gfq - german-films.de · i s s u e 2-2 0 1 9 directors christian alvart & nora fingscheidt...

ISSUE2-2019

DIRECTORS Christian Alvart & Nora FingscheidtPRODUCERS Jochen Laube & Fabian Maubach of Sommerhaus FilmproduktionACTOR Peter Kurth

GFQGERMAN F ILMS QUARTERLY

GFQ2_19_Druck_ESTA.qxp_Layout 1 30.04.19 16:26 Seite 1

19 22 25

26 29 32

33 34 37

37 38 38

CONTENTS GFQ 2-2019

2


GFQ 2-2019 CONTENTS

3

I N T H I S I S S U EPORTRAITS

UNLEASHING THE DOGSA portrait of director Christian Alvart .............................................. 4

MANY FACESA portrait of director Nora Fingscheidt ............................................ 6

ORIGINALITY IS KEY A portrait of Sommerhaus Filmproduktion ..................................... 8

AGAINST THE GRAINA portrait of actor Peter Kurth ....................................................... 10

NEWS & NOTES ................................................................................ 14

NEW FEATURES

BAYALA Aina Järvine, Federico Milella ............................................ 19

CLEO – STORY OF BERLINCLEO – IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME Erik Schmitt ..................... 20

DARKROOM – TÖDLICHE TROPFENDARKROOM – DROPS OF DEATH Rosa von Praunheim .................. 21

DER FALL COLLINITHE COLLINI CASE Marco Kreuzpaintner .................................... 22

FRAU STERNMS. STERN Anatol Schuster .......................................................... 23

FRITZI – A REVOLUTIONARY TALERalf Kukula, Matthias Bruhn ......................................................... 24

LEIF IN CONCERT – VOL. 2Christian Klandt ............................................................................. 25

DER LETZTE MIETERTHE LAST BERLINER Gregor Erler ................................................ 26

NÖ Dietrich Brüggemann .............................................................. 27

ORAY Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay ....................................................... 28

ROCCA VERÄNDERT DIE WELTROCCA CHANGES THE WORLD Katja Benrath .............................. 29

THIS IS WHERE I MEET YOUKatharina Ludwig ........................................................................... 30

UND DER ZUKUNFT ZUGEWANDTSEALED LIPS Bernd Böhlich ........................................................ 31

WAS GEWESEN WÄREWHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN Florian Koerner von Gustorf ................. 32

NEW DOCUMENTARIES

BERÜHRTDEEPLY MOVED George Inci ........................................................... 33

DOUBLE INCOME, KIDSHendrik Schäfer .............................................................................. 33

FORTSCHRITT IM TAL DER AHNUNGSLOSENPROGRESS IN THE VALLEY OF THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOWFlorian Kunert ................................................................................... 34

GRUPPE SPUR – DIE MALER DER ZUKUNFT!SPUR – THE PAINTERS OF THE FUTURE!Sabine Zimmer ............................................................................... 34

DAS HAUS DER GUTEN GEISTERTHE HOUSE OF GOOD SPIRITS Marcus Richardt, Lilian Rosa......................................................... 35

KENT OZANI – DER STADTSCHREIBER VON ISTANBULKENT OZANI Dogan Altuner .......................................................... 35

REAL MEN Hasko Baumann ............................................................ 36

THINKING LIKE A MOUNTAINAlexander Hick ................................................................................. 36

WALCHENSEE FOREVERJanna Ji Wonders ............................................................................ 37

WEIL DU NUR EINMAL LEBST – DIE TOTEN HOSEN AUF TOURDIE TOTEN HOSEN – YOU ONLY LIVE ONCECordula Kablitz-Post, Paul Dugdale ................................................ 37

NEW SHORTS

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENTNina Fischer, Maroan el Sani ........................................................... 38

NESTSonja Rohleder ................................................................................. 38

UPCOMING FILMS

DIE BIENE MAJA – DIE GOLDENE KUGELAlexs Stadermann, Noel Cleary .................................................... 39

CORTEX Moritz Bleibtreu ................................................................ 39

DÜNNES BLUTMehrdad Taheri ....................................................... 39

FRANKY FIVE STAR Birgit Möller ....................................................40

DIE HEINZELS – RÜCKKEHR DER HEINZELMÄNNCHENUte von Münchow-Pohl ................................................................. 40

IGEL LATTE UND DER WASSERSTEINNina Wels, Regina Welker ............................................................... 40

ISI & OSSI Oliver Kienle .................................................................. 41

KATARAKT Alexander Palucki ......................................................... 41

DAS PERFEKTE GEHEIMNISBora Dagtekin .................................................................................. 41

SCHOKO Sarah Blaßkiewitz ............................................................. 42

SOMMER MIT BERNHARD (WT)Martina Sakova ................................................................................ 42

STAND UP! Timo Jacobs ................................................................. 42

Shareholders & Supporters ............................................................ 45

Film Exporters ................................................................................. 46

Imprint .............................................................................................. 47


DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT GFQ 2-2019

4

You know you’re onto a good thingwhen the warm-up chat is stillgoing great guns 45 minutes inand you’ve yet to hit the record

button! So with apologies and an assuranceyou haven’t missed the best bits, not all ofthem anyway, here we go...

Coming off the phenomenally successfulDOGS OF BERLIN, Christian Alvart is happierto talk about film rather than his own ones.“The greatest artistic strength of the me-dium,” he believes, “is its ability to convey em-pathy to the audience, which reflects it back.It gives us the power to walk a mile in some -one else’s shoes. It can show us how life is forothers, it can make people smarter and wiser.And, yes, it can even make it harder to start

a war with a country when we know it and it’speople through it’s films.”

Alvart cites the Iranian film CHILDREN OFHEAVEN (MAJID MAJIDI, 1997), in which aboy loses his sister’s shoes and then shareshis so they can alternate going to school. “Itshowed me how emotions get transported,how hostile images can be dismantled,” heexplains, “that entertainment can do so muchmore than just entertain: just how powerful itcan be.”

And this is what marks Christian Alvart, whomade a debut splash with the horror thrillerANTIBODIES in 2004, as a consummatefilmmaker, his ability to convey the bigger,perhaps the biggest picture of all, within

internationally popular, entertainment for-mats; that people, the characters and thusthe audience, come first.

“The JACK RYAN series”, he continues,“shows there is more than just Tom Clancy’sown views. Because the serial format allowsfor expansion and explanation, we get to knowthe characters and are not so quick to con-demn. And this is what DOGS OF BERLIN[his police series for Netflix] meant tome. The figures are looked at with love andempathy. The world building was all abouttension, but I soon realized there had to befeeling as well.” And feeling there is.

The core idea of DOGS OF BERLIN was a copwith a former rightwing background who

UNLEASHING THE DOGS A PORTRAIT OF DIRECTOR CHRISTIAN ALVART

© S

yrre

al E

nter

tain

men

t


GFQ 2-2019 DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT

5

misses the fighting and companionship. He’sa gambler who one day stumbles, by accident,on a crime scene: Germany’s most famousfootballer, one with a migration background,dead and the next day Germany plays Turkey!“He’s the guy on which the whole social-political-sporting discussion is turning andhe’s dead!”, Alvart, who has a solid TATORTbackground and loves what Germans call‘Krimis’, explains. “Football’s close to a reli-gion and the city will explode if this gets out!Plus, the lead guy can place some bets andwin big, too!” But then a second cop arrives,a Turkish-German. He’s “good for the politi-cians,” Alvart continues, “gay and Left-liberal,so not your classic Turkish cliché!”

The story and characters, both of whichoriginate from Alvart, started as a 160-pageseries bible he wrote “before Netflix’s EricBarmack came asking: ‘Do I have a show?’I first had to check this was for real! But thenI sent him the bible and pilot, pitched it andthey wanted it. The problem was I was alreadyworking on a two-parter with Til Schweiger,had written CUT OFF and was working onDON'T.GET.OUT! – I couldn’t deliver! They justtold me to come back later. I was scared itwould be dropped, but I kept in touch, pitchedagain and it all moved so fast, I even had toget co-writers in to deliver the scripts. NowI’m very proud of it, 100% behind it, contro-versy and all!” He is also unstinting in hispraise for Netflix’s handling of the show:“They did a super marketing job; giant post -ers everywhere, adverts on the trains, theunder ground, trams, character posters,everything, and really stylish.”

Coming from a highly religious backgroundwhere films were forbidden, it is no surprisethat Alvart, born 1974 near Frankfurt, wentout of his way to watch as many as possibleand so learned first-hand the powerful at-traction of genre films for his audience. Suchis the case with his 2009 science-fictiondrama PANDORUM. Not a mainstream suc-cess by any means, as he admits, but “thosethat love it, love it! Some went and got tattoosand they sent me photos. They want a sequeland to do a fundraiser for it: when you get thatkind of passion it is fantastic!”

So what is a ‘Christian Alvart’ film, then? “Mytaste is very broad but my approach is verydetailed,” he explains. “What does the projectneed? What does the story need? The mostimportant thing is that the camera tells thestory, it’s the language, the story is told withpictures, so it cannot be random. I hate shoot -ing coverage. I’ve always used storyboardsand I don’t want coincidence to play anygreater role than that, coincidence. Theviewer must feel the director’s stance as anarrator/storyteller.”

“The film has to have a voice,” Alvart conti-nues, “and tell the story well. The actors mustunderstand that their being positioned is to

tell the story. The highest compliment iswhen people watch a film and are entertainedand understand it even if they don’t speak theactual language! Spielberg is a master of this.Also Luc Besson! My two masters! NIKITA, LEGRAND BLEU and LEON, they are perfect.”

And now the dreaded ‘B’-word: backstory!“It’s a curse!”, Alvart avers. “It’s the most un-interesting of everything! Many books andfilms function by showing a situation and thebackstory is withheld, which we then learn asthe film plays.” And then, more excitedly: “Iwant to see the film of the backstory if theyconsider that more important!” Calmingdown, but just a little: “It also reduces theempathy. Rambo in FIRST BLOOD is the wayhe is because he has experienced this andthat, it’s obvious. Westerns never had back-story; costume and character is all you need.”

Alvart is currently making DJANGO LIVES!with Franco Nero, “and the lack of backstoryis part of the suspense. In the first scene ofthe original he saves a woman from robbers,brings her to a village... and then hands herto Mexican bandits! Only later do we learn hewants the gold and still has a shred of de-cency. When we get Darth Vader’s or SnakePlissken’s backstory they become banal.”

Enjoying family life (wife, three sons and adaughter off to university) by a lake outsideBerlin, Alvart’s other passions include,amongst canoeing and reading, writing andmusic. “Cinema became my profession,” hesays, “but I can imagine the two as careers aswell. But it’s cinema that I live for, even if hav -ing my own production company means tak -ing care of staff, doing the accounting andbeing entrepreneurial.”

Also amongst the current projects in his en-trepreneurial loop, alongside DJANGO LIVES!,is a remake of the Spanish thriller LAS ISLASMINIMAS. As FREIES LAND, the film ditchesthe politics of the Franco era, “which is veryhard to convey to a German audience,” and isset in 1991 in the state of Mecklenburg-Western-Pommerania, and individual fatesfollowing German reunification: “There is de-indus trialization, West Germans buyingthings up, young women leaving and it turnsout some have been murdered. An EastGerman cop teams with a West Germancolleague. It’s a portrait of the soul ofGermans at this time.”

With close to 4,000 Blu-rays and DVDs athome, plus a home cinema set up to kill or diefor, Alvart is, no surprise, a passionatesupporter of the cinema-going experience: “Ilove it when the curtain opens! The cinemamust be kept alive! But operators need to un-derstand they have to deliver the best soundand picture quality and experience, they haveto give you a reason to be there. I go a greatdeal and too often you try finding someone tocomplain to if things are not right!”

Fully accepting that “the future will bestream ing,” Alvart makes the case for co-exi-stence between the streaming networks, thecinema and physical media, and admits it willbe a balancing act. “Who controls which ver-sion, even whether it will be available? ANTI-BODIES is on Amazon Prime. It was filmed inCinemascope and they have the squeezedversion! I didn’t even know till someone wroteto me!”

“Amazon has new guidelines so many queerfilms are no longer available: algorithms tagthem as offensive. Tarantino and Nolan aretrying to save 35mm film so there is at leastone copy in existence, even if it’s their ownone at home! You get policing and politiciza-tion, like Spielberg changing guns into radiosin his reworked E.T.. In DOGS OF BERLIN thelanguage had to be softened, so the Neo-Nazis were made to speak ‘nicely’.”

“If you want to see DOGS OF BERLIN,” Alvartcontinues, you have to subscribe to Netflixbecause they don’t release physical media.These companies are very, very powerful andI understand why some people are resisting,because they love the cinema and see Netflixas wanting to abolish it. But they, thestreamers, also face competition for theviewer’s time in the form of social media andgaming.”

Looking further ahead, in the face of the cur-rent superhero deluge, Alvart believes that “inten years people will be making their ownfilms at home with gaming engines. Peoplewill create their own, open source, universe.Good luck trying to protect the copyright onSUPERMAN and BATMAN! That dethronesthe studios, a monoculture with SFX and CGIbeing replaced by the end-users, who will dotheir own rendering and compete directlywith Hollywood. And this is why they will againneed real stories, real actors and characters.”

Simon Kingsley


DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT GFQ 2-2019

6

MANY FACESA PORTRAIT OF DIRECTOR NORA FINGSCHEIDT

© P

hilip

Leu

tert


GFQ 2-2019 DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT

7

Of course, the phrase is strictlycorrect: SYSTEM CRASHER, anenergy-charged drama about awild and furious nine-year-old

girl, is Nora Fingscheidt’s feature film debut.At this year’s Berlinale in February, hermovie received one of the main awards,the Silver Bear. But the idea that someonearrived fresh from film school to present hervery first effort would be quite wrong in thiscontext. For the 35-year-old director, whowas born in Brunswick in Lower Saxony andlives in Hamburg, has manyfaces. And her actual first, full-length film had already been pre-sented, too. It was all pretty laidback.

OHNE DIESE WELT (2017) obser-ved a group of former colonizingMennonites in Argentina –women, men and children living ina strict conservative communityof faith and rejecting modernity,the descendants of Germans whoemigrated there 500 years ago.Observation is meant literally, forthe film’s tempo is slow but itsoptical impression striking. A veryspecial two-hour documentaryfilm, which Nora Fingscheidt al -lowed herself the ap propriatelength of time to make. Therewere prizes for that work, too, andOHNE DIESE WELT was shown incinemas in Switzerland.

