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GFQ
DIRECTORS Annekatrin Hendel & Thomas StuberPRODUCERS Irene von Alberti & Frieder Schlaich of Filmgalerie 451ACTOR Christian Friedel
IN CANNESMaren Ade's TONI ERDMANN in Competition
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GERMAN F IL MS QUARTERLY
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CONTENTS GFQ 2-2016
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GFQ 2-2016 CONTENTS
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I N T H I S I S S U E�������� IN CANNES
TONI ERDMANNMaren Ade ......................................................................................... 4
PORTRAITS
“… AND YET UNREST REMAINS”A portrait of director Annekatrin Hendel ........................................ 6
A DIFFERENT WORLDA portrait of director Thomas Stuber .............................................. 8
WIDENING HORIZONSA portrait of Filmgalerie 451 ......................................................... 10
MUSIC TO THE EYESA portrait of actor Christian Friedel ................................................ 12
NEWS & NOTES ................................................................................ 14
�������� NEW FEATURES
ALLEIN GEGEN DIE ZEIT – DER FILMTIME HEROES Christian Theede .................................................... 19
BIBI & TINA – MÄDCHEN GEGEN JUNGSBIBI & TINA – GIRLS VS. BOYS Detlev Buck .................................. 20
DIE HÄNDE MEINER MUTTERHANDS OF A MOTHER Florian Eichinger ..................................... 21
DIE HAUT DER ANDERENTHE SKIN OF THE OTHERS Thomas Stiller ................................. 22
JUNGES LICHTYOUNG LIGHT Adolf Winkelmann ................................................... 23
MÄNGELEXEMPLARTOO HARD TO HANDLE Laura Lackmann ..................................... 24
OFFLINE – DAS LEBEN IST KEIN BONUSLEVELOFFLINE – ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT LEVEL?Florian Schnell ............................................................................... 25
RICO, OSKAR UND DAS HERZGEBRECHERICO, OSKAR AND THE BROKEN HEARTEDWolfgang Groos .............................................................................. 26
ROCKABILLY REQUIEMTill Müller-Edenborn .................................................................... 27
SCHAU MICH NICHT SO ANDON’T LOOK AT ME THAT WAYUisenma Borchu .............................................................................. 28
�������� NEW DOCUMENTARIES
ERNST GÜNTER HANSING – LEBEN UND WERKERNST GÜNTER HANSING LIFE AND WORKS Manuela Zimmer, Harald Kühr ....................................................... 29
GREAT OCEAN ROAD – AUSTRALIA’S WILD COASTJoachim Haupt ................................................................................ 29
KOUDELKA: SHOOTING HOLY LANDGilad Baram .................................................................................... 30
MALI BLUESLutz Gregor ..................................................................................... 30
WER IST ODA JAUNE?WHO IS ODA JAUNE? Kamilla Pfeffer ............................................ 31
YOUKALIOswaldo Diaz Medina ....................................................................... 31
�������� NEW SHORTS
DIE BADEWANNETHE BATHTUB Tim Ellrich .............................................................. 32
KAPUTTBROKEN Volker Schlecht, Alexander Lahl ..................................... 32
DIE NACHT IM HOTELSON Konstantinos Sampanis ......................................................... 33
�������� UPCOMING FILMS
DIE ANFÄNGERIN Alexandra Sell .................................................. 34
DER AUSFLUG Bartosz Grudziecki .................................................. 34
CRESCENDO Marcus O. Rosenmüller ............................................ 34
ES WAR EINMAL INDIANERLAND Ilker Çatak ............................... 35
DER HAUPTMANN Robert Schwentke ............................................ 35
IGUANA TOKYO Kaan Müjdeci ........................................................ 35
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER Damian John Harper .................... 36
REPLACE Norbert Keil ................................................................... 36
SIMPEL Markus Goller ................................................................... 36
STREETSCAPES – CHAPTER III Heinz Emigholz ........................... 37
UND DAS STREBEN NACH DEM GLÜCKJakob Preuss ................................................................................... 37
DAS UNVERLÄSSLICHE LEBEN Florian Seufert ........................... 37
DIE VIERHÄNDIGE Oliver Kienle .................................................... 38
WHATEVER HAPPENS Niels Laupert ............................................ 38
WHO’S THAT MAN Reto Caduff, Stephan Plank ............................. 38
Shareholders & Supporters ............................................................ 41
Film Exporters ................................................................................. 42
Imprint .............................................................................................. 43
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CANNES IN COMPETITION
TONIERDMANNWinfried doesn’t see much of
his working daughter Ines.The suddenly student-lessmusic teacher decides to
surprise her with a visit after the death of hisold dog. It’s an awkward move becauseserious career woman Ines is working on animportant project as a corporate strategist inBucharest. The geographical change doesn’thelp the two to see eye to eye any better.Practical joker Winfried loves to annoy hisdaughter with corny pranks. What’s worse arehis little jabs at her routine lifestyle of longmeetings, hotel bars and performance re-ports. Father and daughter reach an impasse,and Winfried agrees to return home toGermany. Enter dazzling “Toni Erdmann”:Winfried’s smooth-talking alter ego. Dis -guised in a tacky suit, weird wig and evenweirder fake teeth, Toni barges into Ines’ pro-fessional life, claiming to be her CEO’s lifecoach. Wilder and bolder than Winfried, Tonidoesn’t hold back, and Ines meets thechallenge. The harder they push, the closer
they become. In all the madness, Ines beginsto understand that her eccentric father mightdeserve some place in her life after all.
MAREN ADE studied at the University of Tele -vision & Film (HFF/M) in Munich. Togetherwith Janine Jackowski, she founded the pro-duction company Komplizen Film in 2000.Also active as a producer, her award-winningfilms as a director include: the shorts EBENE9 (2000) and VEGAS (2001), and the featuresTHE FOREST FOR THE TREES (DER WALDVOR LAUTER BÄUMEN, 2003), EVERYONEELSE (ALLE ANDEREN, 2009), and TONIERDMANN (2016).
Maren Ade (photo © Iris Janke)
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photos © Komplizen Film
CANNES IN COMPETITION
GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016DIRECTOR Maren Ade SCREENPLAY MarenAde CINEMATOGRAPHY Patrick Orth CASTPeter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller, MichaelWittenborn, Thomas Loibl, Trystan Pütter, Ha-dewych Minis, Lucy Russell, Ingrid Bisu, ValdIvanov, Victoria Cociaş PRODUCERS JanineJackowski, Jonas Dornbach, Maren Ade, Mi-chel Merkt CO-PRODUCERS Bruno Wagner,Antonin Svoboda, David Keitsch, SebastianSchipper PRODUCTION COMPANY KomplizenFilm, in co-production with coop99 knm, Missing Link Films, SWR, WDR, ARTE RUN-TIME 162 min LANGUAGE German, EnglishFESTIVALS Cannes 2016 (In Competition)
SALES The Match Factory [email protected]
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“… AND YETUNREST REMAINS”
Anne
katr
in H
ende
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oto
© M
artin
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A PORTRAIT OF D IRECTOR ANNEKATRIN HENDEL
Some people in the audience at theBerlin cinema “Babylon” were fum -ing. After a screening of the prize-winning documentary filmed in
2011, ENEMY OF THE STATE, directorAnnekatrin Hendel and writer Paul Gratzik,who had worked for the Stasi for many years,were sitting on the panel to discuss the film.Gratzik discontinued his work as an informantbefore the end of the GDR and came out as aninformer to his friends. This courageous andunusual step makes his story unique, but thatmade no difference to those protesting soloudly in the auditorium. Harsh invective waspoured over him and his director, as if theaim was to replay the 1989 revolution. Anne-katrin Hendel bore this with astonishing
equanimity, determinedly defending her pro-tagonist. Those who had not known her be-fore were given a good impression here ofthe Berlin-based producer and director. Awoman who has no problem taking a seatbetween two stools. Fearlessly, she put her-self be tween this man who had been guilty ofbetrayal during the GDR and an angry audi-ence.
