels and discount markets as save her but she cannot protect Yvonne from what she premature fireworks echo throughout this industrial waste- has done. Confronted by the police, Yvonne then threat- land. Eighteen-year-old Katharina, who has re-settled from ens to shoot Katharina, her only friend, her love … Russia to Germany, spends her time with Yvonne and the rest of the gang. Katharina and the other girls – desperate Genre Drama Category TV Movie Year of Production Yvonne, freaky Jenny who is obsessed with all kinds of 2006 Director Birgit Grosskopf Screenplay Birgit Grosskopf, sexual perversions, and 11-year-old overly sexualized Daniela Hilchenbach Director of Photography Kolja Raschke Mandy – roam around out in the cold. Tomorrow, Editor Lawrence Tooley Production Design Naomi Schenck Yvonne, the gang's leader, has to go to prison for nearly Producer Anke Scheib-Krause Production Company beating a young woman to death. The friends try to make Colonia Media Filmproduktion (Label 131)/Cologne Principal the best out of their last day together. But their efforts to Cast Irina Potapenko, Henriette Mueller, Desirée Jaeger, Amina have fun fail amongst their bleak surroundings. At a police Schichterich Casting Susanne Ritter Length 81 min, 2,390 m station, Katharina takes the blame for Yvonne, who has Format Super 16 mm Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original yet again beaten up another girl in a suburban train; it is Version German Subtitled Version English (Beta SP) Sound her last gift to Yvonne before she has to leave them. But Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings Ophuels Festival when Yvonne decides that she is not going to go to prison Saarbruecken 2006 Awards Award of the Saarland Minister after all, things start to fall apart. Their fagile system of President 2006 With backing from Filmstiftung NRW friendship breaks up – leaving everyone naked and wounded. Just yesterday they would stand up for each Birgit Grosskopf was born in 1972 in Cologne. After studying other, no matter what. When Katharina decides to try to Archaeology, she took up studies in Applied Theater and Film get close again to her strict and over-protective Russian- Sciences in Reading/England, followed by further studies at the German background, the others feel lost without her. In an German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. Since 1998, she has absurd effort, Yvonne steals her stepfather's gun to rob a been working as a script editor and translator for various film pro- tanning studio. Running away from the police, she falls duction companies. Her films include: Babys in Taschen (short, into the arms of a rival gang and is terribly humiliated and 1998), Der Pilot (short, 2000), Jungs zum Anfassen (short, 2001), Tabula Rasa (short, 2003) and Princess (Prinzessin, World Sales (please contact) 2006). Colonia Media Filmproduktions GmbH · Sonja Goslicki Moltkestrasse 131 · 50674 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-9 51 40 40 · fax +49-2 21-9 51 40 44 email: [email protected] · www.coloniamedia.de german films quarterly new german films

Emma receives a call from the police: her husband Edgar Agnes Karow was born in 1974. She studied Media Arts from has been in a horrible car accident and is in a coma. Emma 1996-2006 at the Academy of Design in Karlsruhe. A selection of claims that the injured man cannot be her husband, even her films includes: the shorts Ich bin klein (1998), fahles Blau though the doctors have identified him without a doubt. (1999), rot (2000), moment 4 (2001), Dantebad (2002), and Officer LeCouture tries to get to the bottom of Emma’s Red Wood (Rotes Holz, 2006). secret.

Genre Drama Category Short Year of Production 2006 Director Agnes Karow Screenplay Agnes Karow Director of Photography Juergen Juerges Editor Karl Riedl Pro- duction Design Annabel Lange, Katja Severin Producer Boris Michalski Production Company Noirfilm/Karlsruhe, in co-production with SWR/Baden-Baden, ARTE/Strasbourg Principal Cast Susanne Schaefer, Hannes Hellmann Length 12 min, 340 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology DTS With backing from MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg German Distributor Noirfilm/Karlsruhe

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It was a dark time, when the river Rhine was red from the Cast Tom Gerhardt, Dorkas Kiefer, Volker Buedts, Axel Neumann, blood of the innocent, a time of death, a time of endless Jan Sosniok, Daniela Wutte, Michael Brandner, Mirko Nontschew, battles for the legendary treasure of the Nibelungen … a Markus Maria Profitlich, Janine Kunze-Budach, Mirja Boes, Diana time long forgotten. Frank Casting Rita Serra-Roll, Sabine Schwedhelm Format 35 mm, color, cs Length 89 min, 2,438 m Original Version But it was also a time of noble knights and true heroes. German Dubbed Version English Subtitled Version English The river Rhine has seen them all, back then and still Sound Technology Dolby SRD With backing from today legends tell us of their bravery, but one of them was Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg the bravest of them all … German Distributor Constantin Film Verleih/Munich