“Film has always been a mediumthat really fascinates me,” NoraFingscheidt says in conversationwith GFQ. As a child, Jean-Jacques Annaud’s THE BEAR wasa first moving, as well as influen-tial and at the same time shock -ing cinema experience. “Later, Ialways wanted to make films. Butbecause I come from a family thathad never produced any artisticprofessionals before, first of all Ihad to sort out a kind of alibi.”

After her school days, during which she al-ready spent a year in Argentina as well asgain ing work experience at the BrunswickTheater, Nora Fingscheidt moved to Berlinin 2003. There, she registered at the FreieUniversität to study Latin American Studies,Journalism and Law. It would have beentempting to get into the “film bubble” rightfrom the start, but in the end, she believesshe also profited considerably from her“alibi”.

Later on, even the film-linked activities didn’treally belong to a self-contained system. NoraFingscheidt was involved in setting up thefilmArche, a completely self-organized filmschool for screenplay, direction, cinematog -raphy, cutting/editing and production: the

biggest in Europe, so they say. She was aboard member, organized youth projects aswell, and was a committed member of theEuropean network NISI MASA. And as if allthis was not yet enough, in parallel shecompleted one-and-a-half years trainingas an acting coach in Sigrid Andersson’sTANKSTELLE. Fingscheidt: “Sigrid is a reallyspecial woman, from whom I have learned alot. I am very, very grateful to her.” It was amatter of familiarizing herself with role work,scene analysis and acting. Only afterwards

did Nora Fingscheidt apply to study directionat the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg inLudwigsburg, where she was accepted andgraduated successfully in 2017.

Seen from outside, this may have been anextra ordinary path and one could even call ita detour. But for Nora Fingscheidt it wasexactly the right way. Because she would like“to try out as many genres, forms and narra-tive languages as possible. After all, I myselflove to be overwhelmed in an audiovisualsense at the cinema.”

Her SYSTEM CRASHER has certainly turnedout to be overwhelming. Wild, unbridled andradical. A new German film with a universaltouch. Who doesn’t know them or hasn’theard about them? Children who don’t havethe good fortune to grow up in a sheltered

environ ment, who repeatedly explode theexisting inadequate, all too rigid models ofsupervision. Children like blond Benni, whoscream, strike out, the ones we need to fearfor; ones who still simply long for a parent’slove. Nora Fingscheidt researched for fiveyears in residential groups, schools, officesand children’s psychiatry units before makingher first long feature film. Until what she had experienced there affected her too much:“My picture of the world became extremelydismal.”

Her SYSTEM CRASHER screen-play was re fined and improvedduring the writing with assistancefrom acclaimed authors and di-rectors like Christoph Fromm,Bernd Lange, Thomas Schadt andHans-Christian Schmid. Again,there were prizes and awards forthe screenplay. Nora Fingscheidtdescribes the true significance ofthose screenplay awards in retro-spect: “They watch your back,financially, for the pre-productionstage, and lend the project a kindof certificate of quality. A kind ofautonomy that grows from that isvery helpful, too.”

SYSTEM CRASHER had its worldpremiere at the 2019 Berlinaleand triggered some powerfulreactions – positive as well ascritical. “Ultimately, it’s a goodbalance: we put extreme amountsof energy into this film and nowit’s being received with suitableenergy, as well.” In Germany it willbe released in cinemas this Sep-tember, but it will also be showninternationally. “It’s a dream,”Nora Fingscheidt enthuses nowthat a number of weeks havepassed. “The Berlinale was like atornado for me. I wasn’t sure whatit actually means when a filmbreaks free, developing a life of itsown, stimulating re actions and

comments that can be wounding, shockingor even make you incredibly happy. But thenicest thing was experiencing those reactionstogether with the team, the actors and produ-cers, the sound mixers and com posers, thecostume designer and the casting director –simply everyone.”

And then, finally, to celebrate with them.

Andreas Körner


PRODUCERS’ PORTRAIT GFQ 2-2019

8

A PORTRAIT OF SOMMERHAUS FILMPRODUKTION

“It was never part of the plan to havethree productions shooting at thesame time,” says Jochen Laube abouthandling three shoots this spring with

Fabian Maubach, his partner in the Ludwigs-burg/Berlin-based production outfit Som-merhaus Filmproduktion. However, it allstarted much more modestly 13 years agoafter Laube founded the company in hishome town of Ludwigsburg in 2006 aftergraduating from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg the previous year with his pro-duction of Neele Leana Vollmar’s URLAUBVOM LEBEN.

The first production from the fledglingcompany was fellow graduate ChristianSchwochow’s feature debut NOVEMBERCHILD, which premiered at the FilmfestivalMax Ophüls Preis in Saarbrücken in 2008,followed by Niko Apel’s Grimme Prize-winning documentary SONBOL, and RouvenRech and Frank Marten’s football documen-tary HOFFENHEIM – DAS LEBEN IST KEINHEIMSPIEL.

But then dinner one evening with theUFA/teamWorx producer Nico Hofmann

brought an unexpected turn of events whenLaube was offered the opportunity to set upand run the group’s South German pro -duction arm out of Ludwigsburg. “Thismeant that Sommerhaus was put on hold[until 2015] and I concentrated on buildingup what was essentially the arthouse unit ofUFA Fiction,” Laube recalls.

The first project under the UFA umbrella wasTHE DAY I WAS NOT BORN by Elena vonSaucken and Florian Cossen which also hap-pened to be Fabian Maubach’s graduationfilm from the Filmakademie as a producer.“That’s how we came together and then de-cided to keep on working together on futureprojects,” says Maubach. “We were givencomplete freedom in our choice of projectsfor our portfolio, making films like STATIONSOF THE CROSS by Dietrich Brüggemann, WEARE YOUNG. WE ARE STRONG. by BurhanQurbani as well as such documentaries asThorsten Schütte’s EAT THAT QUESTION -FRANK ZAPPA IN HIS OWN WORDS, whichscreened at Sundance in 2016, as well as theEmmy-nominated three-parter BARON VONMÜNCHHAUSEN with Jan Josef Liefers inthe title role.”

“Then, after eight years of working for theUFA group, we felt it was time to stand onour own feet again,” Laube continues, point -ing out that inviting Jan Mojto’s Beta Cinemaonboard as a shareholder in SommerhausFilmproduktion was “the result of a long-standing collaboration” with Beta who hand-led many of their productions in the pastfrom THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN to MÜNCH-HAUSEN and now have the latest films fromSandra Nettelbeck, Burhan Qurbani andCaroline Link in its current sales line-up.”And Maubach adds, “It’s good to have astrong partner behind us who can draw uponan extensive infrastructure.”

Both producers say that it is difficult to see acommon thread running through all of theirproductions to date: they have tried theirhand at all kinds of genres – with the excep-tion of horror – and have not focused on spe-cific themes or subject matter. “Whatcharacterizes our films is the fact that we areprepared to take some risks when we embarkon each project – we are not interested in pro-ducing films according to the book – but weknow that the final result will be a really spe-cial kind of film,” Laube explains.

Fabi

an M

auba

ch, J

oche

n La

ube

(cou

rtes

y of

Som

mer

haus

Film

prod

uktio

n)

ORIGINALITY IS KEY


A FILM BY THOMAS STUBER

AFTER THE SHORT STORY “IN THE AISLES” BY CLEMENS MEYER, PUBLISHED IN “ALL THE LIGHTS”

In the aisles

FRANZ ROGOWSKI SANDRA HÜLLER PETER KURTHBETA CINEMA PRESENTS A SOMMERHAUS FILMPRODUKTION PRODUCTION IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH MDR, ARTE, SWR, HR, ROTOR FILM AND DEPARTURES FILM WITH FRANZ ROGOWSKI, SANDRA HÜLLER, PETER KURTH, ANDREAS LEUPOLD, MICHAEL SPECHT, RAMONA KUNZE-LIBNOW, HENNING PEKER, STEFFEN SCHEUMANN, MATTHIAS BRENNER, GERDY ZINT

SUPPORTED BY MITTELDEUTSCHE MEDIENFÖRDERUNG MFG FILMFÖRDERUNG BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG BEAUFTRAGTE DER BUNDESREGIERUNG FÜR KULTUR UND MEDIEN MEDIENBOARD BERLIN-BRANDENBURG DEUTSCHER FILMFÖRDERFONDS DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY PETER MATJASKO EDITED BY KAYA INAN SET DESIGN JENNY ROESLER COSTUME DESIGN JULIANE MAIER, CHRISTIAN RÖHRSMAKE UP HANNA HACKBEIL CASTING ANJA DIHRBERG, KAREN WENDLAND ORIGINAL SOUND CHRISTOPH SCHILLING SOUND DESIGN KAI TEBBEL COMMISSIONING EDITORS MEIKE GÖTZ (MDR), BARBARA HÄBE (ARTE), BRIGITTE DITHARD (SWR), JÖRG HIMSTEDT (HR) LINE PRODUCERS MICHAEL JUNGFLEISCH, SOPHIE COCCO CO-PRODUCERS MARTIN FRÜHMORGEN, UNDINE FILTER, THOMAS KRÁL

WRITTEN BY CLEMENS MEYER, THOMAS STUBER PRODUCERS JOCHEN LAUBE, FABIAN MAUBACH DIRECTED BY THOMAS STUBER GERMAN DISTRIBUTOR ZORRO FILM

GFQ 2-2019 PRODUCERS’ PORTRAIT

9

Examples of the kinds of risks the producerduo are prepared to enter into with theirdirectors and authors include the fixed shotsin STATIONS OF THE CROSS, the transitionfrom black-and-white to color in WE AREYOUNG. WE ARE STRONG., or updatingBERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ with a blackAfrican refugee as the character of FranzBiberkopf. “As a producer, I don’t find it in-teresting to restrict oneself to one particulargenre and say that you are just a producer ofdrama or a producer of romantic comedies,”Maubach suggests. “For me, it all dependson the story and the other creative elementthat have to spark some passion. In any case,originality is the key for us as producers,” hestresses, as shown by the company’s outputto date.

Moreover, with time, really close friendshipshave developed between Sommerhaus andmany authors, directors and crew members:“That makes working together so mucheasier when you realize that you speak thesame ‘language’ and are on the same wave-length,” Maubach explains. “And the samegoes for my work with Jochen, the fact thatwe can rely on one another without having toexchange too many words.”

Sommerhaus’ focus on producing for thecinema invariably involved television as a co-producer from the point when the companyappeared on the scene: “SWR has been along-standing partner for us on such filmsas NOVEMBER CHILD, THE DAY I WAS NOTBORN and STATIONS OF THE CROSS, so itonly seemed appropriate to make our nextstep with the TV drama department there forthe TATORT episode DER ROTE SCHATTENby Dominik Graf.”

This spring then saw the duo teaming upagain with SWR for a TV film destinedfor a Wednesday evening primetime slot,

Sebastian Marka’s DEUS IN MACHINA(work ing title) from a screenplay by ErolYesilkaya and starring Friedrich Mücke. “Wewill certainly be remaining faithful toour great partnerships in so-called ‘lineartelevision’,” Laube says, pointing out thatSommerhaus will be producing episodes ofthe European series DAS NETZ set in theworld of inter national football for Germany’sDegeto next year.

Before then, the company is currently mak -ing its first foray into producing for the newstreaming services with a three-parter forNetflix: CHRISTMAS WOMEN (working title),directed by Samara Radsi from a screenplayby Katharina Eyssen, which will be shown tosubscribers in 200 territories around theglobe at the end of 2019.

While Sommerhaus has focused until nowon producing works by German filmmakers,this doesn’t mean that Laube and Maubachdon’t have their share of international ex -perience. To start with, Laube was one ofEuropean Film Promotion’s Producers onthe Move in 2015 and Maubach is part of theTAP and ACE producers networks.

Florian Cossen’s COCONUT HERO was shotin English on location for six weeks in 2014in northern Ontario with a Canadian co-pro-ducer, Paul Scherzer, while BurhanQurbani’s BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ wasco-produced with Lemming Films in theNetherlands. And the biggest Sommerhausproduction so far, Caroline Link’s adaptationof Judith Kerr’s semi-autobiographical novelWHEN HITLER STOLE PINK RABBIT, in turnattracted production partners from theCzech Republic and Switzerland. This his -torical movie, which tells the unforgettablestory of a Jewish family fleeing fromGermany in 1933, will be released by WarnerBros. in Germany this Christmas and isbeing distributed worldwide by Beta Cinema.

Moreover, this spring saw the producersgoing to Hungary’s Mafilm Studios to colla-borate with Proton Cinema for the shoot ofthe Netflix Christmas series, and next yearwill see the company embarking on a majorinternational production with FlorianCossen’s LAURA DEKKER about the 14-year-old Dutch girl who sailed single-hand-edly around the globe in 2010-2011.

“Co-producing with foreign partners is be-coming more and more important in the art-house sector because we see that thebudgets we need for quality productioncannot be financed solely out of Germany,”Maubach suggests, pointing out that the nextfeature project by IN THE AISLES directorThomas Stuber, DIE STILLEN TRABANTEN,is also likely to be structured as a Europeanco-production for 2020. “Naturally, it involvesa lot of work when you do a co-production,but it has always been a positive experience

up until now,” he notes. “The fact that wehaven’t been involved in any projects as aminority co-producer is not because wewouldn’t be open to such an idea,” Laubeexplains. “Being a reliable partner is key andwe just were so busy in the last couple ofyears that we couldn’t say in good faith thatwe would come onboard given the company’spresent structure.”

Looking to the future, Maubach says thatSommerhaus “is growing organically. Wedon’t want to become a top-heavy structureand have always been project- and quality-driven rather than focusing just on quickgrowth and a certain level of turnover upper-most in our minds. We appreciate having thefreedom to make our own choices about thestories we produce and the freedom to workwith the right kind of people to achieve thesegoals.”

“In essence, we try to remain a boutiqueoperation,” Laube adds. “Admittedly we arenow producing much more than we hadimagined would be the case even two yearsago, but we will always remain true to ourcredo that each production should havesomething unique and original about it!”

Martin Blaney


ACTOR’S PORTRAIT GFQ 2-2019

10

© F

abia

n Sc

hellh

orn

AGAINST THE GRAINA P O R T R A I T O F AC TO R P E T E R KU R T H


11

GFQ 2-2019 ACTOR’S PORTRAIT

It was only four years ago when PeterKurth played his first major role for thecinema in A HEAVY HEART. This impres-sive yet equally bitter story of a former

boxer struggling with ALS celebrated itsworld premiere at the Toronto InternationalFilm Festival in 2015. There, even The Holly-wood Reporter fêted the leading actor’s “im-pressively muscular performance” beforeThomas Stuber’s directing debut began itsvictory march around the world. A HEAVYHEART was greeted as enthusiastically inMoscow as in Palm Springs or Thessaloniki– and back home, Kurth received theGerman Screen Actors Award as well as theGerman Film Award.