Annekatrin – an insubordinate, headstronggirl – was not even allowed to graduate fromsecondary school in the GDR, although shewas an excellent pupil. Her mother, to whomshe remains grateful to the present day, neverput her under pressure to conform; on thecontrary, she encouraged her defiant spirit.
At home, Annekatrin experienced personalfreedom within the general lack of freedom.What she learned then in the GDR also helpsher today: to be rebellious, to know the ruleswell so that you can undermine them, to re-fuse to be intimidated by the authorities.
After school she went to the “Komische Oper”opera house in Berlin, where she learned thecraft of bootmaking. Afterwards, she studied“Product Constitution and Construction”,which would probably just be called “Design”today. Annekatrin became departmental headof a leather works making special shoes atthe age of only 22; her career seemed map-ped out. But she dropped out, making uncon-ventional fashion in the artistic underground
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until 1986. It was a very profitable businessamidst the country’s grey, uniform look. Evenat that time she loved, passionately and self-confidently, doing things she had never learn -ed, breaking into different professionsthrough the side door. And because she wassoon convinced that she could tell stories aswell, ones that could not be expressed withfashion creations, she moved into the theater.She worked as a stage set and costume de -signer for almost twenty years. The word sheuses to describe her unlearned activities isthe wonderful old idea of “imposture”, whichhas a daring and playful aspect. Perhaps thisis why she has often turned in her films topeople with a similar tendency: to thosewhose existence is risky, illusory; those whowalk an eternal tightrope. Her films aboutRammstein’s idiosyncratic keyboard player,FLAKE (2011), the ENEMY OF THE STATEPaul Gratzik (2011), the poet and Stasi in -former ANDERSON (2014), and the filmgenius FASSBINDER (2015) betray a livelycur iosity, free of prejudice, a sensitive em -pathy for people’s contradictory nature.
Her entry into the film business, initially as aproducer, had an element of self-empower-ment as well. Annekatrin Hendel wanted toreach more people than is possible in thetheater. She was dissatisfied with many filmsabout the GDR seen in the cinema, with theirclichés of uniformity, melancholy, and con-stant despondence: as she saw it, passionwas also a part of life in the GDR, along withyouthful euphoria, diversity – albeit not im-mediately noticeable –, very different bio -graphies, powerful stories of friendship andbetrayal. And so she came to film with a pro-gram for content that is still valid today. Sheis interested in differentiated, German-German, contemporary historical material, inthe unique nature of life during the far-reach -ing, radical changes that she experiencedherself. She says that she is certain about her
next seven or eight films. Annekatrin Hendeldefinitely knows just what she wants.
Her film production company IT WORKS! isbased in Berlin’s “in” district, PrenzlauerBerg, in a spacious old apartment with itsown cutting room. When visiting her, I can’thelp thinking of a Brecht line about the revo-lutionary: “...wherever he is chased away, yetunrest remains.” I am sure that something ofher infectious energy remains in these roomswhen she leaves the office.
You won’t hear her voicing the complaints socommon in the film business. She enjoys herlife as an independent producer and con -siders it an immense privilege to gain thetrust of financial sponsors, being able tomake her films and realize her program asa result. She claims that she is a voraciousperson, and I believe her im mediately.
She wanted everything – a family, childrenand a fantastic job – and she has got it, saysthe mother of two sons who evades no con-flict in the workplace but is extremely friendly,warm-hearted, and positively ad dicted to har-mony on a personal level. She approaches herstories and protagonists openly, without di-stance at all, creating the necessary distancelater, primarily through her employees. Thus,for example, she deliberately involves collea-gues with a western biography in the storiesabout East Germany.
The producer of successful feature filmslike ZUR ZEIT VERSTORBEN (2004) andALLEALLE (2007) became the documentaryfilm director Annekatrin Hendel, who knowsthat she belongs to the last GDR generationable to tell authentic stories about a countrythat has disappeared. When she realized thatshe set the same high standards for herselfwhen producing that she set for her directors,she took over the directing work herself. In
the near future she is planning to explore newterritory again. By making a film version ofMarion Brasch’s autobiographical novel Ab jetzt ist Ruhe, she is intending to direct afeature film for the first time; parallel to this,she plans to make a documentary film aboutthis fascinating family of artists, who reflectGermany’s most recent history so dramati-cally. Annekatrin Hendel wants to become aninternational name with her works, as well.And because she is convinced that you shouldalways embark on long distances if you hopeto cover at least half of them, she says quiteclearly – and only half jokingly – what shewants the Brasch film to achieve: she is look -ing for an Oscar®.
Knut Elstermann
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A DIFFERENT WORLD
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A P O R T R A I T O F D I R E C T O R T H O M A S S T U B E R
We are standing in the en-trance area of Starbucks inthe great hall of Leipzig’strain station, directly opposite
the tracks. Briefly, we look up at the old wood -en, coffered ceiling and the glass skylight,through which soft, intense light falls as if ina painting by a 17th century Dutch master. Wewant to get a coffee, we have just under twohours for an interview, but we hesitate in faceof the hot drink chain’s standardized world.Then Thomas Stuber says: “Shall we gosome where else, to the station pub? It’s adif ferent world, though.”
During the short walk to the pub the Leipzig-based director tells me that where the Star-
bucks has moved in there used to be a Mit-ropa restaurant. “I was there when I was stilla kid, in the days of the GDR, and I ate sol -yanka in this incredibly high space.” Some-how, it survived the station’s redevelopmentalong with its side arches and the four old, 24-piece chandeliers – but only somehow. “In theold days people still used to wait in stations,”Stuber says, “today you go there to shop.”
“ … and now, a fresh draught beer!” it says onthe red poster on the right beside the en-trance to the bar “Gleis 8”, which must some-how have been overlooked in its stone nicheduring the station’s commercialization. “OpenMon. – Sun., 10 am – midnight” we read on asmall cardboard sign; above that, there is a
sticker indicating that smoking is definitelystill permitted here. The center of the roomis dominated by a square-shaped bar counter,around which there are a few small tables onhigh central pedestals. Bar stools as well.It’s just before midday and almost all thosesitting here are men, with a lager or an ale infront of them, not the first beer of the day, I’msure.