He, whose return the oppressed long for and who is fear- Sven Unterwaldt’s other films include Antrag vom Ex (TV, ed by all dark forces. The bravest of the fearless, the hero 1999), the TV series Switch (1997-1997), Anke (1999-2001), of all heroes, Siegfried! Alles Atze (2002), and Berlin, Berlin, as well as the features Wie die Karnickel (2002), Seven Dwarves (Sieben After centuries full of lies, it is time to finally tell his true Zwerge – Maenner allein im Wald, 2004), and Siegfried story … (2005).

Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Pro- duction 2005 Director Sven Unterwaldt Screenplay Tom Gerhardt, Herman Weigel Director of Photography Peter von Haller Editor Norbert Herzner Music by Karim Sebastian Elias Production Design Thomas Freudenthal Producer Herman Weigel Production Company Constantin Film/ Munich, in co-production with B.A. Produktion/Munich Principal

World Sales Atlas International Film GmbH · Dieter Menz, Philipp Menz, Stefan Menz Candidplatz 11 · 81543 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-2 10 97 50 · fax +49-89-22 43 32 email: [email protected] · www.atlasfilm.com german films quarterly new german films

2 · 2006 76 Sommer ’04 an der Schlei SUMMER ’04 Scene from “Summer ’04” Scene from (photo © Oe Filmproduktion GmbH/Romano Ruhnau) (photo © Oe Filmproduktion

At 40, Miriam radiates serene beauty and tranquility, a Gisela Zick Production Design Silke Fischer Producer Katrin confidence and self-assurance as vast as the sea close to Schloesser Production Company Oe Film/Berlin, in co-pro- her summer home. There are no taboos in the life she duction with SWR/Baden-Baden, BR/Munich, WDR/Cologne, shares with her partner André and their 15-year-old son ARTE/Strasbourg Principal Cast Martina Gedeck, Robert Nils; there is understanding. And if Nils invites his 12-year- Seeliger, Peter Davor, Svea Lohde, Lucas Kotaranin Casting Nina old girlfriend Livia to spend the holidays with them, fine. Haun Length 97 min, 2,700 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 But when the brazenly sensual Livia begins flirting with an Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound older man, Bill, Miriam feels it is her responsibility to stop Technology Dolby DTS Festival Screenings Cannes 2006 the questionable relationship. But as she does so, it is she (Directors’ Fortnight) With backing from MEDIA, herself who falls for the shy and charmingly insecure Bill. Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM, FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Miriam forges ahead, seducing him, seeing him secretly. Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) German Distributor Alamode But it is Livia that Bill loves, not Miriam. And suddenly the Film/Munich endless horizons of her life vanish in a fog of jealousy and rejection that leads to a tragic mistake with fatal con- Stefan Krohmer was born in 1971 in Balingen. He studied sequences … Theater, Film and Television in Erlangen, followed by studies in Directing at the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg in Starring Martina Gedeck (Mostly Martha, Elementary Ludwigsburg. His films include: Blackfast (1992), Chubab Particles) and directed by two-time Grimme Award winner (1994), K.O. (documentary, 1995), Macht man eigentlich Stefan Krohmer (They’ve Got Knut) comes a powerful anders (TV, 1998), his graduation film Barracuda Dancing drama about the limits of guilt and love, a confrontation (1999), End of the Season (Ende der Saison, 2001), with one’s personal moral conceptions. Familienkreise (TV, 2003), They’ve Got Knut (Sie haben Knut, 2003), and Summer ’04 (Sommer ’04 an der Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Schlei, 2006). Production 2006 Director Stefan Krohmer Screenplay Daniel Nocke Director of Photography Patrick Orth Editor

World Sales Bavaria Film International / Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann Bavariafilmplatz 8 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 email: [email protected] · www.bavaria-film-international.de german films quarterly new german films