However, Kurth’s love for the cinema had al-ready been awakened decades before. He wasborn in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in1957, and there was a small movie theater inhis home town, Goldberg, “I went there everySunday at 2:30 pm, whether a storm wasblow ing, it was snowing, or the sun was shin -ing,” as he recalls. Were the filial im pressionsgained there influential for his subsequentprofessional career? “It’s impossible to saywhether I would have become an actor ifthere had been a concert hall in our town in-stead. But at that time, I certainly wanted tobecome the Captain of Tenkesberg, no matterwhat,” Kurth says with reference to theHungarian adventure film by Tamás Fejér thathe saw “what must have been 12 times” backthen.

After school, he went on directly to study act -ing in Rostock, and found his first engage-ment in the early 80s at a children’s andyoung people’s theater in Magdeburg, fromwhence, according to Kurth, he worked hisway “bit by bit, straight to the top”. He was anestablished member of ensembles in Stendal,Chemnitz, Leipzig and Hamburg before finallyarriving at the Maxim-Gorki-Theater inBerlin. Then he followed the theater’s artisticdirector, Armin Petras, to the SchauspielStuttgart, where he received the accoladeActor of the Year from theater heute magazinein 2014. It was his own choice to make workfor the camera only a secondary matterthroughout those years, which is somethinghe “doesn’t regret one little bit”. Especially ashe was able to shine nonetheless with a sup-porting role in the world success GOOD BYE,LENIN! or numerous episodes of the popularseries TATORT, for example, and also infilms by Andreas Dresen, Thomas Arslan orSebastian Schipper.

Kurth talks about his leading role in A HEAVYHEART as a huge stroke of luck: “That was theright project at the right time, everything wasideal.” When, as in this case, all the conditionsare perfect – or as he likes to put it: “arehealthy” – he says that “the director and mycolleagues will get all I have to give.” And be-sides, he always remains absolutely true tohis best companions: like Petras, and Thomas

Internationally speaking, he has long sinceput out more feelers, aside from BABYLONBERLIN (the third season will have to managewithout him, anyway). Last year, he could beseen as Botha in SEW THE WINTER TO MYSKIN, an unusual, almost dialogue-free mix-ture of western and biopic by South Africandirector Jahmil X.T. Qubeka. After a premiereat TIFF, the film represented South Africain the competition for an Oscar®. The nextforeign productions are already waiting thiscoming summer. His face reveals how muchhe is looking forward to them: “I would reallylike to do something completely different foronce – and in one of these parts I have beencast totally against the grain.”

Patrick Heidmann

Stuber, with whom he has since made theBerlinale prize-winning IN THE AISLES aswell as a not yet broadcast episode of TATORT.

At the same time, the passionate motorcyclistis enjoying to the full all the new opportuni-ties and challenges presented away from thestage in recent years. In the first two seasonsof BABYLON BERLIN, for example, he playedthe slightly dubious Police CommissionerWolter. This series by Tom Tykwer, Achim vonBorries and Henk Handloegten also broughthim what has probably been the biggestaudience of his career. “Recently, in myfavorite pub here in Prenzlauer Berg, I waseven spoken to by a bloke from Detroit, whowas visiting the city with a friend of his,” Kurthsays in amazement. He grins to think that theseries reaches so many people world-wide.“He almost fainted because I was just sittingthere in the pub.”


NEWS & NOTES GFQ 2-2019

14

1NEWS & NOTES

In four categories, the most successfulproducers, distributors, cinemas and shortfilm makers of the past cinema year wereawarded the FFA Industry Tiger 2019 award.In the production sector, a total of 11.2 mil-lion euros in reference funds were awardedto the 75 most popular projects of the year.Munich-based Constantin Film is once againthe industry leader in this category, amongothers for its audience hits THIS CRAZYHEART and HOW ABOUT ADOLF?.

In the distribution sector, the Industry Tigerwent to Warner Bros. Pictures Germany inHamburg with a grant of 675,000 euros forsuch successful hits as 100 THINGS and ALLABOUT ME. A total of 2.9 million euros in re-

ference funding was made available in thiscategory for the 70 most successful films ofthe past year.

A special prize for the Reference Film of theYear 2018 went to the family entertainmentdarling THE LITTLE WITCH, whose box-officeresult was higher than the production costs.The Hamburg Abaton Cinema is the industryleader in the cinema category for the mostvisitors for German and European films.The industry leader in the short film categoryis Lukas Marxt for the national andinter national festival success of his filmsIMPERIAL VALLEY and FISHING IS NOTDONE ON TUESDAYS.

The amount of FFA reference funding iscalculated on the basis of a points systemwhich is based on admissions success in thecinema as well as film awards and festivaldistinctions. The funds can be used withinthree years without the involvement of afund ing committee.

1

GERMAN FEDERAL FILM BOARD PRESENTS INDUSTRY TIGER AWARDS

FFA Industry Tigers 2019 (© Stefan Krempl)

1


GFQ 2-2019 NEWS & NOTES

15

Sylvie Testud in EDEN (© Pierre Meursaut) graphic courtesy of Animation Germany

6

2GERMAN ANIMATIONS A HIT ABROAD IN 2018

The box office figures published for the year2018 on the performance of German films(including German-international co-pro -ductions) abroad* show a share of 54% foranimated film. Animation thus underscoresits ever-increasing importance for the filmindustry. This extraordinarily good result isdue among other things to these films, whichalso lead German Film’s hit list for featurefilms abroad: MAYA THE BEE – THE HONEYGAMES, THE LITTLE VAMPIRE, RICHARDTHE STORK and THE SEVENTH DWARF.(*The full report can be found on the GermanFilms website under Publications/MarketStudies/German Films Abroad 2018.)

Such successes, however, can only be real -ized with increasing tendency with inter -national business partners. Since 2017,Animation Germany UG, a subsidiary of theGerman Producers Alliance and VTFF, hastherefore been taking on the task of drawinginternational attention to Germany and itscompanies as a business location and sup-porting the establishment of an individualnetwork of producers and studios throughvarious platforms such as a central website(www.animationgermany.de), a newsletterand social media activities as well as target -ed events.

3GERMAN FILMS AT HOME AND ABROAD IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2019

In 2018 in 75 countries around the world, 406German films generated an international boxoffice of almost 154 million euros and wereseen by more than 26.5 million cinemagoers.And 2019 got off to a good start with 204German films already generating an inter -national box office of just over 15.5 millioneuros in the first quarter of the year. Amongthe top German titles were NEVER LOOKAWAY (rank 1) which raked in over 2 millioneuros in 10 countries, HEILSTÄTTEN (rank 2)with 1.8 million euros in 8 territories, 100THINGS (rank 5) with over 800,000 euros in7 territories, and TRANSIT (rank 10) withalmost 500,000 euros in 12 territories. Theanimation films HAPPY FAMILY (rank 6, in 2territories), MAYA THE BEE – THE HONEYGAMES (rank 7, in 6 territories) and MANOU– THE SWIFT (rank 8, in 6 territories) con -tinued their successful run and togetherachieved an additional international boxoffice of almost 2 million euros from 1January-31 March 2019.

On the home front, while the overall marketshare for German films dropped ever soslightly in 2018 (from 23.9% in 2017 to 23.5%in 2018), the first quarter of 2019 has seen ahomegrown hit leading the overall charts:ahead of nine other English-language films(from CAPTAIN MARVEL to CREED II –ROCKY’S LEGACY), Caroline Link’s ALLABOUT ME has taken cinemagoers by stormand has already earned over 26 million eurosat the German box office in the first threemonths of the year.

4EDEN AT SERIES MANIA

Dominik Moll’s mini-series EDEN recentlyhad its world premiere in competition atSeries Mania in Lille/France. The six-part se-ries takes on various aspects of the subjectof refugee influx by interweaving five emo -tional narratives that make this highlypolitical issue tangible and was developedjointly with the editorial staff of SWR, ARDDegeto, ARTE France, and ARTE Deutsch-land. From the beginning, the series wasconceived as an international co-productionbetween Atlantique (Paris), LUPA FILM(Heidelberg, Berlin), and Port Au Prince(Berlin). The project received funding fromthe Franco-German development fund forseries development, as well as productionfunding from the MFG Baden-Württembergand the Centre national de CinématographieCNC. Boasting an A-list cast of stars likeSylvie Testud, Juliane Köhler or WolframKoch – EDEN was aired in spring 2019 onARTE. World sales have been assumed byLagardère Studio Distribution, which has al-ready sold rights to Greece and Denmark.

4 42


NEWS & NOTES GFQ 2-2019

16

6

BAUHAUS – A NEW ERA (© zero one/Beta Film )A YEAR ALONG THE GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT (© Felix Dierich)German Short Films Cannes Edition (© AG Kurzfilm)

5GERMAN SHORT FILMS IN CANNES

Once again AG Kurzfilm – the German ShortFilm Association – and German Films offerGerman short films and short film makers aplatform during the 72th edition of the Inter-national Film Festival in Cannes. As everyyear, some of the most recent short filmproductions are available at the Short FilmCorner for international industry profes -sionals. The selection German Short Films –Cannes Edition 2019 and Emerging ArtistsVol. 4 will be available at the Short FilmCorner and on DVD at the German Pavilion.

Additionally, for the ninth time, the programNext Generation Short Tiger celebrates itspremiere in Cannes. It features not only filmschool productions but also the winners ofthe 2019 Short Tiger Award granted byGermany’s main federal film funding bodyFFA. Upon request all films will be availableon preview DVDs from German Films orAG Kurzfilm. In cooperation with ARTE, theGerman Short Film Association invites pro-fessionals from the German and inter -national short film scene to their annualShort Film Lounge. Thus, filmmakers,festival representatives and buyers are giventhe opportunity to meet and connect.

6SHORT GERMAN ANIMATIONS IN ANNECY

In 2019, a line-up of eight German animatedshort films, commissioned films and TVseries will be presented in the official selec-tion of the Festival International du Filmd’Animation in Annecy (10-15 June 2019),which is one of the most important festivalsfor animated film worldwide.

With FLOOD by Malte Stein and LIVE ALITTLE by Jenny Jokela (DE/GB) there aretwo German animated short films competingfor the Cristal d’Annecy in the InternationalCompetition.

A YEAR ALONG THE GEOSTATIONARY ORBITby Felix Dierich and MUSTERKENNTNIS byThorsten Fleisch were selected for the sec-tion Off-Limits. ALBA’S MEMORY by AndreaMartignoni and Maria Steinmetz (DE/IT), andRED EARTH by Kim Yip Tong (DE/MU) will beshown in the Perspectives section. NEST bySonja Rohleder was invited to the sectionYoung Audience. RULES OF PLAY by MerlinFlügel will be shown in the section Gradua-tion Films.

For the thirteenth time, the AG Kurzfilm andGerman Films will be present with a booth atthe MIFA (Marché International du Filmd’Animation), the festival’s film market.Industry professionals can receive informa-tion on the recent developments of Germananimations in all their peculiarities, modesof expression and styles. Furthermore, itserves as a contact and information point forthe German and international animationscene. With New German Animations, thenew edition of the preview DVD of AG Kurz-film and German Films will be presented inAnnecy. It intro duces recent short Germananimations to festival representatives,curators and buyers. It is available from theAG Kurzfilm upon request.

7FILMSTIFTUNG-BACKED SERIES INSPRING 2019

The development and production of high-endseries has been a part of the funding port -folio of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRWsince 2012. Both Filmstiftung-backed seriesas well as mini-series are currently makinga real impact with high-profile appearances,festivals and awards: Kilian Riedhof’sGLADBECK, based on the screenplay by Hol-ger Karsten Schmidt and produced by ZieglerFilm, has been nominated for the BAFTA TVAward, Lars Kraume’s series BAUHAUS – ANEW ERA, which he wrote together withJudith Angerbauer, had its world premiere inthe Competition of the second CanneSeriesand has since received the award for the BestMusical Score, and Heinrich Breloer’s two-parter BRECHT was first shown at theBerlinale. The third season of the hit seriesBABYLON BERLIN, which has already beensold to over 100 territories, is now in post-production. And the same goes for BarbaraEder’s thriller series WEST OF LIBERTY forZDF. Cologne-based Bantry Bay producedTHE BEST THINGS IN LIFE for Vox. TillFranzen, Laura Lackmann and StefanBühling were the directors working fromscripts based on an idea from Richard Kropf.TNT has recently aired the mockumentaryseries OTHER PARENTS by Lutz Heineking jrof the Cologne-based pro duction companyeitelsonnenschein. Pre parations for theshoot of the second season in Cologne arenow in full swing. And not to forget anotherproduction from NRW, albeit one without anyfunding from the Film stiftung: HOW TO SELLDRUGS ONLINE (FAST), produced by Bild-undtonfabrik for Netflix, also featured in theCanneSeries Competition.

5 7


14 FEATURES10 DOCUMENTARIES2 SHORT FILMS12 UPCOMING FILMS

38 new German productions are presented

on the following 24 pages. Please visit

our website www.german-films.de

for more information on German features,

documentaries and shorts.

NEW FILMS GFQ 2-2019

18

DIE

HEI

NZE

LS –

RÜ

CK

KEH

R D

ER H

EIN

ZELM

ÄNN

CH

EN (©

Akk

ord

Film

)


19

The fairy world of Bayala is a countryof magic, where various fairy tribeslive in an abundant flora. Hugeblossoms and enchanting plants are

used for housing and food. The fairies havebeen living in harmony with nature – until thegreedy Shadow Fairy Queen Ophira startedpushing for power over all living things…

Inside the Flower Palace there is intenseactivity in preparation for the coronation ofthe new queen of the Sun Fairies. The prin-cesses Surah and Sera are delighted to seeroyals of other fairy tribes arrive, but they allbring bad news: the magical plants are dying.The dark power of the Shadow Fairy QueenOphira is rising. Bayala is in danger. Fairyprincess Surah is worried. She knows Ophirabest as she had been forced to live in her darkcastle for several years. Only with the help ofOphira’s niece Nuray and her best friend Jarocould she escape and return home.

When a dragon egg is found, hope stirs. If themagic dragons return, Bayala can be saved.

But for a dragon feast at Solstice Rock, wherethe bond of fairies and dragons can be re -newed, royals of all fairy tribes, including theShadow Fairies, are needed. Princess Surahand her companions have to go on an ad -venturous journey, which not only leads theminto the distant dragon mountains, but also tothe dangerous Shadow Queen Ophira. In theend Surah and her friends save the day andthe whole of Bayala!