It is Thomas Stuber’s birthday. His 35th. Icongratulate him. “It’s too early for a beer,really,” he says, but today it would be OK. Butfirst he orders us two cappuccinos, anyway,which the barman accepts with stoicism, ashe does our order of two small beers a bitlater on. From an ash tray, a pillar of smoke
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PICTURE TREE INTERNATIONAL PRESENTS A HEAVY HEART A DEPARTURES FILM PRODUCTION IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH DEUTSCHFILM AND MITTELDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK ARTE HESSISCHER RUNDFUNKSTARRING PETER KURTH LINA WENDEL LENA LAUZEMIS EDIN HASANOVIC REINER SCHÖNE UDO KROSCHWALD LINE PRODUCER THOMAS KRÁL PRODUCTION MANAGER SOPHIE STÄGLICH DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY PETER MATJASKO
PRODUCTION DESIGNER FRANCES “KIKO” SOEDER COSTUME DESIGNER NADINE KREMEIER MAKE-UP HANNA HACKBEIL EDITED BY PHILIPP THOMAS MUSIC BERT WREDE ORIGINAL SOUND JOHANNES DOBERENZ SOUND MIX & DESIGN KAI TEBBEL PRODUCERS UNDINE FILTER THOMAS KRÁL ANATOL NITSCHKE SCREENPLAY BY THOMAS STUBER CLEMENS MEYER BASED ON THE STORY BY PAUL SALISBURY DIRECTED BY THOMAS STUBER WITH THE SUPPORT OF MITTELDEUTSCHE MEDIENFÖRDERUNG
MDM DIE BEAUFTRAGTE DER BUNDESREGIERUNG FÜR KULTUR UND MEDIEN BKM DEUTSCHER FILMFÖRDERFONDS DFFF KURATORIUM JUNGER DEUTSCHER FILM FILMFÖRDERUNGSANSTALT FFA
rises straight towards the ceiling, a longworm of ash hanging on a cigarette as if ajoss stick has been lit to create the right at-mosphere. Gleis 8 is a pub in which Herbertmight sit, the poverty-stricken boxer sufferingfrom ALS in Thomas Stuber’s first film – ofthe same name – for the cinema, which waslaunched in Germany in March. It’s a pubexuding the demi-monde, smelling of alcoholand smoke, where men huddle: leading pe -ripheral lives, lonely and contemplative, gaz -ing into their glasses, or – like the old guyopposite – slumped, staring at the tracks, asthough waiting for a train that will carry themaway and finally deliver them from this ex -istence.
The pub suits Thomas Stuber. There is some-thing real, something undisguised about it.He often comes here together with his friendand screenplay author, Clemens Meyer. Whenthey return to Leipzig from events and cinemapremieres, they end up in Gleis 8, enteringthis transit area before head ing home, justfor “one more Maria” (Mariacron), as writerMeyer affectionately calls Germany’s most-sold brandy. During tricky phases in thescreenplay, the two of them sit here two orthree times a week some times, talking aboutfilms, about the piece they are currentlywriting, or “just chatting,“ as Stuber puts it.
Those wanting to grasp how this director whowent to the Filmakademie Baden-Württem-berg from 2004 to 2011 sees the world cannotget around Gleis 8. Watching life at work. Notshowing the beautiful in a beautiful way butdiscovering the beautiful in the marginal –without turning it into kitsch or resorting toromanticizing. “I would like to be representa-tive of cinema with great pathos and emotion,not the sort that anatomizes things,” Stubersays. “I stand for a celebration of pain, trag -edy and emotion using powerful images.That’s what I want to see in our cinemas.”
His film A HEAVY HEART (HERBERT) is amelo drama that brings us closer to a man, toall his poverty and pathos, his helplessnessand hopelessness, his isolation – but does sowith such tenderness that it will be a longtime before we can forget this fallen boxerfrom Leipzig (played by Peter Kurth). At theend of the film we want to embrace him.
A HEAVY HEART is one of the best Germanfeature films of recent years, but theBerlinale still didn’t want to show it, so itran at the big North American festival inToronto, where it was much applauded, thenafterwards at the Hof International FilmFestival in Upper Franconia. The critique afterits cin ema launch in Germany was reallygood. The reviews repeatedly commentedthat this up-and-coming director from Leipzig– who had won the student Oscar® in silverfor the best foreign language short withhis gradua tion film OF DOGS AND HORSES –recalls Rainer Werner Fassbinder and hismale melodramas of the seventies.
Thomas Stuber is surprised by this, as Fass-binder was never a role model he related to:“Someone in The Hollywood Reporter inventedthat business with my Fassbinder style afterToronto, and then it was read and copied by acritic here. That’s how that idea was born. ButDouglas Sirk is a far more important directorfor me. Fassbinder loved his work, too. Sothere is a connection. What’s brilliant for meabout Sirk, somehow, is that he was in Leipzig(from 1929 to 1935 artistic director of theAltes Theater) when he was still Detlef Sierck.Then he was banned from working. He es -caped to America and called himself Sirk.Just like my boxer Herbert wants to make itover there, and dreams of Chicago.”
We could probably sit in this pub oppositeplatform 8 for much longer. There’s a lot totalk about, like how hard it is to combine a ca-
reer as a filmmaker with his desire for familylife. Thomas Stuber has just become a father for the second time. About real pathos andfalse kitsch. About the German film-supportsystem. About Leipzig. About the rightscreenplay. About actors. About dogs. AboutHollywood. About the man behind the bar whodoesn’t lose his stoical demeanor whenThomas Stuber orders his second beer justafter one o’clock. One more is OK. After all, itis his birthday. Then my train is due to leave.We embrace each other. On the way to theplatform I take another quick look into Star-bucks. I‘m glad we chose the different world.
Moritz Holfelder
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WIDENING HORIZONS
Iren
e vo
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i, Fr
iede
r Sc
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hoto
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anke
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A P O R T R A I T O F F I L M G A L E R I E 4 5 1
Filmgalerie 451 as a producer had itsbeginnings more than 20 years agoin the basement of Stuttgart’s Film-galerie 451 video rental store which
had been launched by Irene von Alberti andFrieder Schlaich during their university dayswith the company name as an homage toFrançois Truffaut’s adaptation of the famousRay Bradbury novel.
In 1995, the company made its first foray intoproduction with the feature film PAULBOWLES – HALF MOON, based on three shortstories by the American ex-pat Paul Bowlesand co-directed by von Alberti and Schlaich,and followed with such films as MonikaTreut’s DIDN’T DO IT FOR LOVE (1997) andSchlaich’s OTOMO (1999).
“Our really active phase as producers cameten years ago when we made the move fromStuttgart to Berlin,“ Schlaich recalls. “Since
then, we have produced our own projectswhere we are the directors – such as Irene’sTANGERINE (2008) – as well as films by otherdirectors such as Christoph Schlingensiefand Werner Schroeter.“
“We always felt it to be very important to en-able these artists to make their films becausethe increasing bureaucracy in the film fundsmade it more and more difficult for their kindof films to be made.“
The collaboration with Schlingensief on THEAFRICAN TWINTOWERS came after Film -galerie 451 had been releasing the film -maker’s previous titles on video and DVD formore than 10 years
And the company served as the German pro-duction partner on Schroeter’s 2008 filmDIESE NACHT – NUIT DE CHIEN which pre-miered in Venice that year, as well as for Elfi
Mikesch’s intimate portrait of Schroeter,MONDO LUX, first shown in the Berlinale’sPanorama in 2011.