It’s the time when everything is very fragile, unique and Kirste, Nadja Engel, Joachim Laetsch, Jakob Kraze Casting Kirsi can easily be wounded. Together with her girlfriends, Marie Liimatainen Length 73 min, 2,007 m Format 35 mm, Sonja talks about sex like everyone else, but she tells her color, 1:1.66 Original Version German Subtitled Version best friend Julia that she has never slept with a boy – not English Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festival even with her boyfriend Anton. Sonja notices her new Screenings Ophuels Festival Saarbruecken 2006, Grenzland feelings toward Julia, but thinks: you can’t be in love with Filmtage 2006, Filmkunstfest Schwerin 2006 (In Competition) your best girlfriend. Sonja spends a weekend at her With backing from Jugend- und Familienstiftung des Landes father’s place at the Baltic Sea and after that nothing is like Berlin it used to be. The summer is over. Kirsi Marie Liimatainen was born in Finland in 1968 and has Genre Coming-of-Age Story, Drama, Love Story Category a Masters Degree in Theater and Drama from the University of Feature Film Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director Kirsi Tampere. From 1991 to 1999 she worked as an actress in films, tele- Marie Liimatainen Screenplay Kirsi Marie Liimatainen Director vision and theater in Finland. From 1999-2006 she studied Directing of Photography Yoliswa Gaertig Editor Ronny Bischoff at the “Konrad Wolf ” Academy of Film and Television. In 2003/ Music by Friedemann Matzeit Production Design Jenny 2004 she participated the program “Résidence du Festival Cannes” Roesler Producer Renate Ruemmler Production Company in Paris. Her films include: Modlicha ( 2001), The Time of the Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf ’ (HFF/B)/ Spring (Fruehlingshymne, 2002), and Sonja (2006). Potsdam-Babelsberg, in co-production with MDR/Leipzig Principal Cast Sabrina Kruschwitz, Julia Kaufmann, Christian

2 · 2006 78 Der unbekannte Soldat THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER – WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DAD? Scene from “The Unknown Soldier” (photo courtesyScene from of Kinowelt)

The Wehrmacht-Exhibition, which was shown in eleven Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR With major cities between 1999 and 2004 and was visited by backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, BKM, Filmstiftung more than 500,000 attendants, challenged an established NRW German Distributor Kinowelt Filmverleih/Leipzig social taboo. Up to that point, the image of the ’morally proper’ German forces had been kept up in the public Michael Verhoeven was born in Berlin in 1938 and studied debate in Germany. Suddenly, there were photos of Medicine in Berlin and Munich. He completed the state medical Wehrmacht officers killing civilians. The nation was se- examination in 1966 and qualified as a doctor in 1969. He appeared verely shaken. Any participation of the German forces in as an actor on the stage and screen from the early 1950s to the early Nazi crimes was unbearable to the people in post-war 60s and has worked as a screenwriter, producer and director since Germany, so it continued to be publicly denied. 1967, having set up his own company, Sentana Filmproduktion, with wife Senta Berger in 1965. He has received domestic and interna- Michael Verhoeven has traced some of the crimes the tional awards for films like O.K. (1970), A Terrific Exit (Sonja Wehrmacht is alleged to have committed. And filmed in schafft die Wirklichkeit ab oder Ein ziemlich starker the places of terror in the Ukraine and White Russia. Abgang, 1973), Sunday Children (Sonntagskinder, 1979), and The White Rose (Die weisse Rose, 1982). His 1989 film Genre History Category Documentary Cinema Year of The Nasty Girl (Das schreckliche Maedchen) was nomi- Production 2006 Director Michael Verhoeven Screenplay nated for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe and won a Silver Michael Verhoeven Directors of Photography Stefan Bear in Berlin in 1990 as well as a BAFTA Award in 1992. After that, Schindler, Valentin Kurz, Knut Muhsik (BVK) Editor Gabriele he made My Mother’s Courage (Mutters Courage, 1995), Kroeber (BFS) Music by Martin Grubinger, Mike Herting Pro- Zimmer mit Fruehstueck (TV, 1999), Enthuellung einer ducer Michael Verhoeven Production Company Sentana Ehe (TV, 2000) which won two awards at the FIPA Biarritz in 2001, Film/Munich, in co-production with EIKON Media/Berlin Length and The Unknown Soldier – What Did You Do in the 97 min, 2,765 m Format DigiBeta Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 War, Dad? (Der unbekannte Soldat, 2006). Original Version German/English/Ukrainian Subtitled

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 61 19 email: [email protected] · www.kinowelt-international.de german films quarterly new german films