AINA JÄRVINE began her career in animationat A Film Estonia in 2001 and directed numer -ous animated commercials, several animatedshorts and the TV-series FROG ANDFRIENDS. Her main projects since then havebeen directing four seasons of the popularGerman animated TV series BIBI UND TINAand BIBI BLOCKSBERG, as well as being ani-mation supervisor on the feature film HOCUSPOCUS ALI E ATKINS, co-directing the shortfilm THE GREAT PAINTER, and co-writing thefeature RUBY AND RAGGIE.

FREDERICO MILELLA works as a freelanceillustrator and independent filmmaker. Hejoin ed the team of Fabrique d’Images wherehe directed PERCY’S TIGER TALES, ZIGGYAND THE ZOO TRAM and took part in morethan a dozen other 2D and 3D TV series.BAYALA is his first film as a co-director whilehe develops and writes new exciting projects.

GENRE 3D Animation, Adventure, FamilyEntertainment YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTORS Aina Järvine, Federico MilellaSCREENPLAY Vanessa Walder CINEMA -TOGRAPHY Aina Järvine PRODUCER EmelyChristians CO-PRODUCERS Christine Pa-risse, Jean-Marie Musique PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Ulysses Films, in co-productionwith Studio Rakete, Fabrique d’Images RUN-TIME 85 min LANGUAGE English

SALES Global Screen [email protected]

© Ulysses Films/Fabrique d’Images

BAYALA

GFQ 2-2019 NEW FEATURES


20

The imaginative Cleo feels a veryspecial kind of affinity for her hometown of Berlin. But her deepest de-sire is to be able to turn back time –

with the aid of a magic clock which was stolenduring a robbery in the 1920s and has beenmissing ever since. She hopes that the clockmight help her undo the death of her parents.One day, she meets the adventurer Paul whois living on a houseboat and had recentlybought a treasure map at an auction. Cleo isbursting with tension – might the map lead tothe treasure she is dreaming of? Cleo andPaul set off together on an adventurous tripthrough the pulsating city. They meet crazycharacters, lovable figures, Berlin myths andurban legends. When they arrive in Berlin’sdark underground at the end of their quest,Cleo is confronted by the most importantquestion of all: should she want to turn backtime in the first place?

Director Erik Schmitt’s short films have beenshown at more than 100 international filmfestivals and taken over 100 awards. CLEO –

IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME is his debut fea-ture film and was selected as the openingfilm of the Berlinale Generation sidebar. Thevisually surprising film is full of poetry andlov ing attention to detail, taking the audienceon a very special journey through Berlin. Mar-leen Lohse gives a stunning performance asthe moony Cleo and Max Mauff (VICTORIA,SENSE 8) and Andrea Sawatzki (THE EXPERI-MENT, THE OTHER BOY, BANDITS) round outthe cast.

ERIK SCHMITT studied Communications inMunich, Melbourne and Berlin. After exten-sive travels around the world and his firstcinematographic work experience, he found -ed Kamerapferd together with StephanMüller. His films include: HOW TO FLY HIGH(short, 2009), SOLARTAXI – AROUND THEWORLD WITH THE SUN (doc, 2010), NOWFOLLOWS (short, 2010), MY MIND WANDERS(short, 2012), RHINO FULL THROTTLE (short,2013), TELEKOMMANDO (short, 2014), FOR -EVER (short, 2014), and his feature debutCLEO – IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME (2019).

GENRE Adventure, Coming-of-Age Story,Fantasy, Love Story YEAR OF PRODUCTION2019 DIRECTOR Erik Schmitt SCREENPLAYErik Schmitt, Stefanie Ren CINEMATOG -RAPHY Johannes Louis CAST Marleen Lohse,Jeremy Mockridge, Heiko Pinkowski, MaxMauff, Andrea Sawatzki, Jean Pütz, FabianBusch, Gwendolyn Göbel PRODUCER FabianGasmia PRODUCTION COMPANY DETAiL-FILM, in co-production with ZDF Das kleineFernsehspiel RUNTIME 99 min LANGUAGEGerman FESTIVALS Berlinale 2019


© DETAiLFILM/Janine Marold

CLEO – STORY OF BERLINCLEO – IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME

NEW FEATURES GFQ 2-2019


21

In his new film DARKROOM, cult directorRosa von Praunheim deals with a truecriminal case from a few years ago. Theresult is one of his most thrilling films.

Lars, a male nurse from Saarbrücken, moveswith his lover Roland to Berlin. They renovatean apartment with the intention of finally liv -ing together. Their happiness seems almostcomplete. What Roland doesn’t know: whilesecretly checking out Berlin’s night life, Larsis experimenting with a deadly poison.

ROSA VON PRAUNHEIM took on his artist’sname in 1964, in reference to the pink trianglehomosexuals were forced to wear in the Naziconcentration camps. A prolific filmmaker, aselection of his films includes: IT’S NOT THEHOMOSEXUAL WHO IS PERVERSE, BUT THESITUATION IN WHICH HE LIVES (1970), ARMYOF LOVERS (1971-1976), A VIRUS KNOWS NOMORALS (1985), I AM MY OWN WOMAN(1992), TRANSSEXUAL MENACE (1996), GAYCOURAGE (1998), THE EINSTEIN OF SEX(1999), FASSBINDER’S WOMEN (2001),QUEENS DON’T LIE (2001), COWS KNOCKED-UP BY FOG (2002), TWO MOTHERS – THESEARCH BEGAN IN RIGA (2007), NEW YORKMEMORIES (2010), DIE JUNGS VOM BAHN-HOF ZOO (2011), and DARKROOM (2019),among others.

GENRE Biopic, Drama, Love Story, PsychoThriller YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIREC-TOR Rosa von Praunheim SCREENPLAY Rosavon Praunheim CINEMATOGRAPHY LorenzHaarmann CAST Bozidar Kocevski, HeinerBomhard, Katy Karrenbauer PRODUCERRosa von Praunheim PRODUCTION COM-PANY Rosa von Praunheim FilmproduktionRUNTIME 89 min LANGUAGE German

SALES [email protected]

© Rosa von Praunheim Filmproduktion

DARKROOM – TÖDLICHE TROPFENDARKROOM – DROPS OF DEATH



22

Amurder. A murderer. No motive.A young lawyer. A spectacularmurder case. A legal scandalstretching back to Nazi Germany.

For over 30 years, Fabrizio Collini has workeddiligently for a German carmaker beforegoing and killing a man, seemingly on a whim.It’s a nightmare for lawyer Caspar Leinen,who takes over his case as a court-assignedlawyer: The victim, respected industrialistJean-Baptiste Meyer, was Leinen’s long-timefriend and mentor and is the grandfather ofhis high-school sweetheart Johanna. Every-thing in this spectacular case seems to beworking against the inexperienced lawyer:Caspar is personally involved, has a clientwho won’t talk to him, and an opponent whoseems far superior in legendary prosecutorProfessor Richard Mattinger. When he de -cides to tackle the case anyway, he startsuncovering one of the greatest legal scandalsever, stretching back to World War II. But howmuch is he willing to sacrifice to expose thetruth?

Courtroom drama meets political thriller inthis outstanding adaptation of the inter -national bestselling novel by Ferdinand vonSchirach (Crime, Guilt). Elyas M’Barek (SUCKME SHAKESPEER, THIS CRAZY HEART),Alexandra Maria Lara (THE BAADER MEIN-HOF COMPLEX, CONTROL, RUSH) and FrancoNero (CAMELOT, DJANGO UNCHAINED, JOHNWICK: CHAPTER 2) star in the lead roles.Marco Kreuzpaintner directs the explosive,spellbinding murder trial masterfully, testingthe bounds between morality and justice.

MARCO KREUZPAINTNER studied Art Historybefore working as an assistant to Edgar Reitzand Peter Lilienthal. In 2009 he founded theproduction company Summerstorm Enter-tainment. Active as a writer, producer anddirector, his films include: BREAKING LOOSE(2003), SUMMER STORM (2004), TRADE (2007), KRABAT (2008), COMING IN (2014), theseries BEAT (2018), and THE COLLINI CASE(2019).

GENRE Drama, History, Thriller YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Marco Kreuz-paintner SCREENPLAY Christian Zübert,Robert Gold, Jens-Frederik Otto CINEMATOG -RAPHY Jakub Bejnarowicz CAST ElyasM’Barek, Franco Nero, Alexandra Maria Lara,Heiner Lauterbach, Pia Stutzenstein, JannisNiewöhner, Rainer Bock, Peter Prager PRO-DUCERS Christoph Müller, Kerstin Schmid-bauer, Marcel Hartges, Martin MoszkowiczCO-PRODUCER Stefan Gärtner PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Constantin Film Produktion, in co-production with SevenPictures Film RUN-TIME 124 min LANGUAGE German


© Constantin Film Verleih

DER FALL COLLINITHE COLLINI CASE



23

Ms. Stern wants her life toexpire already. Withevery attempt to leavethis world, life brings

her surprises. The absurd life circumstancesand random encounters with strangers con -tinuously conflict with the soberness of herdesire to die.

Set in modern Berlin, MS. STERN is adramedy about a 90-year-old Holocaust sur-vivor, who is unable to choose her own fate.However, while trying her best to find a wayout of this life, she spends her time joyouslywith her spirited granddaugther, Elli, and hereclectic group of friends, living it up to the ful-lest.

ANATOL SCHUSTER studied Directing at theUniversity of Television & Film Munich, wherehe made his first experimental short filmsand worked as an assistant director to EdgarReitz. His short film A PERFECT PLACE wasnamed Best Film in the Berlinale’s Perspek-tive Deutsches Kino in 2015. His other filmsinclude THE WANDERER (short, 2017), AIR(2017), and MS. STERN (2019).

GENRE Comedy, Drama, Tragicomedy YEAROF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR AnatolSchuster SCREENPLAY Anatol SchusterCINEMATOGRAPHY Adrian Campean CASTAhuva Sommerfeld, Kara Schröder, NiritSommerfeld, Robert Schupp, Murat SevenPRODUCERS Anatol Schuster, AdrianCampean PRODUCTION COMPANY A+AProduktion Schuster & Campean RUNTIME79 min LANGUAGE German, HebrewFESTIVALS Filmfestival Max Ophüls PreisSaarbrücken 2019

SALES Pluto Film Distribution Network [email protected]

© Adrian Campean/A+A Produktion

FRAU STERNMS. STERN



24

East Germany, 1989. Summertime.No one knows the Iron Curtain isabout to fall. When 12-year-oldFritzi’s best friend Sophie goes on

vacation to Hungary with her family, sheleaves her little dog Sputnik with her. Fritzilovingly takes care of Sputnik, who missesSophie a lot. When school starts again in thefall, however, Sophie doesn’t come back. Fritzihas to face up to the fact Sophie’s mother hasstayed in Hungary with her daughter, like somany other East Germans hoping to reachthe West from there.

By chance, Fritzi stumbles into a demonstra-tion. The people around her are taking a riskand they are committed to changing things intheir country. Fritzi gets inspired and nowknows exactly what she has to do: She has tohelp Sputnik to get back to Sophie – no matterwhat! She got a postcard from Sophie fromWest Germany, so she has a lead. With thehelp of her classmate Bela, she tries to followSputnik across the heavily-guarded border onher own.

Historically accurate, authentic and with lotsof rich period detail and atmosphere, thismov ing animated film for the whole family re-tells the story of the peaceful revolution of1989 from a child’s perspective. An enter -taining and exciting tale of the Fall of the Wall,and of the people who were brave enough tochange the world, which will make a lastingimpression, not only on young viewers.

RALF KUKULA worked for the DEFA Ani -mation Studio from 1987-1991 and foundedBalance Film in 1993. His animated films in-clude: THE SANDPIXIES (2008), MY FIRSTWEDDING (2008), and FRITZI – A REVOLUTIO-NARY TALE (2019).

MATTHIAS BRUHN produces and directs ani-mation films and series. He is co-owner ofTrickstudio Lutterbeck. His films include:DUSTY DIE HAUS STAUBMILBE (2003), MA-RIAS KLEINER ESEL – FLUCHT NACH ÄGYP-TEN (2005), WOHIN WILL WILLI? (2008),POST! (2008), DUCK, DEATH AND TULIP(2011), numerous MOLLY MONSTER films,and FRITZI – A REVOLUTIONARY TALE (2019).

GENRE Animation, Family EntertainmentYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORS RalfKukula, Matthias Bruhn SCREENPLAY BeateVölcker PRODUCERS Ralf Kukula, RichardLutterbeck, Matthias Bruhn, Pierre Urbain,David Mouraire, Alena Vandasová, MartinVandas, Stéphane Quinet PRODUCTION COM-PANIES Balance Film, Trickstudio Lutterbeck,Doghouse Films, Maur Film, Artemis Produc-tions RUNTIME 80 min LANGUAGE English


© Balance Films/TrickStudio/Doghaus/Maur Films/Artémis

FRITZI – A REVOLUTIONARY TALE



25

LEIF IN CONCERT is a day in the lifeof bartender Lene, in a jazz & bluesbar somewhere in Germany. Bluessinger Leif aka “Poorboy” is sup -

posed to play a gig that night. But a lot canhappen in one day and sometimes life forcesus to take a turn and start on a new path.

While preparing the bar for the night Leneis joined by friends, acquaintances andstrangers, by musicians and poets, she awaitsdeliveries of beer, wine and cigarettes.Everyone who enters the bar gets to listen toLeif’s music, which triggers something diffe-rent in everybody: a smile, a memory, thedesire to dance. Then there are the bar’sregulars. We eavesdrop and learn aboutfairy-pop, invisible mobile phones, giantsnails, and maggots feeding on dead bodies.The stories and lives of the guests and staffintersect here. Every silly detail and every ab-surd anecdote contribute a piece to Lene’slarger story, to this family that makes thisgloomy, smoky bar the best place in theworld. But not all is rosy in Lene’s life. She is

avoiding some decisions and conflicts. Whatpath lies ahead of her? And what if the con-cert cannot take place? What if some smalldetails jeopardize all her plans?

LEIF IN CONCERT is a declaration of love tomusic and to that one bar around the cornerthat everyone knows, that home away fromhome, where you can be who you are, andwhere there are no class distinctions.

CHRISTIAN KLANDT was born in 1978 andstudied Directing at the Film UniversityBabelsberg KONRAD WOLF. He works as ascreenwriter and director for film and thea-ter. His award-winning debut WELTSTADTscreened in New York’s MoMA, his secondfeature LITTLE THIRTEEN was pre-selectedfor the German Film Award. His films havescreened at festivals around the world andwon numerous awards. His films include:SCHAUSTEINS LETZTER FILM (2008), WELT-STADT (2008), BUNDESKANZLER HONECKER(2010), LITTLE THIRTEEN (2012), RATTEN(2016), and LEIF IN CONCERT – VOL. 2 (2019).