“It was a great blow when Christoph andWerner both died within the space of threemonths in 2010,“ Schlaich says, pointing outthat this then prompted them to make the de-cision as to whether they wanted to becomemore involved on the production side.
“I always had an admiration for those direc-tors who didn’t want to make films just toplease,“ he adds. “Schlingensief was some -one who really took risks, but neverthelessremained an anxious kind of person whoneed ed support.“
Although Schlaich and von Alberti both workas directors, they have never imposed theirown vision on the directors with whom theyhave worked over the years. “I have always
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said that I would never want to produce filmswhere I am standing next to the director andtelling him: ’I could that better’“, he explains.“Especially because the sort of films I do my-self are so much different. My role as a pro-ducer is to be at the service of the filmmakersand be prepared to show a curiosity for whatthey are wanting to achieve.“
Something approaching a filmmaking familyhad been created with Schlingensief andSchroeter before their untimely deaths cutthis dialogue short. However, this concept hasbeen continued with the experimental film-maker Heinz Emigholz who began shootinghis latest film STREETSCAPES (see Up -coming Films) at the beginning of April.
Schlaich was an assistant cameraman onEmigholz’s THE HOLY BUNCH some 20 yearsago, and when Filmgalerie 451 produced thefirst film together – GOFF IN THE DESERT in2003 – he suggested structuring it as part ofa series rather than as a single film. This re -sulted in the ARCHITECTURE AS AUTO -BIOGRAPHY series focusing on the works ofsuch architects as Bruce Goff, Auguste Perretand Pier Luigi Nervi.
“We had such a marketing approach even forthe smaller films, and it has paid dividends,“Schlaich observes, pointing that Emigholz’sfilms are constantly in demand for retrospec-tives around the globe, whether it is in SãoPaulo, Belgrade or Seville.
In addition, Emigholz’s films are one of themainstays of Filmgalerie 451’s DVD labelalong with back catalogues of films by RolandKlick, Christoph Schlingensief and Pier PaoloPasolini.
Another member of the ’family’ is the Jerusa-lem-born visual artist Omer Fast whoselatest feature CONTINUITY, based on a short
version premiering at the documenta13, wasshown for the first time in the Forum Expan-ded section of the Berlinale in February. Inaddition, his previous two shorts 5000 IS THEBEST and EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUSTCONVERGE are available for screenings incinemas together with CONTINUITY.
A new chapter in the company’s productionactivities began last year with the work onAngela Schanelec’s latest feature THEDREAMLIKE PATH, which is currently in post-production. “This has a much bigger budgetand also sees us co-producing with WDR andARTE,“ Schlaich says about the project whichwas shot between August and November lastyear.
Starring Miriam Jakob, Thorbjörn Bornsson,Maren Eggert and Phil Hayes as two couplesseparated in time by 30 years, the drama isdescribed as being “a film about powerless-ness and happiness, showing what it meansto be part of a society that develops unheed -ing of our needs and capabilities, puttingeconomic and power political interests first.“
Moreover, von Alberti and Schlaich are set tobe widening their horizon as producers withRobert Schwentke’s (FLIGHTPLAN, RED, IN -SURGENT) next feature project DER HAUPT -MANN (working title, see Upcoming Films)which is set to go into production at locationsin Poland and Germany later this year.
“We’ve known Robert for a long time becausehe was one of the students who helped out inthe video store back in Stuttgart,“ Schlaich re-calls. “He has been developing the project forthe past eight years. It is based on a real storyand appeals to his particular fascination withthe darker depths of the human soul. Youcould already see that in his debut TATTOO, and this will also be the case with DERHAUPTMANN.“
With a budget set at 5 million euros, DERHAUPTMANN will be the largest project evertackled by the Berlin-based outfit. But an oldfriend, the Portuguese producer PaoloBranco of Alfama Films – who had been thelead producer on Schroeter’s DIESE NACHT– will serve as the French co-producer andalso handle international sales, with Lodz-based Opus Film, the producer of the Oscar®-winning IDA, acting as the third partner.
“We see a great potential in Robert and be-lieve that the film could be successful on aninternational level,“ Schlaich says. “That’ssomething we definitely want to do: makefilms that find their place in the market.“
Martin Blaney
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MUSIC TO
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Taking a short break from the recor-ding studio where he and his band,Woods of Birnam, are working in-tensely on their second album,
Christian Friedel emerges blinking into thesunlight, gets his bearings, makes himselfcomfortable and switches into actor mode:“The first time I saw THE WHITE RIBBON wasat its world premiere in Cannes,” he says ofthe now internationally celebrated film inwhich he made his feature length debut.“Michael Haneke wanted us all to see it there,together, so there I was, sitting behind PedroAlmodovar, surrounded by loads of stars, hav -ing this awesome experience!”
That‘s pretty cool in itself, as you’d agree, butcould it get any better? Hell, yes! Because thefilm, in which Friedel plays the village tea-cher, went on to win the Palme D'Or 2009! Ashe says: “What more do you want?! I was ac-tually at home when I found out it had won,which taught me the importance of staying onin Cannes if you think you’ve a chance of get-ting lucky! But I watched the livestream fromhome and was jumping for joy anyway!”
Friedel got the role “through the classic cast-ing process: they wanted a young man, end20s, who could play the piano! I had four cast-ing calls, three with Michael. The whole thing
was incredibly educational, an honor even.But I never thought I’d get it, so I was very re-laxed about it all, and then ...“
“One of the many things I learned,” Friedelcontinues, “is that, as Michael says, ‘castingis half the film’. He looks a long time for theright actors and then on set you get the feel -ing of being given responsibility for the role,that it’s up to you. When you also have a scriptthat is so wonderfully worked out, with noopen questions, you get to fill the role withyour own personality. Michael knew it was myfirst film and was always there to explain andshow.”
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As if the top award in Cannes was not enough,THE WHITE RIBBON went on to win the 2009European Film Awards for Best Director andBest Script. The next year it won the GoldenGlobe for Best Foreign Film and was nomina-ted in the same category for the AcademyAwards®. Friedel “was with Burghart Klauß-ner at the time, rehearsing in Dresden for DonCarlos. We both got text messages and werebeyond happy!”
It meant, of course, “going to L.A.”, Friedelcontinues, “sitting in the auditorium in asmall group, six of us, the producer StefanArndt, Michael and his wife and Burghart andSusanne Lothar. We’d actually had a goodluck party before the show so, okay we didn’twin, but just to be there, unforgettable.” And,as consolation prizes go, if consolation is theright word, the film went on to win at Austria’sRomy Awards 2010 and also took no less thanten accolades at the German Film Awards.Not at all bad for this young actor’s first filmouting.