In an obsessive sexual encounter with a sixteen-year-old Angelina Maccarone was born in Cologne in 1965 and studied boy, Elsa is exposed to the relentless revelation of her own German and American Literature and Film at the University of desires. Hamburg. She made her directorial debut in 1994 with the coming- out comedy Kommt Mausi raus? (script/co-direction) and fol- She lives with Raimar, the father of their daughter Daniela lowed this with Everything Will Be Fine (Alles wird gut, in her daily routine until the day in which she meets Jan 1997), which received Audience Awards in New York, Toronto and and abandons herself to a sadomasochistic affair. Los Angeles, An Angel’s Revenge (Ein Engel schlaegt zurueck, 1997), Unveiled (Fremde Haut, 2005) which Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of received numerous awards including the Hessischer Filmpreis for Production 2006 Director Angelina Maccarone Screenplay Best Feature, Jury Grand Prize at the International LGBT Festival in Susanne Billig Director of Photography Bernd Meiners Montreal and the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Editor Bettina Boehler Music by Jakob Hansonis, Hartmut Ewert Seattle L & G Film Festival, and her latest feature Hounded Production Design Bernard Homann Producer Ulrike (Verfolgt, 2006). Zimmermann Production Company MMM Film/Hamburg Principal Cast Maren Kroymann, Kostja Ullmann, Markus Voellenklee Length 85 min, 2,400 m Format 35 mm, b&w, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital With backing from FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Kuratorium junger deutscher Film, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA)

2 · 2006 80 Vier Minuten FOUR MINUTES Scene from “Four Minutes” (photo © Kordes & Kordes Film) & Kordes Minutes” (photo © Kordes “Four Scene from

Schubert, Mozart, Chopin and a bunch of killers. That’s life Dietrich Hollinderbaeumer Casting Nina Haun Length 112 min, for 80-year-old piano teacher Traude Krueger. The old 3,065 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version lady has been teaching music at the women’s prison for German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology DTS ages. But she has never met an inmate like Jenny: a killer Stereo With backing from MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, BKM, who beats everything around her to a pulp just to amuse Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) herself. However, she used to be a great talent. A piano prodigy even. And beneath her fierce façade, she still is. Chris Kraus was born in 1963 in Goettingen. After employment With Traude’s help, she could manage to win a prestigious as a journalist and illustrator he went on to study at the German piano contest. But a contest is no challenge to those who Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin. As an author, he has want their lives to stand still. written numerous screenplays, e.g. for Rosa von Praunheim’s The Einstein of Sex (Der Einstein des Sex), Detlev Buck’s A Bundle of Joy Genre Drama, Music Category Feature Film Cinema Year of (Liebesluder), and OSCAR-winner Pepe Danquart’s C(r)ook (Basta. Production 2006 Director Chris Kraus Screenplay Chris Rotwein oder tot sein). He also works as a novelist and teaches Kraus Director of Photography Judith Kaufmann Editor Uta Dramaturgy at various film academies. Shattered Glass Schmidt Music by Annette Focks Production Design Silke (Scherbentanz, 2002) marked his feature debut, winning ten Buhr Producers Meike Kordes, Alexandra Kordes Production national and international awards, including two Bavarian Film Company Kordes & Kordes Film/Berlin, in co-production with Awards, the Hypo-Bank Young Director’s Award, the German Camera Journal Film Klaus Volkenborn/Berlin Principal Cast Monica Award and a Golden Camera Award for lead actor Juergen Vogel. Bleibtreu, Hannah Herzsprung, Sven Pippig, Richy Mueller, Jasmin Four Minutes (Vier Minuten, 2006) is his second feature film. Tabatabai, Stefan Kurt, Vadim Glowna, Nadja Uhl, Peter Davor,

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 · 2006 81 Die Wilden Kerle 3 THE WILD SOCCER BUNCH 3 Scene from “The Wild Soccer Bunch 3” (photo © Erika Hauri/SamFilm) Scene from

“When the soccer match between the national team and Production Company SamFilm/Munich Principal Cast Jimi the Wild Soccer Bunch ends up rock bottom 25:1, the Blue Ochsenknecht, Sarah Kim Gries, Constantin Gastmann, Raban dejected Wild Soccer Bunch splits up. Bieling, Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht, Nick Reimann, Marion Wessel, Konrad Baumann, Kevin Iannotta, Leon Wessel-Masannek, All of a sudden Fabi comes up with a new team: the Claudia Michelsen, Uwe Ochsenknecht Length 95 min, 2,612 m Beastly Beasts. And they contest the Bunch as the world’s Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German wildest soccer team ever. The Wild Soccer Bunch is up Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital against their greatest challenge so far, an opponent more With backing from Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), BKM, devious, more dangerous, more diabolical, more than FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Bayerischer Bankenfonds German even they had ever imagined … girls!!! And if it weren’t Distributor Buena Vista International (Germany)/Munich for Nerv, their greatest fan, the wildest of all showdowns would not be happening. But watch out Beastly Beasts, Joachim Masannek was born in 1960 in Hamm and studied The Wild Soccer Bunch is back and you’d better believe it: German, Philosophy, and Film in Munich. Since 1985, he has worked they’re wild, wild, wild! as a production designer, lighting technician, cameraman and author. After working on various animation projects, he wrote the children’s Genre Family Category Feature Film Cinema Year of book Die Wilden Fussballkerle based on the soccer team he founded Production 2006 Director Joachim Masannek Screenplay in Munich. His films include: Bomber (short, 1992), In Liebe, Joachim Masannek Director of Photography Sonja Rom Catherine (short, 1992), Der Baer (commercial, 1992), and Editor Dunja Campregher Music by Andrej Melita, Peter Horn The Wild Soccer Bunch 1, 2, and 3 (Die Wilden Kerle 1, Production Design Manfred Doering, Maximilian Lange 2, and 3, 2004/2005/2006). Producers Ewa Karlstroem, Andreas Ulmke-Smeaton