GENRE Comedy, Music YEAR OF PRO -DUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Christian KlandtSCREENPLAY Christian Klandt CINEMATOG -RAPHY René Gorski CAST Luise Heyer, KlausManchen, Michael Klammer, Godehard Giese,Florian Bartholomäi, Bela B., David Wnendt,Tilo Prückner, Martin “Gotti” Gottschild, JuleBöwe, Mark Benecke, Tom Lass, IsabellGerschke, Maryam Zaree, Gerdy Zint, VolkerHauptvogel PRODUCER Martin Lischke PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Lischke & Klandt Film-produktion RUNTIME 109 min LANGUAGEGerman

SALES MissingFILMSc.acrivulis@missingfilms.dewww.missingfilms.dewww.leifinconcert.de

© Mike Auerbach

LEIF IN CONCERT – VOL. 2



26

Berlin. The last unrenovatedbuilding in a trendy neighborhoodis being vacated. The formertenants are moving out, but

Dietmar (67) refuses to budge. His son Tobias(34) tries to convince him to move into socialhousing. However, his father resists – he willnot leave his beloved apartment which hasbeen his home for 40 years. The situationbetween Tobias, his father, and the building’srealtor, who seems to be there by chance, es-calates and gets completely out of hand.

When the young police officer Shirin suddenlyappears in the doorway, Tobias must decidewhether he will really take a stand for some-thing for the first time in his life and followthrough with it. But is that all there is to it?What was the father really planning? It quicklybecomes clear that the truth is much morecomplicated, and that many things are notquite what they seem in this chamber play fullof twists and turns …

A Berlin thriller about the highly topical issueof gentrification – gripping and tragic rightuntil the surprising end.

GREGOR ERLER was born in 1982 in Berlinand studied at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Active as a writer and director,his award-winning films include: the shortsBREAKING THE RULES (2005), A WEEKENDFOR RACISTS (2005), BAD LUCK, GOODLUCK! (2006), BEING THE ODD ONE OUT(2006), ONE MAN SHOW (2010), ST. CHRISTO-PHORUS: ROADKILL (2010), and his debutfeature THE LAST BERLINER (2018).

GENRE Action, Drama, Thriller YEAR OF PRO-DUCTION 2018 DIRECTOR Gregor ErlerSCREENPLAY Gregor Erler, Benjamin KaralicCINEMATOGRAPHY Moritz Reinecke CASTMatthias Ziesing, Pegah Ferydoni, MoritzHeidelbach, Wolfgang Packhäuser PRO -DUCERS Gregor Erler, Matthias Ziesing,Christopher Cornelsen CO-PRODUCERMarkoMassinger PRODUCTION COMPANIES Film13, Koenigsgarten, Cornelsen Films, in co-

production with Luftschloss FilmproduktionRUNTIME 97 min LANGUAGE German FESTI-VALS Hof 2018, Manchester 2019, AccoladeGlobal FF 2019, IndieFEST Film Awards 2019,Around IFF 2019, Action On Film IFF 2019,London Independent Film Awards 2019,FICOCC Five Continents IFF 2019, Gen-renale 2019, Neisse FF 2019 AWARDS BestFeature Film & Best Foreign Feature FilmManchester 2019, Special Mention AccoladeGlobal IFF 2019, Best of Show IndieFEST2019, Best Production Design & SpecialMention: Best Cinematography FICOCC 2019,Best Foreign Feature London IndependentFilm Awards 2019

SALES ARRI Media [email protected]/international

© Film13/Koenigsgarten

DER LETZTE MIETERTHE LAST BERLINER




27

Dina and Michael are in theirearly 30s. He’s a doctor, she’s anactress. At first they are happy.Then he suggests they should

split up. To which she says, “Nö!” The filmthen follows them over the com ing yearsas they try to navigate their way throughlife’s pitfalls, live up to their own parents’expectations, keep their careers on track andbe good parents themselves.

NÖ is a film about love, our search for andinability to live it when it is there. A film aboutthe passing of time and that generation, nowin their thirties, that has so much, tries sohard and often fails silently. It is a film aboutsomething that cinema does especially well,showing those psychological states that liebeyond the visible, but are no less real anddecisive for our life’s journey.

DIETRICH BRÜGGEMANN studied at the FilmUniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF inPotsdam. His films include: the shorts HEAVYROTATION (2001), MEHR LICHT (2003),WARUM LÄUFT HERR V. AMOK (2003), KATJAKANN FAST ALLES (2004), numerous musicvideos, and the features NINE TAKES (NEUNSZENEN, 2006), RENN WENN DU KANNST(2010), MOVE (3 ZIMMER/KÜCHE/BAD,2011), STATIONS OF THE CROSS (KREUZWEG,2014, Silver Bear Berlin), HEIL (2015), andNÖ (2019).

GENRE Love Story YEAR OF PRODUCTION2019 DIRECTOR Dietrich BrüggemannSCREENPLAY Anna Brüggemann, DietrichBrüggemann CINEMATOGRAPHY AlexanderSass CAST Anna Brüggemann, AlexanderKhuon, Isolde Barth, Hanns Zischler, NinaPetri, Petra Schmidt-Schaller, Mark Waschke,Andreas Döhler, Rüdiger Vogler PRODUCERSMartin Heisler, Gabriele Simon PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Flare Film, in co-production withRotor Film RUNTIME 115 min LANGUAGEGerman, English

SALES The Match Factory [email protected]

© Flare Film/Alexander Sass

NÖ


28

Oray strives to be a better personbut struggles with his shady past.His dream of being a goodMuslim and the perfect husband

is suddenly shattered while arguing with hiswife. Oray goes to Cologne, where he tries torebuild his life in a new Muslim community.But he is constantly torn between his faith,everyday reality and identity.

MEHMET AKIF BÜYÜKATALAY was born inBad Hersfeld in 1987. He studied Film andLiterature at the Academy of Media Arts Co-logne and was a scholar of the German Na-tional Scholarship Foundation. His filmsinclude: HOW I LEARNED TO HATE SKIING(short, 2008), ÖMER, THE LORD (short, 2012),BEFORE THE GATES OF IJTIHAD (short,2013), SCENES OF A YOUTH (short, 2014),THE BUTCHER (short, 2015), and his featuredebut ORAY (2019).

GENRE Coming-of-Age Story, Drama, LoveStory YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORMehmet Akif Büyükatalay SCREENPLAYMehmet Akif Büyükatalay CINEMATOGRAPHYChristian Kochmann CAST Zejhun Demirov,Deniz Orta, Cem Göktaş, Ferhat Keskin, FarisYüzbaşıoğlu, Fırat Bariş Ar, Mikael Bajrami,Kais Setti PRODUCERS Bastian Klügel,Claus Reichel CO-PRODUCER Mehmet AkifBüyükatalay PRODUCTION COMPANY film-faust, in co-production with Kunsthochschulefür Medien Köln (KHM), ZDF Das kleine Fern-sehspiel RUNTIME 100 min LANGUAGE Ger-man, Turkish, Romani FESTIVALS Berlinale2019, Lecce 2019, Istanbul 2019, CrossingEurope Linz 2019, Ankara 2019, Seattle 2019AWARDS Götz George Best Newcomer Award2018, GWFF Best First Feature AwardBerlinale 2019, Golden Olive Tree Lecce 2019,Special Mention (Zejhun Demirov) Linz 2019


© filmfaust/Christian Kochmann

ORAY




29

Brave, funny, and one of a kind:that’s Rocca. Rocca is 11 and livesa rather unique life. While her dadis watching over her as an astro-

naut from outer space, Rocca lives alone withher squirrel and is attending a normal schoolfor the first time in her life. At school, hercare free and non-conformist way of life in-stantly stands out. She fearlessly confrontsthe class bullies, because first and foremostRocca stands up for justice. That’s why shemakes friends with the homeless Caspar andtries to help him. All the while she is also at-tempting to win over her grandmother’sheart. With never-ending optimism, Roccaproves together with her new friends thateven a child has the power to change theworld.

KATJA BENRATH was born in 1979. Aftertraining in Costume Design, she studiedActing and Vocals at the Vienna Conservatoryand performed in numerous films, theaterplays and musicals. She then studied Direc-ting at the Hamburg Media School. Her filmsinclude: her award-winning graduation filmWATU WOTE – ALL OF US (2017) and ROCCACHANGES THE WORLD (2019).

GENRE Family Entertainment YEAR OF PRO-DUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Katja BenrathSCREENPLAY Hilly Martinek CINEMATOG -RAPHY Torsten Breuer CAST Luna Maxeiner,Mina Tander, Michael Maertens, CordulaStratmann, Detlev Buck, Barbara Sukowa,Fahri Yardim PRODUCER Tobias Rosen CO-PRODUCERS Willi Geike, Heike Wiehle-Timm,Steffi Ackermann PRODUCTION COMPANYRelevant Film, in co-production with WarnerBros. Film Productions Germany RUNTIME100 min LANGUAGE German FESTIVALS Ger-man Film Festival Portland 2019, KINO FestSeattle 2019, Filem’On Brussels 2019, Zlín2019, Giffoni 2019, Transilvania IFF 2019

SALES Beta Cinema [email protected]

© Warner Bros. Entertainment

ROCCA VERÄNDERTDIE WELTROCCA CHANGES THE WORLD


30

Actress Charlotte is struggling withher craft and even more with her-self. She has messed up yet an -other audition and even her

self-written apple tree monologue seems tobe working against her. Frustrated by therealities of an artistic career and her fear offailing, Charlotte escapes on a camping tripto sunny Croatia with her boyfriend Georg.But the trip’s dynamic changes when theirplans of a fun-filled couples vacation misfire:While Georg spends his time at a music festi-val in the hope of scoring a DJ gig, Charlotteis left stranded in the middle of nowhere. Sheembarks on a journey of her own, encounter -ing happy campers Benno, a self-proclaimedshaman, and mysterious escapist Tami, whoquickly become her close companions. Onequestion unites the four unlikely travelers:How do you find yourself when you feel lost?

THIS IS WHERE I MEET YOU is an intimate,atmospheric dramedy telling the story of anending love affair and the beauty of new be-ginnings.

KATHARINA LUDWIG was born in 1979 andstudied at the University of Television andFilm Munich. Active as a freelance director,producer and editor, she has worked onaward-winning commercials and corporatefilms since 2010. Her films include: SUNDAYS(short, 2010), DINNER AT EIGHT (short, 2011),BOYS! (short, 2012), and her graduationfeature THIS IS WHERE I MEET YOU (2019).

GENRE Love Story, Road Movie, TragicomedyYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORKatharina Ludwig SCREENPLAY KatharinaLudwig CINEMATOGRAPHY Holger Jung -nickel CAST Helene Blechinger, AntonSpieker, Tala Al Deen, Peter Marty PRO -DUCER Katharina Ludwig PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Katharina Ludwig, in cooperationwith Hochschule für Fernsehen und FilmMünchen (HFF/M) RUNTIME 81 minLANGUAGE German FESTIVALS FilmfestivalMax Ophüls Preis Saarbrücken 2019

SALES Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München (HFF/M)[email protected]

© Katharina Ludwig

THIS IS WHERE I MEET YOU



31

Antonia Berger, a young Germanand enthusiastic Communist,goes to the Soviet Union in the1930s. Whilst there, she is ac -

cused of spying and sent to Vorkuta’s laborcamp. After being released from the gulag in1952, she manages to return home to the newsocialist East German state with her daughterLydia. Antonia is forced by her party comradesto keep her terrible experiences secret for thecommon good. It is only after Stalin’s deaththat she speaks out about her time in theSoviet Union. But her newly regained freedomis taken away from her again when her lover,a committed Communist, informs the author -ities. Antonia has to make a choice – be tweentruth or the present.

BERND BÖHLICH was born in Dresden in1957. After working as a director’s assistant,he studied at the Film University BabelsbergKONRAD WOLF. A selection of his numerousfilms includes: ALL ALONE (2005), YOU ARENOT ALONE (2007), KRAUSE’S FEST (2007),THE MOON AND OTHER LOVERS (2008),FLY AWAY (2011), KRAUSE’S BLISS (2016),KRAUSE’S HOPE (2018), and SEALED LIPS(2018).

GENRE Drama, History, Love Story YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTOR Bernd BöhlichSCREENPLAY Bernd Böhlich CINEMATOG -RAPHY Thomas Plenert CAST AlexandraMaria Lara, Carlotta von Falkenhayn, RobertStadlober, Karoline Eichhorn, BarbaraSchnitzler, Stefan Kurt, Jürgen Tarrach,Frauke Poolmann, Peer Jäger, AlexanderKhuon, Peter Kurth, Swetlana Schönfeld,Jochen Nickel, Hark Bohm, BerndStegemann, Vladislav Grakovskiy, BrankoSamarovski, Stefan Lochau, Jenny LangnerPRODUCERS Eva-Marie Martens, AlexanderMartens PRODUCTION COMPANY MafilmMartens Film- und Fernsehproduktion, in co-production with RBB, cine plus Filmpro -duktion, STL RUNTIME 100 min LANGUAGEGerman FESTIVALS Goa 2018, Cleveland2019, Bif&st Bari 2019


© Mafilm/Arnim Thomaß

UND DER ZUKUNFT ZUGEWANDTSEALED LIPS



32

Astrid is in her late forties and hasher life firmly under control. Shehas fallen in love with Paul, andtheir first weekend trip together

takes them to Budapest for a few romanticdays, just the two of them. But in the Hungar -ian capital things happen differently thanplanned: They run into Julius, Astrid’s firstgreat love who she met at an artists’ party inthe GDR in 1986. It was a love that was nevereasy, but always exciting. There are stillfeelings that couldn’t really be ended by thecourse of history. Together with Paul, Astridlooks back at her past, and suddenly every-thing could be as it had never been.

FLORIAN KOERNER VON GUSTORF is bestknown as a producer of many of ChristianPetzold’s, Angela Schanelec’s and ThomasArslan’s films. Also active as a musician in hisband “Mutter“, WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEENmarks his own directorial debut.