Unable to resist the lure of a certain bit ofsouthern France, Friedel was back in Cannesagain in 2014, playing Heinrich von Kleist inJessica Hausner’s film, AMOUR FOU. “It hadits world premiere in the Un Certain Regard,”he explains. “It was super to be back and bythat time I knew how the place works!”
Friedel describes the film as “artistically un-compromising, so just my thing, really!Scenes were played like still lifes, frozen in atime when the external imagination was moreimportant than inner emotion. The texts werelong, the takes were long, so it was a very spe-cial challenge for me as an actor. Jessica tookout more than an hour and went for a narra-tive thread that was important to her, eventhough I painfully missed some scenes frommy actor’s perspective.”
Jumping forward a year to 2014, Friedel nextplayed the titular role in 13 MINUTES, thestory of the ‘lone wolf’ Georg Elser who cameso close to assassinating Hitler and thus al-most changing world history. Again, he says,“it was through classic casting. For a role likethis the actor must fit it.” Can he identify withit? Can his personality merge with the cha-racter? “As an actor you need to know the ar-tistic team and evolve with them, and here wehad a change of director right before filmingstarted!”
Other actors might have been daunted, butsince it was Oliver Hirschbiegel picking up thereins, Friedel had no worries: “He did it incre-dibly and it was fantastic to experience suchgreat teamwork on set. The DoP, Judith Kauf-mann, was also fantastic, and there was sucha great release of energy: we trusted eachother and that flowed into the character.”
As an actor, Friedel finds “it’s important thatI am challenged, ideally by multi-layered
roles, with characters who have a secret that comes out slowly, who have tensions andques tions marks. I love roles that are nothinglike my own personality and am lucky to be of -fered them. I like discovering new things in arole that push me to my limits so I can over-come them.”
Of his upcoming projects Friedel singles outthe television series BABYLON BERLIN, fromTom Tykwer, and various theater projects inhis home town of Dresden, such as his play-ing Hamlet, Don Carlos and even Portia in TheMerchant of Venice. But he’s keen to get backto the other love of his life, music. “The al-bum’s out in spring 2017, our second one, andit’s called Grace. It’s pop with many 80s influ-ences; very electronic at times, also experi-mental and atmospheric. Not so muchmainstream as more indie, and certainly notsmooth!”
Given he is an accomplished keyboard playerand accordionist, as well as singer, it is nosurprise that not only is music more than im-portant to him, for Friedel “it also goes handin hand with me as an actor, it belongs to mesince childhood. I don’t need to sing in films,of course, but take comedy, where tempo isessential. I love bringing in things frommusic, like the atmosphere. If I can work inboth areas then I’m very happy: they’re mytwo artistic expressions.”
Friedel’s father was a doctor, his mother aneconomist. “They were interested in art andmy mother was a regular theater-goer,” hesays. “My grandfather was in a jazz swingband and played many instruments but Inever met him, sadly.”
High on his wish-list, Friedel “would verymuch like to make a genre film, sciencefiction or fantasy, or a Western, perhaps,
something in a world that is born in imagina-tion but still has very much to do with ourreality. My films to date,” he continues, “arevery close to people, reality, psychological. I’dlove to be in a really, really good comedy too.”
So far he has kept his directing experiencesto the theater but, no surprise, “I’d love to doa film and am thinking about a story wherethe band plays a role so as to bring music andacting together. Not a musical itself, butsomething higher, like Björk’s DANCER INTHE DARK. But this is something for the fu-ture. I directed all our music videos and hadfun doing as much as possible with the fewmeans we had. I’d love more means, though!”
Friedel’s idea of relaxation is going to the ci-nema, something he “would do every day, if Icould! I relax at home watching big series andlove the new form of long narratives which re-ally give actors opportunities to go longer andfurther with characters.” Among his recentviewings are WHIPLASH (“Impressive be-cause it’s so physical and does so much withmusic and its demands”) and both series ofFARGO (“one right after the other”). He is cur-rently loving BETTER CALL SAUL, with its“feeling for great scripts and character deve-lopment, the roles being given time to deve-lop. It’s also very funny, so a pleasure towatch.”
In terms of his career, Friedel actively resistswhat he calls “the German tendency to putpeople in drawers and categories. I think ofPeter Ustinov who was so good in so manyareas, and that is important for me. I want toovercome limits and to find out what is insideme in artistic output, I need to work againstmyself and also increase people’s perceptionof me as an actor and musician.”
About acting itself, Friedel really enjoys “itschild-like qualities, discovering without think -ing, keeping the inner child alive. I love work -ing with people who have this, this curiosity,who are open to new ideas and expression,still sometimes being like young children. Youshould never lose it,” he continues, “and Idon’t understand why getting older meansgiv ing this up! I was, in the past, scared ofgrowing up because all the beautiful thingswould be lost, but it doesn’t have to be likethat.”
All this time Friedel’s been keeping his handmovements well under control, expressinghimself verbally. “It’s not because I’m notphysi cally expressive,” he replies when asked,“but on a subject I know very well I can explaincalmly and let the subject have the front.We’re talking about acting and music, the sunis out and open air interviews are also fun!”But you can tell he’s now very keen to getback inside, to his bandmates and the re -cording studio.
Simon Kingsley
13
KATHARINASCHÜTTLER
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AN�OLIVER�HIRSCHBIEGEL�FILM
BETA CINEMA PRESENTS A LUCKY BIRD PICTURES PRODUCTION IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH SWR ARD DEGETO BR WDR ARTE DELPHI MEDIEN AND PHILIPP FILMPRODUCTIONSUPPORTED BY FILMFERNSEHFONDS BAYERN MEDIEN- UND FILMGESELLSCHAFT BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG MEDIENBOARD BERLIN-BRANDENBURG BLS BUSINESS LOCATION SÜDTIROL – ALTO ADIGE
GERMAN FEDERAL FILM FUND (DFFF) MIBACT FILMFÖRDERUNGSANSTALT “13 MINUTES” AN OLIVER HIRSCHBIEGEL FILMWITH CHRISTIAN FRIEDEL KATHARINA SCHÜTTLER BURGHART KLAUSSNER JOHANN VON BÜLOW DAVID ZIMMERSCHIED FELIX EITNER RÜDIGER KLINK WRITTEN BY FRED AND LÉONIE-CLAIRE BREINERSDORFER
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY JUDITH KAUFMANN (BVK) EDITING ALEXANDER DITTNER CASTING AN DORTHE BRAKER PRODUCTION DESIGN BENEDIKT HERFORTH THOMAS STAMMER (VSK) COSTUME DESIGN BETTINA MARX (VSK) MAKE UP TATJANA KRAUSKOPF ISABELLE NEU EVA MALETZ ASSISTANT DIRECTOR JOCHEN GOSCH SOUND STEFFEN GRAUBAUM SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR SRDJAN KURPJEL (M.P.S.E.) SOUND DESIGN ANDY KENNEDY RE-RECORDING MIXER CHRISTIAN BISCHOFF MUSIC DAVID HOLMES
VFX SUPERVISOR URS FRANZEN EXECUTIVE SERVICE PRODUCTION ITALY ALBOLINA FILM GOTTFRIED SOLDERER THOMAS MENGHIN WILFRIED GUFLER REINHARD WELLENZOHN PRODUCTION MANAGER HERMANN MAURER LINE PRODUCER GABI LINS CO-PRODUCERS MANFRED HATTENDORF AND MICHAEL SCHMIDL (SWR) CHRISTINE STROBL (ARD DEGETO) CLAUDIA SIMIONESCU (BR) GÖTZ BOLTEN (WDR) ANDREAS SCHREITMÜLLER (ARTE) CO-PRODUCER PHILIPP HOEPP
PRODUCED BY BORIS AUSSERER OLIVER SCHÜNDLER AND FRED BREINERSDORFER DIRECTED BY OLIVER HIRSCHBIEGEL© 2015 LUCKY BIRD PICTURES GMBH, DELPHI MEDIEN GMBH, PHILIPP FILMPRODUCTION GMBH & CO.KG
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1GERMAN FILM TOUR IN TURKEY
The traditionally strong German-Turkish filmrelations will be intensified this year with animpressive German presence in Turkey. Aftera kick-off at the Istanbul International FilmFestival at the beginning of April, which in-cluded a brunch organized by German Filmsand the Goethe-Institut for the Turkish andinternational film industries, a selection ofGerman films will be presented in Istanbul(7-17 April), Ankara (28 April-9 May) and
Eskisehir (6-14 May) and later this year inIzmir and Dyiarbakır. In the run-up to thetour, the 21st Film Festival Turkey Germanytook place in Nuremberg from 4-13 March.Four German and five Turkish films in thecompetition presented the latest works fromwell-known and debut directors. Under thechairmanship of the Turkish director DervişZaim, the jury honored Peter Kurth as BestActor for his performance in A HEAVY HEART
(by Thomas Stuber) and awarded the Jury’sSpecial Prize to Dito Tsintsadze for his GODOF HAPPINESS. The Turkish film TOZ BEZI(DUST RAG) won Best Film. The festivalprogram also included Christian Zübert’sONE BREATH, which was then screened atthe Istanbul International Film Festival.