Franz Brenninger (60) has gone far in his life. He runs his Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of own ironware-trade, lives in a nice home with his wife Production 2005 Director Hans Steinbichler Screenplay Martha (60), has two grown kids. But the impulsive Martin Rauhaus Director of Photography Bella Halben Brenninger rubs everyone the wrong way: singing too loud Editor Anne Loewer Music by Antoni Lazarkiewicz during church service. Going to the brothel. Neglecting his Producers Dieter Ulrich Aselmann, Robert Marciniak sick and helpless wife. Squandering money although his Production Company d.i.e. film/Munich, in co-production company is practically broke. Brenninger is manic-depres- with WEGA-Film/Vienna, Dresbach-Schaefer-Quabeck/Munich, sive, say the doctors. All doctors are assholes, says BR/Munich, ARTE/Strasbourg Principal Cast Josef Bierbichler, Brenninger. He gets involved in a supposed lucrative deal Sibel Kekilli, Hanna Schygulla Casting Nessie Nesslauer Length with Kenya. The correspondence from Africa is translated 95 min, 2,768 m Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version by Leyla (18). Brenninger transfers his last money to an German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology African bank account instead of spending it for the cost of Dolby SR With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, his wife’s eye operation. After a while he recognizes that Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Oesterreichisches Filminstitut, BKM the whole thing is a rip off, the money lost. The German German Distributor X Verleih/Berlin police are powerless. Absolutely determined to get his money back, he and Leyla – as his interpreter – go to Hans Steinbichler was born in 1969 in Solothurn/Switzerland. Nairobi. In the shimmering, colorful world of Eastern He studied Law in Passau and Film at the Academy of Television & Africa we suddenly find a totally different, actually fasci- Film (HFF/M) in Munich. His films include: Abstieg (short, 1996), nating Brenninger. When he plays and sings Schubert’s Mono (short, 1998), Verspiegelte Zeit – Erinnerungen Winter Journey, full of devotion, we find out that von Angelika Schrobsdorff (documentary, 1999), Die Brenninger actually wanted to become a singer. A secret Germaniker – Roemisch-Deutsch Karrieren (documen- lifetime dream never fulfilled. But Brenninger has now tary, 2000), Hierankl (2003), Der Moralist – Vittorio nothing left to lose. It’s obvious that he will not leave Hoesle entdeckt Amerika (documentary, 2003), Inseln im Africa any more. His only aim is to have his family well Chiemsee (documentary, 2003), and Winter Journey provided for at home. Together with Leyla, he sets out on (Winterreise, 2005). his last journey from which he will never return.