GENRE Love Story YEAR OF PRODUCTION2019 DIRECTOR Florian Koerner von GustorfSCREENPLAY Gregor Sander CINEMA -TOGRAPHY Reinhold Vorschneider CASTChristiane Paul, Ronald Zehrfeld, SebastianHülk, Barnaby Metschurat, Mercedes Müller,Lena Urzendowsky, Leonard Kunz, MattiSchmidt-Schaller PRODUCER Martin HeislerPRODUCTION COMPANY Flare Film RUN-TIME 89 min LANGUAGE German

SALES The Match Factory [email protected]

© Flare Film/Marco Krüger

WAS GEWESEN WÄREWHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN



Alittle boy whose destiny was to dieduring his birth deeply movedeveryone who came into contactwith him. His parents learned of

his diagnosis four months before his birth. Inthis autobiographical documentary, they letus take part in their personal process. Theyinterviewed their companions through thisextraordinary time of their lives: friends,doctors, midwives, therapists and grief coun-sellors. The mother’s loving poems are ac-companied by the father’s expressive imagesof nature which let us understand pregnancyin every fruit we see. DEEPLY MOVEDcelebrates life in contemplation of death.

GEORGE INCI was born in 1965 in Kelkit/Turkey. A Berlin-based actor and filmmaker,he is active in the fields of producing, direct -ing, cinematography and writing. His films asa director include: the features BABA (2010)and HIRSCHEN (2014) and his first documen-tary DEEPLY MOVED (2019).

GENRE Human Interest, Poetry, Society YEAROF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR George InciCINEMATOGRAPHY George Inci PRODUCERSGeorge Inci, Beatrice von Moreau PRODUC-TION COMPANY Inci Pictures FilmproduktionRUNTIME 140 min LANGUAGE German

SALES Inci Pictures [email protected]

33

© George Inci

GFQ 2-2019 NEW DOCUMENTARIES

DEEPLY MOVED

We accompany an Israeli gaycouple, Motty and Alon, ontheir journey to have bio -logical twins through their

gestational surrogate, Krista, fromOregon/USA.

For a period of one year, we look into thecouple’s daily lives in Israel. We observe howthey cope with the financial, medical, socialand religious issues Israel’s reality posesthem on their quest for fatherhood amidst thenational gay baby boom.

Through their closely observed personalstory, the film raises questions about parent-hood, social norms and the zeitgeist of ourtechnologically advanced world.

HENDRIK SCHÄFER was born 1981. Pre -viously a freelance production manager forcommercials and music promos, he studiedDocumentary Directing at the FilmakademieBaden-Württemberg. DOUBLE INCOME,KIDS is his graduation film.

GENRE LGBTQ, Human Interest, SocietyYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORHendrik Schäfer CINEMATOGRAPHY HendrikSchäfer PRODUCERS Denise Neustadt,Hendrik Schäfer PRODUCTION COMPANYEssence Film, in co-production with Film -akademie Baden-Württemberg, SWR RUN-

TIME 94 min (90/60 min TV version)LANGUAGE Hebrew, English, SpanishAWARDS Caligari Förderpreis 2016

SALES Essence [email protected]

© Hendrik Schäfer


Shadowed by weekly racist demon-strations in East Germany, formerfactory workers of the GermanDemocratic Republic together with

Syrian refugees share the memories of theirlost homelands.

FLORIAN KUNERT studied DocumentaryDirecting at La Escuela Internacional de Ciney TV in Cuba and completed post-graduatestudies at the Academy of Media ArtsCologne. His films include: SHACK THEATRE(video installation, 2011), POCO A POCO (docshort, 2012), THE PLURAL OF ONE PERSON (doc short, 2013), OH BROTHER OCTOPUS(doc short, 2017), and PROGRESS IN THEVALLEY OF THE PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW(doc, 2019).

GENRE Experimental Documentary, History,Tragicomedy YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Florian Kunert CINEMATOGRA-PHY Joanna Piechotta PRODUCER StefanGieren CO-PRODUCERS Florian Kunert,Sarah Schreier PRODUCTION COMPANY TheStory Bay, in co-production with Kunsthoch-

schule für Medien Köln (KHM) RUNTIME 67min LANGUAGE German, Arabic FESTIVALSBerlinale 2019

SALESThe Story [email protected]

34

© Johanna Piechotta

NEW DOCUMENTARIES GFQ 2-2019

PROGRESS IN THE VALLEY OF THE PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW

The film is a portrait of the artists’group SPUR, which belongs to theartistic avant-garde of Germanyafter 1945 and whose art, mani -

festos and political actions made a decisivecontribution to the mood of social awakeningin the 1960s. SPUR (German for “track”) wasthe name chosen in 1958 by a group ofMunich artists: three painters, a sculptor anda “political agitator”. In a post-war Germanystill haunted by Nazism, SPUR saw itself asan “insurgent reaction” against the conser -vative state. The film focuses not only on theirartwork but on their political activities, parti -cularly their time in the Situationist Inter-national movement around Guy Debord inParis. The film takes a close look at theirartistic synthesis and introduces the sur -prisingly unknown group to a wider inter -national audience.

SABINE ZIMMER finished law school andworked for 15 years as a script supervisor onmotion picture films before she swapped hercareer for documentary film making. Afterco-founding Crossendfilm in 2008, she isactive as an independent writer and directorof documentary films.

GENRE Art YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Sabine Zimmer CINEMATOG -RAPHY Marcus Winterbauer PRODUCERRainer Höcherl CO-PRODUCER SabineZimmer PRODUCTION COMPANY RH DokuFilm, in co-production with CrossendfilmRUNTIME 85 min LANGUAGE German

FESTIVALS DOK.fest Munich 2019


© Marcus Winterbauer

SPUR – THE PAINTERS OF THE FUTURE!


The ethos of the Stuttgart StateOpera has lead the house to achieveexceptional international success –even though or maybe precisely be-

cause the artistic directorship of Jossi Wieleris unique throughout the world of opera:Classical music theater as an integrativeshared work, which is created transparently,through dialogue. The film accompanies thecreation of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen ofSpades with Wieler, Morabito, Viebrock andCambreling. During the rehearsals, ac -claimed Russian film and theater directorKirill Serebrennikov is arrested on politicalgrounds by the Russian authorities shortlybefore his work on a new production in Stutt-gart is due to begin. The Stuttgart State Operanow has to decide how they will handle thisincident.

MARCUS RICHARDT’s other films includeMARS (short, 2007), SCHULEN FÜR HAITI (TVdoc, 2011), DER PASSAGIER (short, 2012),and GOLIATH96 (2018). LILLIAN ROSA‘s otherfilms include BOI BUMBA – MOVE MY OX (doc,2016), CLUB DER WILDEN DICHTER (doc,2016, co-dir Marcus Richardt), (R)EVOLUTION

(short, 2018), and ECHOES (doc series, 2018-2019).

GENRE Theater, Art, Society, Biography YEAROF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORS MarcusRichardt, Lillian Rosa CINEMATOGRAPHYHarald Schmuck PRODUCERS Marcus

Richardt, Lillian Rosa CO-PRODUCER SandraDujmovic PRODUCTION COMPANY FAVO Film,in co-production with SWR RUNTIME 105 minLANGUAGE German

SALES FAVO Film [email protected] · www.favofilm.de

35

© FAVO Film


THE HOUSE OF GOOD SPIRITS

In observing pictures and characterized bypoems and music, the audience observesencounters with people, stories and cul-tures in Istanbul. The viewer follows the

perspective and sensitivity of the Andalusian-born, German writer José F. A. Oliver. Hespends a lot of time in Istanbul and observeslife for us from his poetic perception, whichhe expresses via his thoughts from his per -sonal diary.

DOGAN ALTUNER was born in 1965 in Turkeyand moved to Germany at age 17. He studiedFilm in Berlin and founded the first Turkishcinema and Turkish advertising agency inGermany, where he produced and directednumerous formats for Turkish target groupsin Germany. He is active as a documentaryfilm director on topics which investigate cul-tural barriers.

GENRE History, Literature YEAR OF PRODUC-TION 2019 DIRECTOR Dogan Altuner CINE-MATOGRAPHY Eren Bozbas PRODUCER SvenSchnell CO-PRODUCER Asli Ertürk PRODUC-TION COMPANY san cinema, in co-productionwith ESR Filmproduktion RUNTIME 61 minLANGUAGE German

SALES phantasticas [email protected]

© sans cinema


The film traces the development ofthe Tough Guy from the beginningsof Bogart and John Wayne to theultimate coolness of Steve McQueen

and Clint Eastwood, to the machos of the 80sand the role models of today. Leading mendon’t start their service out of nowhere, theyare always a sign of the times. How are thesemen made or even manu factured? Reality haslong since caught up with cinema. The ToughGuy image has made it into politics and hasbeen relentlessly perpetuated in mainstreammovies. Was it really so wise to leave the def -inition of manhood to cinema? The film is are-examination of how manhood works forthe big screen and its influence on menaround the world.

HASKO BAUMANN made his internationalmark with the award-winning documentaryMOEBIUS REDUX. He is a regular directorfor the Austrian TV series THE BEST CHEFSIN THE WORLD. His other films include:ABOUT MEN (short, 2013), co-direction onTHE DONALD DUCK PRINCIPLE (2014), BEEF– FOR MEN WITH TASTE (series, 2015), andREAL MEN (2019).

GENRE Action, Society YEAR OF PRODUC-TION 2019 DIRECTOR Hasko Baumann CINE-MATOGRAPHY Mario Hötschl PRODUCEREdda Baumann-von Broen PRODUCTIONCOMPANY avanti media plus RUNTIME52/74/90 min LANGUAGE English, German,French

SALES Rise and Shine World [email protected]

36

© Mario Hötschl

NEW DOCUMENTARIES GFQ 2-2019

THINKING LIKE A MOUNTAIN is adocu mentary film that narratesthe present-day struggle of theArhuaco, an isolated indigenous

mountain community in Colombia’s SierraNevada whose traditional way of life has beenthreatened by the armed conflict in Colombiaand by the ever-growing effects of climatechange on their fragile environment.

ALEXANDER HICK studied at the Akademieder Bildenden Künste München, the Uni -versity of Television and Film Munich, and theCentro Capacitación Cinematográfico inMexico City. His work has been shown atfestivals and in museums all around theworld. A selection of his films includes: MAKENO WAY THE WAY (2007), BLAUEIS (2009),DAY AFTER DAY (2010), SAINT GERMAIN(2010), and the documentary features SAN

AUGUSTIN, LOW TIDE IN THE PLASTIC SEA(2012), SCORCHED WATER (2015), andTHINKING LIKE A MOUNTAIN (2018).

GENRE Adventure, Environment/Ecology,History YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018 DIREC-TOR Alexander Hick CINEMATOGRAPHYImmanuel Hick PRODUCERS Alexander Hick, Ana Lozano CO-PRODUCER Christine Haupt

PRODUCTION COMPANY Flipping the CoinFilms, in co-production with Hochschule fürFernsehen und Film München (HFF/M)RUNTIME 91 min LANGUAGE Chibcha,Spanish, German FESTIVALS Visions du RéelNyon 2019, Human Rights FF InconvenientFilms 2018, Cervino Cinemountain Festival2018, Autrans IFF 2018, Astra FF 2018,FICI Cartagena 2019, Ethnocineca FF 2019,

Encuentros del otro cine EDOC 2019,Festival of Transcultural Cinema 2019,DOK.fest München 2019 AWARDS DeutscherMenschen rechts Filmpreis 2018

SALES Flipping the Coin [email protected]

© Alexander Hick


In her documentary family sagaWALCHENSEE FOREVER, director JannaJi Wonders embarks on a deeply personalvoyage of discovery spanning a century:

She takes us from the family café at theBavarian Walchensee to San Francisco to theinfamous “Summer of Love” and discoversthe secrets of her family to track down theirrole in the generation chain. Surrounded bymountains, lake Walchensee rests in its end-less dynamic and is the dramaturgical centerof their life and this film.

WALCHENSEE FOREVER is a very modern,soft and feminine documentary and a poeticproject about generations of women, thecircle of life and about the bond to one’s ownroots.

JANNA JI WONDERS was born in Californiaand studied at the University of Television andFilm Munich. Also active as a singer with theband YA-HA!, her films include: BLING BLING(doc, 2002), WAITING FOR SUMMER (short,2003), STREET PUNK MOSCOW (short doc,2005), LOVING YOU (short, 2006), HOLY HOME(short, 2007), I REMEMBER (short, 2015), andWALCHENSEE FOREVER (doc, 2019).

GENRE Women, Biopic, History, Love StoryYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORJanna Ji Wonders CINEMATOGRAPHY SvenZellner, Janna Ji Wonders, Anna Werner PRO-DUCERS Martin Heisler, Katharina Bergfeld,Nadja Smith PRODUCTION COMPANY FlareFilm RUNTIME 110 min LANGUAGE German

SALES Flare Film [email protected]

37

© 2019 Flare Film


The German (punk)rock band DieToten Hosen is a phenomenon ofsuperlatives. This music & concertdocumentary accompanies the

legendary and most successful German-speaking rock band – with 19 million recordssold since 1982 – on one of their biggest toursin band history. The result is an intimate por-trait of the band, but also the documentationof a huge tour that resembles a rollercoasterof emotions: After celebrated concerts theabrupt stop due to the sudden hearing loss ofsinger Campino, doubts and new beginnings,the triumphant return in the band’s home-town stadium, and at the end of the year theperformance at their own “Hosen-Fest” inBuenos Aires.

CORDULA KABLITZ-POST writes, directs andproduces documentaries and artist’s por-traits. Her directorial debut in fiction was themulti-awarded period movie LOU ANDREAS-SALOMÉ (2016).

PAUL DUGDALE writes and directs documen-taries and concert films for some of the

world’s biggest artists including Taylor Swift, Adele, The Rolling Stones, Coldplay and manymore.

GENRE Music YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTORS Cordula Kablitz-Post, PaulDugdale (concerts) PRODUCER CordulaKablitz-Post CO-PRODUCERS Benjamin

Hoeller, Christian Jantscha PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Avanti Media Fiction, in co-produc-tion with Opus R, The Post Republic RUNTIME107 min LANGUAGE German, English,Spanish FESTIVALS Berlinale 2019

SALES MAGNETFILM [email protected] · www.magnetfilm.de

© Avanti Media Fiction

DIE TOTEN HOSEN – YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE


NEW SHORTS GFQ 2-2019

38

© Fischer & el Sani

Evoking the Olympic marathon fromRome 1960, in which the Ethiopianrunner Abebe Bikila conquered theAfrican continent’s first gold medal,

running barefoot and becoming a sportingleg end and a symbol of the Africa that wasfreeing itself of colonialism, the directorshave re-contextualized amidst Rome’s con-troversial rationalist architecture, a new raceinvolving refugees and immigrants staking aclaim to their freedom of movement. The filmexamines the complexity of ideological, poli-tical and architectural implications of Bikila’s1960 Olympic gold medal run to this day.