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Michael Aue, Mariette Rissenbeek, Derviş Zaim, Felicitas Kleiner, Miraz Bezar (photo © Deutsch-türkisches Filmfestival Nürnberg)
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Maria Köpf (photo © C. Fenzl)AMÉLIE (photo © Prokino/Fox)
225 YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR FILM- UND MEDIENSTIFTUNG NRW
The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is cel -ebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Sinceits founding in February 1991, the NRW re-gional fund has supported over 7,600 projectsfor film and television, as well as the produc-tion and development of TV series, with some762 million euros. Support was also grantedfor up-and-coming media talent and cinemamodernization. With innovative programs,the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW alsohelps to fund new media content like games,apps and web videos. And with an annualfunding budget of some 35 million euros, itis one of the financially strongest fundinginstitutions in Europe.
37 admissions millionaires and numerousprizes and awards represent the variety offunding and filmmaking in NRW, includingnational hits like MANITOU’S SHOE andGOOD BYE, LENIN!, HANNAH ARENDT andTHE PHYSICIAN, but also international pro-ductions like AMÉLIE and PERFUME – THESTORY OF A MURDERER, MELANCHOLIA,and the 2016 Oscar®-nominated MUSTANG.The most important awards include 120German Film Awards, 40 European FilmAwards, one Oscar® and seven BerlinaleBears.
3PROMOTING AND SUPPORTING
On January 1st of this year, Maria Köpf tookover the reins at Filmförderung HamburgSchleswig-Holstein. The Munich native in-tends to further strengthen the creative land-scape in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein“in order to achieve great specific results –outstanding films.” She is looking forward tostronger communication and closer connec-tions with producers to follow and intensifythe support of new projects already in thedevelop ment stage. Together with local part-ners, Maria Köpf (the former head ofZentropa Entertainments Berlin) plans tointer nationalize the region and further de -velop the established network with Scandi-navian partners. “We will also be closelywatching the exploitation of films in the digi-tal age and provide support at the appro-priate level,” says Maria Köpf.
4“THE JESTER” TO SHOOT IN BAVARIA
Actor Peter Dinklage and director Mark Pa-lansky have already worked on two films to-gether, and now their third project is due tobe shot in Bavaria: the thriller THE JESTERwill be in the style of GAME OF THRONES andcenters on a puppeteer who, disguised as acourt jester, plans his campaign of revenge.The Munich-based Aventin Filmproduktion isinvolved, with the producers Wolfgang Behrand Bernd Schlötterer producing togetherwith the English co-producer Leon Clarance,of London-based Motion Picture Capital.
Principle photography is set for the secondhalf of 2016 in Bavaria. Last year, the initia-tive Filmkulisse Bayern presented directorMark Palansky with an impressive selectionof locations which were able to convince thedirector to shoot his next project in Bavaria.
THE JESTER is based on the short story HopFrog by Edgar Allan Poe: Pock, a small pup-peteer, witnesses the King’s knights brutallymurdering his uncle and kidnapping his bestfriend and secret love Tripetta. In order tofree Tripetta and avenge his uncle’s death, heapplies for a position as a court jester andwins over the despotic King’s favor. Soonthere after, the number of missing personsbegins to rise.
FFF Bayern is supporting the project withinthe framework of its special program for in-ternational co-productions with 1.5 millioneuros. Other projects which have benefittedfrom the special international co-productionprogram include BIG GAME with Samuel L.Jackson, THE HAPPY PRINCE by Rupert Eve-rett, including the director himself as well asColin Firth and Emily Watson among the cast,SNOWDEN by Oliver Stone with Joseph Gor-don-Levitt and Shailene Woodley, and theCAPTAIN AMERICA films CIVIL WAR and THELAKE, to which the Bavarian VFX producersTrixter and ScanlineVFX will be contributingtheir expertise.
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LOST IN HOPE (photo © ifs international filmschule)
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5GERMAN SHORT FILMS IN CANNES
Once again, the AG Kurzfilm – German ShortFilm Association and German Films offerGerman short films and short film makersa platform during the 69th edition of theFestival de Cannes. As every year, some ofthe most recent short film productions areavailable at the Short Film Corner for inter-national in dustry professionals. Additionally,for the sixth time, the program NEXT GENE-RATION SHORT TIGER celebrates its pre-miere in Cannes. It features not only filmschool productions but also the winners ofthe 2016 Short Tiger Award granted by theGerman Federal Film Board. Upon requestall films will be available on preview DVDsfrom German Films or AG Kurzfilm. In co-operation with ARTE, the German Short FilmAssociation invites professionals from theGerman and international short film scene totheir annual Short Film Lounge, giving film-makers, festival representatives and buyersthe opportunity to meet and connect. Duringthe festival in Cannes, please contact us atthe German Pavilion in the InternationalVillage. More information is available fromwww.shortfilmcorner.com and www.ag-kurzfilm.de.