2 · 2006 83 &ACE4(%4(2%%).6%34)'!4/23 %ASTER

3()0n3TUDIO(AMBURG)NTERNATIONAL0RODUCTIONDEVELOPS PRODUCES ANDlNANCES%NGLISHLANGUAGEFEATURElLMSFORTHEWORLDMARKET 7ITHlLMSLIKE',//-935.$!9 -ARGARETHEVON4ROTTAS2/3%. 342!33% #HRISTOPH3CHREWES4(%#/.#,!6%AND4(%4(2%% ).6%34)'!4/23 DIRECTEDBY/SCAR NOMINATEDDIRECTOR&LORIAN"AX MEYER 3()0n3TUDIO(AMBURG)NTERNATIONAL0RODUCTIONISONE OF'ERMANYSTOPSUPPLIERSOFINTERNATIONALFEATURElLMS )NADDITION lLMSLIKE2%3)$%.4%6),ANDTHE/SCAR NOMINATED -%229#(2)34-!3WERESHOTONOURlRSTCLASSSTAGESIN"ERLINAND (AMBURG3()0ALSOPERFORMEDTHEPRODUCTIONSERVICESFORTHE*ODIE &OSTER STARRER&,)'(40,!. #URRENTLYSELLINGIN#ANNESISTHEPAPALDRAMA4(%#/.#,!6% THE ACOMPELLINGBEHIND THE SCENESDRAMAFOLLOWINGTHEEVENTSOFTHE FAMOUSCONCLAVEFOLLOWINGTHEDEATHOFTHElRST"ORGIAPOPE !LSOSELLINGIN#ANNESANDCURRENTLYINPOST PRODUCTIONISTHElRST INSTALMENTOFOURFAMILYENTERTAINMENT FRANCHISE4(%4(2%% ).6%34)'!4/23 'ERMANSPEAKINGRIGHTSHAVEBEENSOLDTO $ISNEY WORLDSALESAREHANDLEDBY"ETA#INEMA

3TUDIO(AMBURG)NTERNATIONAL0RODUCTION'MB( *ENFELDER!LLEE (AMBURG 4EL n % -AILPRODUKTION STUDIO HAMBURGDE WWWSTUDIO HAMBURG PRODUKTIONDE *.#8VccZh;^ab;Zhi^kVa# E>C

lll#egZhh#Wbl\gdje#Xdb HeZX^VaXdbea^bZcihidi]ZiZVbd[?JC>;>AB[dgi]ZhXgZZc^c\d[ E>CciZgcVi^dcVaZYZaV8g^i^fjZ¼# 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 German Federal Film Board Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Medien Grosse Praesidentenstrasse 9, 10178 Berlin/Germany in Bayern mbH 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 GmbH Association of German Film Exporters Friedensallee 14–16, 22765 Hamburg/Germany Tegernseer Landstrasse 75, 81539 Munich/Germany phone +49-40-39 83 70, fax +49-40-3 98 37 10 phone +49- 89-6 42 49 70, fax +49-89-6 92 09 10 email: [email protected], www.ffhh.de email: [email protected], www.vdfe.de

Verband Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten e.V. Filmstiftung NRW 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

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

Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Potsdamer Strasse 2, 10785 Berlin/Germany Baden-Wuerttemberg mbH phone +49-30-30 09 03-0, fax +49-30-30 09 03-13 Breitscheidstrasse 4, 70174 Stuttgart/Germany email: [email protected], www.filmmuseum-berlin.de phone +49-7 11-90 71 54 00, fax +49-7 11-90 71 54 50 email: [email protected], www.mfg.de/film

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

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

german films quarterly shareholders & supporters

2 · 2006 86 NEXT GENERATION 2006

A Selection of Short Films by Students of German Film Schools 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: 0049-89-39 14 25 Fax: 0049-89-3 40 12 91 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