MAROAN EL SANI and NINA FISCHER’sworks together include: KLUB 2000 – ROM,PARIS, MARZAHN (1998), THE RISE (2007),SAYONARA HASHIMA (2009), NARITA FIELDTRIP (2010), I LIVE IN FEAR – AFTER MARCH11 (2013), CONTAMINATED HOME (2014), DY-NAMIS (2014), DER DREISATZ DER IDENTITÄT(2016), FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT (2018), andAPPROPRIATION TAKES YOU ON A WEIRDRIDE (2019), among others.

GENRE Experimental Documentary, Ani -mation, Art YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTORS Nina Fischer, Maroan el SaniCINEMATOGRAPHY Johannes Praus, Maroanel Sani PRODUCERS Nina Fischer, Maroan elSani CO-PRODUCER Pippo Ciorra PRODUC-TION COMPANY Fischer & el Sani, in co-pro-duction with MAXXI Museum of the 21stCentury Arts RUNTIME 29 min LANGUAGEEnglish, Italian FESTIVALS Rotterdam 2019,Las Palmas 2019, Go Short Nijmegen 2019,Kiyv 2019, IndieLisboa 2019, Sydney 2019AWARDS Ammodo Tiger Short Award Rotter-dam 2019

SALESFischer & el [email protected]

© Sonja Rohleder

Aslightly naïve bird of paradise isgoing out of his way to attract amate.

SONJA ROHLEDER was born in Zwickau andstudied Animation at the Film UniversityBabelsberg KONRAD WOLF. Her other filmsinclude: COCOON CHILD (2009), TANTOTANTO (2010), KOLUMBUS (2012), WALK THEDOG (2014), and QUIET (2019).

GENRE Animation YEAR OF PRODUCTION2019 DIRECTOR Sonja Rohleder SCREEN-PLAY Sonja Rohleder ANIMATION SonjaRohleder PRODUCER Sonja Rohleder RUN-TIME 4 min 10 sec LANGUAGE no dialogueFESTIVALS Berlinale 2019, Monstra Lisboa2019, IndieLisboa 2019, Annecy 2019AWARDS Short Tiger 2019

SALESinterfilm Berlin Management [email protected]


39

GFQ 2-2019 UPCOMING FILMS

DIE BIENE MAJA – DIE GOLDENE KUGEL

When Maya and Willi bust out ofwinter lock down early they arecatapulted into a top secret mis-

sion! Entrusted with a sacred seed, they teamup with their old pals Arnie and Barney to de-liver it to its new home on the mysteriousBonsai Mountain. But when their “seed”hatches, Maya and Willi face their biggest re-sponsibility yet – a smooshy, squishy littleprincess! This is a LOT more than they bar-gained for as they take on bounty hunters,thugs and ruthless enemies to return the lostprincess to her home, only to find it hangingin the balance of a turf war and remorselesspredators. Willi discovers a side of himselfthat he never expected and to save theprincess and her colony, Maya must learn thattrust is not just a word, it has to be earned!

GENRE Animation, Family EntertainmentCATEGORY Feature DIRECTORS Alexs Stader-mann, Noel Cleary SCREENPLAY Fin Edquist,Adrian Bickenbach PRODUCERS ThorstenWegener, Brian Rosen, Barbara Stephen,Tracy Lenon PRODUCTION COMPANY Studio100 Media, in co-production with Studio BAnimation LANGUAGE English

CONTACT Studio 100 [email protected]

CORTEX

Leading German actor Moritz Bleibtreumade his directorial debut this springwith the psychological thriller CORTEX,

produced by his own company PalomaEntertainment together with Warner Bros.Germany and Berlin-based Port au PrinceFilm & Kulturproduktion.

Based on Bleibtreu’s own screenplay, the filmalso sees him appearing in front of the cam -era as a 50-year-old man haunted by un -controlled phases of sleep and unable torecognize the difference between dreamingand reality. His wife’s affair with a small-timecriminal marks the beginning of a disturbingchain of events, drastically changing the twomen’s lives and resulting in a never-endingnightmare between reality and dream.

GENRE Psycho Thriller CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTOR Moritz Bleibtreu SCREENPLAYMoritz Bleibtreu CAST Moritz Bleibtreu,Jannis Niewöhner, Nadja Uhl, NicholasOfczarek, Anna Bederke, Marc HosemannPRODUCERS Emek Kavukcuoglu, MoritzBleibtreu, Jan Krüger PRODUCTION COM-PANY Paloma Entertainment, in co-produc-tion with Port au Prince Film & KulturProduktion, Warner Bros. PicturesLANGUAGE German

CONTACT Paloma Entertainmentek@paloma-entertainment.comwww.paloma-entertainment.com

DÜNNES BLUT

Alexander Bischoff grew up withoutparents. He has never had a family,nor does he have any children. He

works as a Detective Superintendent in a spe-cialized department. It is a profession thatBischoff chose deliberately, because, he says,he wanted to be part of something good.But after twenty-five years in the job he hasbecome disillusioned. When he is assigned acase concerning an Arabic extended familywhich offers him at long last the opportunityhe has been seeking, the lines between goodand bad, right and wrong become veryblurred.

GENRE Drama, Thriller CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTOR Mehrdad Taheri SCREENPLAYMehrdad Taheri CAST Kida Khodr Ramadan,Mehrdad Taheri, Simon Licht, Burak Yigit,Jenny Eichin, Alina Bauer, Walter Kreye, AnitaOlatunji, Fard PRODUCER Mehrdad TaheriPRODUCTION COMPANY Round 12 FilmLANGUAGE German

CONTACT Round 12 [email protected]

© Studio 100

© Paloma Entertainment

© Round 12 Film


UPCOMING FILMS GFQ 2-2019

40

FRANKY FIVE STAR

Known to international audiences fromthe successful FACK JU GOEHTEtrilogy, Jella Haase is set to show off

her versatility as an actress later this yearwhen she comes in front of the camera in theleading role of 24-year-old Franky for BirgitMöller’s second feature as director.

For Franky, life isn’t easy. To people aroundher, she seems unpredictable and erratic.But, in actual fact, she suffers from a multiplepersonality disorder. Inside, she lives withfour other characters called Leni, Frank, Ellaand Frau Franke in an old-fashioned hotel inthe middle of nowhere. But, in real life, all fiveinhabit Franky’s body at different times andoccasionally disrupt her attempts at a lovelife...

GENRE Comedy, Drama CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTOR Birgit Möller SCREENPLAY KnutMierswe, Birgit Möller CAST Jella Haase,Sophie Rois, Oona Airola, Annalee Ranft,Tristan Seith, Paul Pötsch PRODUCER JamilaWenske PRODUCTION COMPANY One TwoFilms, in co-production with Aamu Film Com-pany LANGUAGE German

CONTACT One Two Films [email protected]

DIE HEINZELS – RÜCKKEHR DER HEINZELMÄNNCHEN

DIE HEINZELS (THE ELFKINS) sees di-rector Ute von Münchow-Pohl work -ing on her fourth animated feature

for Akkord Film after RABBIT SCHOOL –GUARDIANS OF THE GOLDEN EGG and twoRAVEN THE LITTLE RASCAL films.

The famous, hard-working Elfkins of Colognefinally return! Since they were ousted by amalevolent tailor’s wife more than 200 yearsago, they have been hiding underground. Butlively Elfie can’t stand this restricted life anylonger and climbs to the surface to find hertrue calling. Together with two companions,she ends up in the bakery of grumpy pastrychef Theo who is feuding with his profit-hun-gry brother. While the Elfkins first cause a lot

of chaos, Elfie is determined to help Theo.And who would be better suited to “bake” himhappy than the Elfkins?

GENRE Animation, Family EntertainmentCATEGORY Feature DIRECTOR Ute vonMünchow-Pohl SCREENPLAY Jan Strath-mann PRODUCER Dirk Beinhold VOICES JellaHaase, Louis Hofmann, Elke Heidenreich,Leon Seidel, Detlef Bierstedt PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Akkord Film, in co-production withTOBIS Film, ZDF LANGUAGE German, English

SALES Sola Media [email protected]

The forest is suffering from a drought,the last lake has dried up, the animalshave given up hope. Only Latte the

hedge hog refuses to accept her fate and de-cides to make the dangerous journey to fetchthe magic Waterstone from the clutches ofthe Bear King, Bantur, and end the drought.But to her displeasure she is joined on heradventure by Tjum the squirrel, who wantsto stop her because the journey is toodangerous. Whereas Latte is a rascal, readyfor action, living in her own fantasy worldwhere her missing father is king, Tjum is shyand sensible, scared of the unpredictable. Butthe two at first unwilling companions soonlearn that they can survive the journey full ofbreathtaking dangers and obstacles only bysticking together.

GENRE Action, Adventure, Animation,Children & Youth CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTORS Nina Wels, Regina WelkerSCREENPLAY Andrea Deppert, MartinBehnke PRODUCERS Lilian Klages, ThomasG. Müller PRODUCTION COMPANIESDreamin’ Dolphin, Eagle Eye Filmproduktion,in co-production with Grid AnimationLANGUAGE German

SALESSola Media [email protected]

© Skena Lux

© Akkord Film/TOBIS Film

© Dreamin’ Dolphin/Eagle Eye Filmproduktion

IGEL LATTE UND DER WASSERSTEIN


41

GFQ 2-2019 UPCOMING FILMS

ISI & OSSI

Isi and Ossi couldn’t be any more different:She’s a billionaire’s daughter from Heidel-berg, he’s a struggling boxer from the

near by town of Mannheim. But when Isimeets Ossi, the two quickly realize that theycan take advantage of one another: She datesthe broke boxer to provoke her parents andget them to fund a long-desired dream totrain as a chef in New York. He tries to rip offthe rich daughter to finance his first pro -fessional boxing match. Their plans soondevelop into emotional chaos that challengeseverything the two think they know aboutmoney, career and love...

GENRE Romantic Comedy CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTOR Oliver Kienle SCREENPLAY OliverKienle CAST Lisa Vicari, Dennis Mojen, ErnstStötzner, Lisa Hagmeister, Walid Al-Atiyat,Zoe Straub PRODUCERS Uwe Schott, StefanArndt PRODUCTION COMPANY X FilmeCreative Pool LANGUAGE German

CONTACT X Filme Creative Pool [email protected]

KATARAKT

Acataract, a clouding of the lens in theeye which leads to a decrease invision, is one of the conditions affect -

ing the film’s protagonist. But it also standshere as a further-reaching, entropic (thetendency for all matter and energy in theuniverse to evolve toward a state of inertuniformity) metaphor for our external, di -minishing view of children, who rest and liveso distantly from our zealously rattlingsociety. It grants us a fleeting glance. Acalmly floating observation by the swiftlytarnishing and congealing cinematic eyethrough the Pavlovsk orphanage for mentallyand physically handicapped children.

GENRE Biopic, Coming-of-Age Story, Experi-mental CATEGORY Documentary DIRECTORAlexander Palucki PRODUCER AlexanderPalucki PRODUCTION COMPANY DeutscheFilm- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB)LANGUAGE Russian


DAS PERFEKTE GEHEIMNIS

Following on from his FACK JU GOEHTEblockbuster trilogy, writer-directorBora Dagtekin gathers the creme de la

creme of German acting talent for his latestcomedy, DAS PERFEKTE GEHEIMNIS, cen -tering on three women, four men, seven tele-phones – and the question of how well do wereally know our nearest and dearest?

When a dinner party’s chat turns to the con-cept of honesty, the friends spontaneouslydecide to play a game: they all put theirmobile phones on the table and everythingthat appears will be shared, messages readaloud, and calls listened to. What begins as aharmless game soon ends in complete chaos– full of surprises, twists and revelations forthe seemingly perfect circle of friends...

GENRE Comedy CATEGORY Feature DIREC-TOR Bora Dagtekin SCREENPLAY BoraDagtekin CAST Elyas M’Barek, Florian DavidFitz, Jella Haase, Karoline Herfurth, FrederickLau, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Jessica SchwarzPRODUCER Lena Schoemann PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Constantin Film ProduktionLANGUAGE German

CONTACT Constantin Film Produktion [email protected]

Oliver Kienle (© blacksally.de)

© Alexander Palucki

© Constantin Film Verleih/Mathias Bothor


UPCOMING FILMS GFQ 2-2019

42

SCHOKO

Sarah Blaßkiewitz’s feature debutcenters on Ivie, a 30-year-old womanwith African roots living in Leipzig, who

is searching for permanent employment as ateacher whilst working at her best friend’ssolarium. One day, her younger half-sisterNaomie turns up unexpectedly from Berlin ather front door. Ivie had previously not evenknown of her existence and now learns thattheir father has died in Africa. The question iswhether she will travel to Guinea for thefuneral with Naomie. But, first of all, theyhave to get to know each other, triggering arollercoaster of feelings and alienating herfriends and work colleagues who suddenlysee her in a new light...

GENRE Comedy, Drama CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTOR Sarah Blaßkiewitz SCREENPLAYSarah Blaßkiewitz CAST Lorna Ishema, AnneHaug, Maximilian Brauer PRODUCERSMilenaKlemke, Yvonne Wellie, Jakob D. Weydemann,Jonas Weydemann PRODUCTION COMPANYWeydemann Bros. LANGUAGE German

CONTACT Weydemann [email protected]

SOMMER MIT BERNHARD (WT)

Summer is finally here! Jonas is excitedto be spending the vacation with hiscool grandpa Bernard. But without a

wife or job, grandpa is not in the best ofmoods. Anyway Jonas is not supposed to goto grandpa’s, but to the sea with his motherand his little brother. But Jonas is determinedto go rafting with grandpa like he used towhen his father was still alive. He gets helpfrom Alex, a girl of his age whom he meetsafter running away from home. Together theyinflict a fair dose of chaos on grandpa’s every -day life, as Jonas comes up with manycreative ideas on how to reach his goal. Al -though some setbacks don’t fail to show up,Jonas ends up reaching his aim, and evenmore: spending the summer at the sea to -gether with his new big family.

GENRE Children & Youth, Coming-of-AgeStory, Family Entertainment CATEGORYFeature DIRECTOR Martina Sakova SCREEN-PLAYMartina Sakova, Silke Schulz CAST EliášVyskočil, Pavel Nový, Liana Pavlíková, SzidiTobias, Kaya Marie Möller PRODUCERSMartin Kleinmichel, Katarína Krnáčová PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Projector23, in co-pro-duction with Silverart LANGUAGE Czech,Slovak, German

CONTACT [email protected]

Actor Timo Jacobs’ third feature filmas director/producer/lead actorafter KLAPPE COWBOY and PACE,

COWBOY, PACE centers on Charlie Schwar-zer, a former shooting star of the Germanstand-up comedy scene, who has fallen fromgrace and, to make matters worse, getsditched by the love of his life, Emilie.