6SHORT GERMAN ANIMATIONS IN ANNECY
In 2016, an impressive line-up of fourteenGerman animated short films will be pre -sented in the official selection of the FestivalInternational du Film d’Animation in Annecy(13-18 June 2016), which is one of the mostimportant festivals for animated film world-wide. With BAMBUSTEMPELSTRASSE byBaoying Bilgeri, DIE GESCHICHTE VOMFUCHS, DER DEN VERSTAND VERLOR byChristian Asmussen and Matthias Bruhn,KAPUTT by Volker Schlecht and AlexanderLahl, as well as SPOON by Markus Kempken,there are four German shorts competing forthe “Cristal d’Annecy” in the InternationalCompetition. Another four German shortshave been invited to the competition for gra-duation films: AN EYE FOR AN EYE by SteveBache, Luise Peter and Mahyar Goudarzi,FRANKFURTER STR. 99A by Evgenia Gostrer,MAZIER by Anja Grosswig, and WHAT THEYBELIEVE by Shoko Hara. Among the Com-missioned Films in Competition are FMX2016 “JAZZ ORGIE” by Irina Rubina, ITFS 2015“FLEISCHWELT” by Ara Jo, LANDGRABBINGby Lisa Schaffner, as well as the German-US co-production OTTO “THE LETTER” byMarie Hyon and Marco Spier. For the TVFilms in Competition, PLAYMOBIL “PIRATES– DER FILM” by Regina Welker has been se-lected. TRIAL & ERROR by Antje Heyn will bescreened out of competition.
For the ninth time, the AG Kurzfilm – GermanShort Film Association is once again, to -gether with German Films, present with abooth at the festival’s film market MIFA(Marché International du Film d’Animation).This meeting point for the German and theinternational animation scene has developedinto an asset for its visitors, providing usefulinformation on German animated film, Ger-man filmmakers and a range of other impor-tant contacts. On the occasion of the festival,the German Short Film Association andGerman Films will once more publish a pre-view DVD with recent German animatedshort films. The ninth edition of the DVD“New German Animations” addresses festi-val representatives, curators and buyers andis available at the MIFA stand and from theAG Kurzfilm office upon request.
BAMBUSTEMPELSTRASSE (photo © Baoying Bilgeri & Lukas Thiele)
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Raphaël Marionneau (photo © Bertelsmann/Paul Brissmann)
Isabelle Stever, Maria Furtwängler, Mariette Rissenbeek, Marian Masone (photo © Vlasta Pilot)
A HEAVY HEART (photo © DEPARTURES Film/deutschfilm)
7KINO! 2016 AUDIENCE AWARD
It’s a wrap! The audience of the third editionof KINO! 2016 Festival of German Films inNew York City (7-14 April 2016) has spoken:A HEAVY HEART by Thomas Stuber wasvoted the favorite film of the festival. Thisyear’s festival partner Fandor providedcompli mentary one-year memberships forthe three viewers who were the most enthu-siastic voters.
Organized by German Films, KINO! pre -sented eleven new German feature films inthe Cinema Village and no less than tenguests from the fields of direction, acting,cinematography and writing attended thescreenings. Box office hits were IsabelleStever’s THE WEATHER INSIDE, whichopened the festival in the presence of thedirector and the lead actress Maria Furt-wängler, as well as the two documentary
films THE FASSBINDER STORY with thedirector Annekatrin Hendel and DoP MartinFarkas, and B-MOVIE: LUST & SOUND INWEST BERLIN 1979 – 1989 with producer andscreenwriter Klaus Maeck on site. Also intown to present their films at the festivalwere Gerd Schneider (THE CULPABLE),Franz Müller (HAPPY HOUR), Mara Eibl-Eibesfeldt (THE SPIDERWEBHOUSE) andTom Sommerlatte (SUMMERS DOWN -STAIRS).
The newly restored silent movie classicTHE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI by RobertWiene, which was screened as a specialevent with Raphaël Marionneau, one of themost well-known European chill-out DJs, incollaboration with Bertelsmann, was a greatsuccess with hundreds of enthusiasticsupporters.
Other highlights during the festival includeda panel discussion on THE FASSBINDERSTORY with Annekatrin Hendel at the Deut-sches Haus at New York University and apacked house at the Goethe-Institut for thefilmmaker’s talk with B-MOVIE’s KlausMaeck. The Q&A with author DanielKehlmann after the closing film, ME ANDKAMINSKI, rounded off a successful editionof KINO with enthusiastic New York audi-ences.
7KINO! 2016 AUDIENCE AWARD GOES TO “A HEAVY HEART”
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34 more new German productions are presented
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our website www.german-films.de
for more information on German features,
documentaries and shorts.
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Berlin students Ben, Jonas, Leo,Ozzi and Sophie are on a class tripto "boring" Hildesheim. Theirschedule includes visiting the me-
dieval cathedral and witnessing a completesolar eclipse, but destiny intervenes… A bombgoes off at the cathedral and the students areevacuated by the police, only to find them -selves in the clutches of an occult secretsociety calling themselves the Lunaris Cult,who aim to use an ancient pagan artifact, theIrminsul, to harness the vital force of theirteenage captives and use it for their own pur-poses on the eclipse. The evil cultists areafter immortality and divine power, and areeven prepared to sacrifice the friends’ lives.
Ben and his gang manage to escape. Chasedfrom one danger to the next, the cultists pur-sue them, closing in on them more and more.The fanatics have it all planned out, it seems,leaving nothing to chance. They disable thecell phone networks and satellite con -nections, leaving the friends to fend for them-selves...
CHRISTIAN THEEDE was born in 1972 andstudied Literature and Theater in Tübingenbefore taking up studies in Film & Televisionin Dortmund and Cologne. Also active as awriter, his film work includes: various suc-cessful comedy formats, music videos, TVmovies and series such as HANS IN LUCK,TILL EULENSPIEGEL, ALARM FOR COBRA 11and the features IM WEISSEN RÖSSL andTIME HEROES (ALLEIN GEGEN DIE ZEIT –DER FILM).
GENRE Adventure, Family Entertainment,Fantasy, Thriller YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016DIRECTOR Christian Theede SCREENPLAYMichael Demuth, Ceylan Yildirim CAST UgurEkeroglu, Stephanie Amarell, Janina Fautz,Timon Wloka, Timmi Trinks PRODUCERMartin Hofmann PRODUCTION COMPANYAskania Media Filmproduktion RUNTIME 90min LANGUAGE German
SALES Global Screen [email protected]
photo © Askania Media
GFQ 2-2016 NEW FEATURES
ALLEIN GEGEN DIE ZEIT –DER FILM
TIME HEROES
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It’s summertime, and that means sum-mer camp! Tina and Bibi are attendingthe camp as well as a number of studentsfrom an international partner school. The
highlight will be a “Geocaching” competition,a modern day treasure hunt between differentteams.
But one of the boys, Urs, stirs up trouble andcreates a rivalry between the girls and boys,and now even Tina’s friend Alex wants to beon the boys’ team rather than with his friendsBibi and Tina. Their team is instead joined byFrançois, a charming student from France.