ARRI Media Worldsales Cine-International Filmvertrieb Road Sales GmbH please contact Antonio Exacoustos GmbH & Co. KG Mediadistribution Tuerkenstrasse 89 please contact Lilli Tyc-Holm, Susanne Groh please contact Frank Graf 80799 Munich/Germany Leopoldstrasse 18 Chausseestrasse 8 phone +49-89-38 09 12 88 80802 Munich/Germany 10115 Berlin/Germany fax +49-89-38 09 16 19 phone +49-89-39 10 25 phone +49-30-28 52 79 34 email: [email protected] fax +49-89-33 10 89 fax +49-30-28 52 79 39 www.arri-mediaworldsales.de email: [email protected] email: [email protected] www.cine-international.de www.road-movies.de Atlas International Film GmbH Exportfilm Bischoff & Co. GmbH SOLA Media GmbH please contact please contact Jochem Strate, please contact Solveig Langeland Dieter Menz, Philipp Menz Philip Evenkamp Osumstrasse 17 Candidplatz 11 Isabellastrasse 20 70599 Stuttgart/Germany 81543 Munich/Germany 80798 Munich/Germany phone +49-7 11-4 79 36 66 phone +49-89-21 09 75-0 phone +49-89-2 72 93 60 fax +49-7 11-4 79 26 58 fax +49-89-22 43 32 fax +49-89-27 29 36 36 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] email: [email protected] www.sola-media.net www.atlasfilm.com www.exportfilm.de TELEPOOL GmbH ATRIX Films GmbH german united distributors please contact Wolfram Skowronnek please contact Beatrix Wesle, Programmvertrieb GmbH Sonnenstrasse 21 Solveig Langeland please contact Silke Spahr 80331 Munich/Germany Nymphenburger Strasse 79 Breite Strasse 48-50 phone +49-89-55 87 60 80636 Munich/Germany 50667 Cologne/Germany fax +49-89-55 87 62 29 phone +49-89-64 28 26 11 phone +49-2 21-92 06 90 email: [email protected] fax +49-89-64 95 73 49 fax +49-2 21-9 20 69 69 www.telepool.de email: [email protected] email: [email protected] www.atrix-films.com Transit Film GmbH Kinowelt International GmbH please contact Loy W. Arnold, Mark Gruenthal Bavaria Film International Futura Film Weltvertrieb Dachauer Strasse 35 Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH im Filmverlag der Autoren GmbH 80335 Munich/Germany please contact Thorsten Schaumann please contact Stelios Ziannis, Anja Uecker phone +49-89-59 98 85-0 Bavariafilmplatz 8 Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 10 fax +49-89-59 98 85-20 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany 04107 Leipzig/Germany email: [email protected], phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 phone +49-3 41-35 59 60 [email protected] fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 fax +49-3 41-35 59 61 19 www.transitfilm.de email: [email protected] email: [email protected], www.bavaria-film-international.de [email protected] uni media film gmbh www.kinowelt-international.de please contact Irene Vogt, Michael Waldleitner Beta Cinema Bavariafilmplatz 7 Dept. of Beta Film GmbH Media Luna Entertainment 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany please contact Andreas Rothbauer GmbH & Co.KG phone +49-89-59 58 46 Gruenwalder Weg 28d please contact Ida Martins fax +49-89-54 50 70 52 82041 Oberhaching/Germany Hochstadenstrasse 1-3 email: [email protected] phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 50674 Cologne/Germany fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88 phone +49-2 21-8 01 49 80 email: [email protected] fax +49-2 21-80 14 98 21 www.betacinema.com email: [email protected] www.medialuna-entertainment.de cine aktuell Filmgesellschaft mbH Progress Film-Verleih GmbH please contact Ralf Faust, Axel Schaarschmidt please contact Christel Jansen Werdenfelsstrasse 81 Immanuelkirchstrasse 14 81377 Munich/Germany 10405 Berlin/Germany phone +49-89-7 41 34 30 phone +49-30-24 00 32 25 fax +49-89-74 13 43 16 fax +49-30-24 00 32 22 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] www.cine-aktuell.de www.progress-film.de german films quarterly association of german film exporters

2 · 2006 89 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, San Francisco, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, German Feature Film Producers and the Association of German Film Tribeca, Shanghai, Rotterdam, Sydney, Goteborg, Warsaw, Exporters, and operates today in the legal form of a limited company. Thessaloniki, and Turin, among others In 2004, new shareholders came on board the Export-Union which from then on continued 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

Shareholders are the Association of German Feature Film Staging of ”Festivals of German Films“ worldwide (Madrid, Producers, the Association of New German Feature Film Producers, Paris, London, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Melbourne, the Association of German Film Exporters, the German Federal Film Buenos Aires, Budapest, Moscow, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Board (FFA), the Association of German Television Producers, the Tokyo) Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, the German Documentary Association, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Filmstiftung NRW re- Providing advice and information for representatives of the presenting the seven main regional film funds, and the German Short international press and buyers from the fields of cinema, video, Film Association. and television

Members of the advisory board are: Alfred Huermer (chairman), Providing advice and information for German filmmakers and Peter Dinges, Antonio Exacoustos, Ulrike Schauz, Michael Schmid- press on international festivals, conditions of participation, and Ospach, and Michael Weber. German films being shown

German Films itself has 13 permanent members of staff: Organization of the annual NEXT GENERATION short film Christian Dorsch, managing director program, which presents a selection of shorts by students of Mariette Rissenbeek, public relations/deputy managing director German film schools and is premiered every year at Cannes Petra Bader, office manager Kim Behrendt, PR assistant Publication of informational literature about current German Sandra Buchta, project coordinator/documentary film films and the German film industry (German Films Quarterly and Myriam Gauff, project coordinator German Films Yearbook), as well as international market analy- Christine Harrasser, assistant to the managing director ses and special festival brochures Angela Hawkins, publications & website editor Nicole Kaufmann, project coordinator An Internet website (www.german-films.de) offering informa- Michaela Kowal, accounts tion about new German films, a film archive, as well as in- Martin Scheuring, project coordinator/short film formation and links to German and international film festivals Konstanze Welz, project coordinator/television and institutions Stephanie Wimmer, project coordinator/distribution support Organization of the selection procedure for the German entry In addition, German Films has nine foreign representatives in eight for the OSCAR for Best Foreign Language Film countries. Collaboration with Deutsche Welle’s DW-TV KINO program German Films’ budget of presently €5.5 million comes from film which features the latest German film releases and inter- export levies, the office of the Federal Government Commissioner national productions in Germany for Culture and the Media, and the FFA. The seven main regional film funds (FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Organization of the ”Munich Previews“ geared toward Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden- European arthouse distributors and buyers of German films Wuerttemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, and Nordmedia) make a financial contribution – currently amounting to €300,000 – Selective financial support for the foreign releases of German towards the work of German Films. films