Plagued by ever-mounting debts and keen tobe reunited with Emilie as well as make hisstage comeback as a stand-up, Charlie is of-fered a chance to extricate himself from hisseemingly endless dilemma when his father-in-law makes him an offer he shouldn’trefuse – or should he? Charlie wants to findout... What are we humans craving for?A journey to find out what makes us human.

GENRE Drama, Tragicomedy CATEGORYFeature DIRECTOR Timo Jacobs SCREEN-PLAY Timo Jacobs, Federico Avino CAST TimoJacobs, Alina Levshin, Pegah Ferydoni, KatyKarrenbauer, Dieter Landuris, Rolf Kanies,Lana Cooper PRODUCER Timo Jacobs PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Timo Jacobs ProductionLANGUAGE German

SALESStudio Hamburg Enterpriseswww.studio-hamburg-enterprises.de

© Sarah Blaßkiewitz

© Martina Sakova

© Stefan Stalio/Timo Jacobs Filmproduktion

STAND UP!


°efp producers on the movepresented by °efpeuropean film promotion

participating °efp members British Council, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Danish Film Institute, Eye International (The Netherlands), Film Center Serbia, Flanders Image (Belgium), German Films, Hungarian National Film Fund, ICA (Portugal), ICAA (Spain), Icelandic Film Centre, Istituto Luce Cinecittà (Italy), National Film Centre Latvia, Norwegian Film Institute, Polish Film Institute, Screen Ireland, Slovenian Film Centre, Swedish Film Institute, Swiss Films, Unifrance

Belgium Hendrik VerthéA Team Productions

CroatiaAnita Juka4Film

GermanyEva BlondiauColor of May

IrelandCormac FoxVico Films

Norway Dyveke Bjørkly GraverOslo Pictures

PolandMałgorzata StarońStaron-Film

HungaryJulianna UgrinÉclipse Film

LatviaInese Boka-GrūbeMistrus Media

ItalyNadia TrevisanNefertiti Film

DenmarkNina BisgaardMeta Film

SerbiaMila TurajlićDribbling Pictures

SloveniaRok BičekCvinger Film

Sweden Jon NohrstedtSF Studios

United KingdomEmily MorganQuiddity Films

IcelandLilja Ósk SnorradóttirPegasus Pictures

PortugalJoão VianaPapaveronoir

SwitzerlandSereina GabathulerDschoint Ventschr

FranceGrégoire DebaillyGeko Films

The NetherlandsJoram WillinkBIND

SpainCarles TorrasZabriskie Films

EFP (European Film Promotion) is a unique network of the national film promotion institutes from 37 countries from throughout Europe, each representing their national films and talent abroad. Under the EFP flag, these organisations come together to jointly promote the diversity and spirit of European cinema and talent at key international film festivals and markets, in particular outside of Europe.

contact [email protected]

°efp is additionally supported bysupported by www.efp- online.com

at the cannes film festival 2019


GERMAN FILMS: A PROFILE GFQ 2-2019

44

GERMAN FILMSSERVICE + MARKETINGis the national infor mation and advisorycenter for the promotion of German filmsworldwide. It was established in 1954 underthe name Export-Union of German Cinema asthe umbrella association for the Associationof German Feature Film Producers, theAssociation of New German Feature FilmProducers and the Association of GermanFilm Exporters, and operates today in thelegal form of a limited company. In 2004, thecompany was re organized and now operatesunder the name: German Films Service +Marketing GmbH.

SHAREHOLDERS are the German Pro -ducers Association, the German Pro ducersAlliance, the Association of German Film Ex-porters, the German Federal Film Board(FFA), the Deutsche Kinemathek, the GermanDocumentary Association, FilmFernsehFondsBayern, Film- und Medien stiftung NRW,Medien board Berlin-Brandenburg, and theGerman Short Film Association.

German Films’ budget of presently €4.85million comes from film export levies, theoffice of the Federal Government Com -missioner for Culture and the Media, andthe FFA. The eight main regional film funds(FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, FilmförderungHamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Film- undMedien stiftung NRW, HessenFilm, Medien -board Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden-Württemberg, Mittel deutsche Medien-förderung, and Nord media) make a financialcontribution towards the work of GermanFilms.

German Films is a founding member of theEuropean Film Promotion, a network ofEuropean film organizations with similarresponsibilities to those of German Films.The organiza tion, with its headquarters inHamburg, aims to develop and realize jointprojects for the pre sentation of Europeanfilms on an inter national level.

In association and cooperation with its share -holders, German Films works to promote fea-ture, documentary, television and short films.

In addition, German Films has foreign re p -resentatives for Eastern Europe and China/Southeast Asia.

.

RANGE OF ACTIVITIES

Close cooperation with major interna -tional film festivals, in cluding Berlin, Cannes,Venice, San Sebastian, Locarno, Sundance,Karlovy Vary, Toronto, New York, Shanghai,Warsaw, Moscow, and Busan

Organization of umbrella stands forGerman sales companies and producers atinternational television and film markets(Berlin, Cannes, AFM Los Angeles, Toronto,Clermont-Ferrand, Annecy, MIP, FILMART)

Staging of Festivals of German Films inselected inter national territories in coopera-tion with the Goethe-Institut

Staging of industry screenings in keyinternational territories

Providing advice and information for rep -resentatives of the international press andbuyers from the fields of cinema, homeentertain ment, and television

Providing advice and information forGerman filmmakers and press on inter -national festivals, conditions of participation,and German films being shown

Organization of the annual Next Genera-tion Short Tiger short film program, whichpresents a selection of shorts and is inter -nationally premiered in Cannes

Publication of informational literatureabout current German films and the Germanfilm industry, as well as international marketanaly ses and special festival brochures

A website (www.german-films.de) offer -ing in forma tion about new German films, afilm archive, in formation and links to Germanand international film festivals and institu -tions

Organization of the selection procedurefor the German entry for the Oscar® for BestInternational Feature Film

Organization of the German Films Pre-views geared toward arthouse distributorsand buyers of German films

Selective financial Distribution Supportfor the foreign releases of German films

Organization with UniFrance of the annualGerman-French film meeting

Presentation of the annual FACE TO FACEWITH GERMAN FILMS campaign whichshines a spotlight on some of the most in -fluential German talents currently working inthe industry, who represent just some of themany dynamic ‘faces’ of German filmmakingtoday.

SUPERVISORY BOARD

Peter Herrmann Chairman

Peter DingesAntonio ExacoustosKirsten NiehuusSabine Pollmeier

TEAM

Simone Baumann Managing Director

Mai Anh Do Accounts

Christine Harrasser Press & PR, Television

Angela Hawkins Communications & Marketing

Anne Heidebrecht Distribution Support & Animation

Nicole Kaufmann Regional Coordinator: USA, UK & Northern Europe

Dennis Ruh Festival Relations

Fides Schäffer Regional Coordinator: Asia & Australia

Johanna Buse Regional Coordinator: Southern Europe & Latin America

Martin Scheuring Project Coordinator & Short Film

Andrea Schiefer Monitoring & Strategic Development, Business Affairs

Sabrina Schrödl Assistant to the Managing Director

Bernhard Simek Regional Coordinator: Eastern Europe, Documentary Film


Allianz Deutscher Produzenten – Film & Fernsehen e.V. German Producers Alliance Kronenstr. 3 | 10117 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-30-2 06 70 88 0 | fax +49-30-2 06 70 88 44 | [email protected] | www.produzentenallianz.de

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm e.V.German Documentary AssociationSchweizer Str. 6 | 60594 Frankfurt am Main/Germanyphone +49-69-62 37 00 | fax +49-61 42-96 64 24 | [email protected] | www.agdok.de

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kurzfilm e.V.German Short Film AssociationFörstereistr. 36 | 01099 Dresden/Germanyphone +49-3 51-4 04 55 75 | fax +49-3 51-4 04 55 76 | [email protected] | www.ag-kurzfilm.de

Deutsche Kinemathek Museum für Film und FernsehenPotsdamer Str. 2 | 10785 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-30 09 03-0 | fax +49-30-30 09 03-13 | [email protected] | www.deutsche-kinemathek.de

FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbHGesellschaft zur Förderung der Medien in Bayern Sonnenstr. 21 | 80331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-54 46 02-0 | fax +49-89-54 46 02 21 | [email protected] | www.fff-bayern.de

FilmförderungsanstaltGerman Federal Film BoardGroße Präsidentenstr. 9 | 10178 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-30-27 57 70 | fax +49-30-27 57 71 11 | [email protected] | www.ffa.de

Film- und Medienstiftung NRW GmbHKaistr. 14 | 40221 Düsseldorf/Germanyphone +49-2 11-93 05 00 | fax +49-2 11-93 05 05 | [email protected] | www.filmstiftung.de

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbHAugust-Bebel-Str. 26-53 | 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germanyphone +49-3 31-74 38 70 | fax +49-3 31-7 43 87 99 | [email protected] | www.medienboard.de

Verband Deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE)Association of German Film ExportersRobert-Koch-Str. 1 | 80538 Munich/Germany | Berlin office: Winterfeldtstr. 56 | 10781 Berlin/Germany phone +49-173-577 08 38 | fax +49-89-57 08 77 60 | [email protected] | www.vdfe.de

Verband Deutscher Filmproduzenten e.V. German Producers AssociationHäberlstr. 5 | 80337 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-22 84 50 45 | fax +49-89-12 19 76 03 [email protected] | www.verbanddeutscherfilmproduzenten.de

Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und MedienFederal Government Commissioner for Culture & the MediaPotsdamer Platz 1 | 10785 Berlin/Germany | phone +49-30-18 68 10fax +49-22899-681 51 30 20 | [email protected] | www.kulturstaatsminister.de

Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein GmbHFriedensallee 14–16 | 22765 Hamburg/Germanyphone +49-40-398 37-0 | fax +49-40-398 37-10 | [email protected] | www.ffhsh.de

HessenFilm und Medien GmbHAm Steinernen Stock 1 | 60320 Frankfurt am Main/Germanyphone +49-69-15 32 404-0 | fax +49-69-15 32 404 99 | [email protected] | www.hessenfilm.de

MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg mbHBereich Filmförderung | Breitscheidstr. 4 | 70174 Stuttgart/Germanyphone +49-7 11-90 71 54 00 | fax +49-7 11-90 71 54 50 | [email protected] | www.film.mfg.de

Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung GmbHPetersstr. 22-24 | 04109 Leipzig/Germanyphone +49-3 41-26 98 70 | fax +49-3 41-2 69 87 65 | [email protected] | www.mdm-online.de

nordmedia – Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbHExpo Plaza 1 | 30539 Hanover/Germanyphone +49-5 11-1 23 45 60 | fax +49-5 11-12 34 56 29 | [email protected] | www.nordmedia.de

45

GFQ 2-2019 SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORTERS


ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS GFQ 2-2019

46

ASSOCIATION OFGERMAN FILM EXPORTERS

Robert-Koch-Str. 1 80538 Munich/Germany phone +49-173-577 08 38 fax +49-89-570 877 60 [email protected] www.vdfe.de

ARRI Media InternationalTürkenstr. 8980799 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-38 09 12 88fax +49-89-38 09 16 [email protected]/international

Beta Cinema GmbHGrünwalder Weg 28d82041 Oberhaching/Germanyphone +49-89-6 73 46 98 [email protected]

Constantin Film Verleih GmbHFeilitzschstr. 680802 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-44 44 60 0fax +49-89-44 44 60 666 [email protected]

Berlin office: Winterfeldtstr. 5610781 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-8 61 23 93

Films Boutique GmbHKöpenicker Str. 18410997 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-69 53 78 50 [email protected] www.filmsboutique.com

Global Screen GmbHSonnenstr. 2180331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-24 41 29 55 00fax +49-89-55 87 61 91 [email protected]

Media Luna New Films UGKaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38, 6th Floor50672 Cologne/Germanyphone +49-2 21-51 09 18 91fax +49-2 21-51 09 18 [email protected]

Picture Tree International GmbHHusemannstr. 710435 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-30-420 824 80fax +49-30-420 824 812pti@picturetree-international.comwww.picturetree-international.com

SOLA Media GmbHRotebühlplatz 2970178 Stuttgart/Germanyphone +49-7 11-96 89 44 40fax +49-7 11-96 89 44 [email protected]

Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE)


GFQ 2-2019 IMPRINT & FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

47

German dialogue||'19y 2019 German|eissenborn Hannah W

PRIDE–AM CU CE OLZ MEIN GANZER ST–AM CU CE

GAINANOCH EINMAL

man dialogue

y 2019man

OUTUSSENIT DRA

OBANDTHE PROBANDDER PR

THEOU LISTENING MOO ARE Y

|'19

DD

R?

German dialogue|

y 2019German

T DOGHO

English dialogue

y 2019German

GMANTSFRA

Germ

Germ

AR A WEI F

y 2018Olga Delane | German

CHKATODOR

Germa

LAKE OF HAP

y 2019an

PINESS

LECTRANSIT CIR知未隅一

German Films Quarterly is published by:

German Films Service + Marketing GmbHHerzog-Wilhelm-Str. 1680331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-5 99 78 70fax +49-89-59 97 87 [email protected]

ISSN 1614-6387

Credits are not contractual for any of the films mentioned in this publication.

© German Films Service + Marketing GmbH

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy ortransmission of this publication may be madewithout written permission.

EditorAngela Hawkins

Contributors Martin Blaney, Patrick Heidmann,Simon Kingsley, Andreas Körner

TranslationsLucinda Rennison

CoverNora Fingscheidt (© Philip Leutert)

Design & Art DirectionWerner Schauer www.triptychon.biz

Printing Officewww.esta-druck.de

German Films supports the use of paper from sustainable forestry.The pages of this magazine are made of PEFC certificated cellulose.PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certificationschemes) is the largest independent organization worldwide forsecuring and continuously improving a sustainable forest manage-ment and it guarantees ecological, social and economic standards.Currently there are 265 million hectares of PEFC certificated forestworldwide.

FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

Eastern Europe

Marcel Maigaphone +49-176-38 84 56 [email protected]

China

Anke Redl China Media Management Inc.Galaxy SOHO, Tower D-50931No. 7 Xiaopaifang HutongDongchengBeijing 100010/Chinaphone +86-10-65 20 64 30fax +86-10-65 20 64 50 [email protected]


C C A N N E S P R E M I E R E E

Sunday 19 May 2 2019 8 30 OL pm LYMPIA YMP

short films!man about Germatione inforfor mor

AVILIONGERMAN P

PIA 2Visit the

We thankour partners:

OLSunday, 19 May 2019 · 8:30 pm · LYMPIA YMP


gfq - german-films.de · i s s u e 2-2 0 1 9 directors christian alvart & nora fingscheidt...

Documents