German Films is a founding member of the European Film Promotion, On behalf of the association Rendez-vous franco-allemands du a network of 26 European film organizations (including Unifrance, cinéma, organization with Unifrance of the annual German- Swiss Films, Austrian Film Commission, Holland Film, among others) French film meeting with similar responsibilities to those of German Films. The organization, with its headquarters in Hamburg, aims to develop and realize In association and cooperation with its shareholders, German Films joint projects for the presentation of European films on an inter- works to promote feature, documentary, television and short films. national level.

german films quarterly german films: a profile

2 · 2006 90 FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

Argentina Italy United Kingdom Gustav Wilhelmi Alessia Ratzenberger Iris Ordonez Ayacucho 495, 2º ”3“ Angeli Movie Service Top Floor C1026AAA Buenos Aires/Argentina Piazza San Bernardo 108a 113-117 Charing Cross Road phone +54-11-49 52 15 37 00187 Rome/Italy London WC2H ODT/Great Britain phone/fax +54-11-49 51 19 10 phone +39-06-48 90 22 30 phone +44-20-74 37 20 47 email: [email protected] fax +39-06-4 88 57 97 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Eastern Europe USA/East Coast & Canada Simone Baumann Japan Oliver Mahrdt L.E. Vision Film- und Tomosuke Suzuki c/o Hanns Wolters International Inc. Fernsehproduktion GmbH Nippon Cine TV Corporation 211 E 43rd Street, #505 Koernerstrasse 56 Suite 123, Gaien House New York, NY 10017/USA 04107 Leipzig/Germany 2-2-39 Jingumae, Shibuya-Ku phone +1-2 12-7 14 01 00 phone +49-3 41-96 36 80 Tokyo/Japan fax +1-2 12-6 43 14 12 fax +49-3 41-9 63 68 44 phone +81-3-34 05 09 16 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] fax +81-3-34 79 08 69 email: [email protected] USA/West Coast France Corina Danckwerts Cristina Hoffman Spain Capture Film International, LLC 33, rue L. Gaillet Stefan Schmitz 1726 N. Whitley Avenue 94250 Gentilly/France C/ Atocha 43, bajo 1a Los Angeles, CA 90028/USA phone +33-1-40 4108 33 28012 Madrid/Spain phone +1-3 23-9 62 67 10 fax +33-1-49 8644 18 phone +34-91-3 66 43 64 fax +1-3 23-9 62 67 22 email: [email protected] fax +34-91-3 65 93 01 email: [email protected] email: [email protected]

IMPRINT 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, Joerg Hafkemeyer, Birgit Glombitza, 80331 Munich/Germany Ruediger Suchsland phone +49-89-5 99 78 70 fax +49-89-59 97 87 30 Translations Lucinda Rennison email: [email protected] www.german-films.de Design Group triptychon corporate communications gmbh, Munich/Germany ISSN 1614-6387 Art Direction Werner Schauer Credits are not contractual for any of the films mentioned in this publication. Printing Office ESTA DRUCK GMBH, Obermuehlstrasse 90, 82398 Polling/Germany

© German Films Service + Marketing GmbH Financed by the office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. Printed on ecological, unchlorinated paper.

Cover Photo Scene from “Summer ’04” (photo © Oe Filmproduktion GmbH) All photos courtesy of the respective producers and world sales agents. “Love in Concrete” photo courtesy of ZDF/Cameo Film, “Straehl” photo courtesy of ZDF/Alexander Kornhuber. german films quarterly foreign representatives · imprint

2 · 2006 91 2006

CANNES

G ERMAN FILMS

AT CANNES 2006

INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE · GERMAN PAVILION GERMAN FILMS · PHONE 04-93 38 37 40 · FAX 04-93 38 00 02 FOCUS GERMANY · PHONE 04-92 59 02 23 · FAX 04-92 59 02 24