Urs and his team are pulling out all the stopsin order to beat the girls and when Urs pro-vokes and insults Bibi harshly, she casts aspell on him, transforming him into theweirdest sort of bloke. But her powers aresuddenly gone – and Urs is left with a gianthead. Bibi is devastated: what’s a witch whocan’t perform magic? Bibi and Tina try andget to the bottom of it, and are eventuallypressed for time when there’s a huge forest
fire and her magical powers are the only thingthat can prevent a catastrophe…
DETLEV BUCK was born in 1962 and made hisfame as an actor, director and screenwriter atthe age of 22. His short film TIME TO KNOCKOFF quickly became a cult classic. His firstfeature as a director was RABBIT FEVER,which won the Bavarian Film Prize. He fol -lowed this up with NO MORE MR. NICE GUY,which garnered an honorable mention at theBerlinale and two German Film Awards. Hisnext film, JAILBIRDS, which he directed andstarred in, made stars of the two femaleleads, Heike Makatsch and Marie Bäumer. In2004, he won the German Film Award as BestSupporting Actor for his role in BERLINBLUES (dir: Leander Haußmann). His otherworks as a director include: TOUGH ENOUGHand HANDS OFF MISSISSIPPI, both of whichwon German Film Awards in several cat -egories, SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT,MEASURING THE WORLD, and all three BIBI& TINA films.
GENRE Family Entertainment YEAR OF PRO-DUCTION 2016 DIRECTOR Detlev BuckSCREEN PLAY Bettina Börgerding CINEMA-TOGRAPHY Marc Achenbach CAST LinaLarissa Strahl, Lisa-Marie Koroll, Louis HeldPRODUCERS Sonja Schmitt, ChristophDaniel, Marc Schmidheiny PRODUCTIONCOMPANY DCM Pictures RUNTIME 110 minLANGUAGE German
SALES Beta Cinema [email protected]
photo © DCM Pictures
NEW FEATURES GFQ 2-2016
BIBI & TINA – MÄDCHENGEGEN JUNGS
BIBI & TINA – GIRLS VS. BOYS
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Afamily gathering on a boat bringsa turning point in the life of 39-year-old engineer Markus. Whenhis son Adam (4) returns with a
little cut after going for a pee with grandmaRenate, Markus remembers for the first timewhat his mother did to him when he was achild. From now on, Markus and his wifeMonika have to face an unthinkable truth andviolence that a mother never seemed to becapable of.
FLORIAN EICHINGER began working as aTV editor in the 1990s. He autodidacticallylearned the craft of writing and directing,supported by several workshops with MogensRukov and Wojciech Marczewski. After direct -ing more than 50 commercials and musicvideos, his theatrical feature films WITHOUTYOU I’M NOTHING (2008) and NORDSTRAND(2013) were invited to numerous internationalfestivals and won several national and inter-national awards. Eichinger’s films questiongender stereotypes and aim to explore humancomplexity against the background of inter-personal conflicts. His film HANDS OF AMOTHER (2016) is the final part of a trilogyabout the interlacements of domestic vio-lence.
GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016DIRECTOR Florian Eichinger SCREENPLAYFlorian Eichinger CINEMATOGRAPHY TimoSchwarz CAST Andreas Döhler, JessicaSchwarz, Heiko Pinkowski, Katrin Pollitt,Katharina Behrens, Sebastian Fräsdorf,Ursula Werner, Karin Neuhäuser PRODU-CERS Mike Beilfuß, Florian Eichinger,Matthias Greving, Cord Lappe PRODUCTIONCOMPANIES Kinescope Film, Bergfilm Pro-duktion & Verleih, in co-production with ZDFDas kleine Fernsehspiel RUNTIME 106 minLANGUAGE German
SALES Media Luna New Films [email protected]
photo © Kinescope Film
GFQ 2-2016 NEW FEATURES
DIE HÄNDE MEINER MUTTER
HANDS OF A MOTHER
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Marc Deville is a successful writerof erotic literature and he is aporn addict. He functions verywell in his daily business but as
soon as it comes to close encounters with theother sex he is completely unable to deal withit. He is totally afraid of letting people into hislife – nobody ever entered his apartment, norcan he remember what it actually feels like totouch another person. His sex-life only worksfor him if he puts a camera between him andthe other person, satisfying himself by watch -ing the image.
Marc meets the charming nurse Justineduring a reading in a bookstore. Justine ismarried to Eric, a successful theater directorwho loves her very much. But he can’t adaptto Justine’s sexual desires and out of thatfrustration he started to beat her upfrequent ly. Justine has a death fetish – shelikes to be strangled or choked during sex. Inher garden she keeps rotting roadkill in ashed. They are kept in jars and terrariums and Justine watches them for hours. Death
doesn’t scare Justine – it relaxes her – it’s herrefuge. At the same time it’s her inner prisonwith her husband.
Marc and Justine are prisoners of their twist -ed sexual desires but at the same time theylong for a normal, romantic relationship.Justine and Marc fight against their innerdemons and in the end they are able to adjust.And there is a chance of a relationship be -tween them.
THOMAS STILLER was born in 1961. Afterstudying Acting in New York at the HB Studioand Actors Studio, he appeared in variousplays and TV films. Also active as a screen -writer, a selection of his films includes: THEBURNING SNAIL (1995), STILLE NACHT,HEILIGE NACHT (1999), THE GREAT-GRAND-SON OF THE MAN WHO DRANK A COW(2000), DIE WUNDE (2001), DER JUNGE OHNEEIGENSCHAFTEN (2005), 12 WINTER (2008),GENUG IST NICHT GENUG (2009), SIE HAT ESVERDIENT (2010), and THE SKIN OF THEOTHERS (2016).
GENRE Drama, Love Story YEAR OF PRO -DUCTION 2016 DIRECTOR Thomas StillerSCREENPLAY Thomas Stiller CINEMATOG -RAPHY Marc Liesendahl CAST Oliver Momm-sen, Isabel Thierauch, Torsten Michaelis,Judith Hoersch, Marco Hof schneider, FilipJanuchowski, Sylta Fee Wegmann, PierreKiwitt, Lasse Myhr, Peter Hommen, SonjaKerskes PRODUCERS Adrian Topol, ThomasStiller CO-PRODUCER Steffen BaermannPRODUCTION COMPANIES Lopta Film,Cubator film International, in co-productionwith Volle Pulle Filmproduktion RUNTIME 110min LANGUAGE German
SALES Lopta [email protected]
photo © Lopta Film/Cubatorfilm International
DIE HAUT DER ANDEREN
THE SKIN OF THE OTHERS
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Achildhood in the industrial regionof the Ruhr in the early 1960s.Confronted with sex and violence,death and guilt and the intoxicat -
ing new sensation of freedom, a coalminer’sson experiences a summer full of seduction,when everything changes – and yet remainsthe way it was.
Julian Collien is 12 and lives in a mining vil-lage characterized by constrictions, povertyand brutality. Julian doesn’t see any point inschool: he wants to be a miner, just like hisfather. When his mother, who suffers fromcolic, has a nervous breakdown and takes hislittle sister to the sea to recuperate, Julianand his father are left by themselves duringthe summer holidays. Now Julian feels re-sponsible for the household, making breadand butter for his father and meeting him atthe pit at the end of his shift. Julian doesn’tmuch like spending time with the other boysin the village, whose games tend to be violent.However, their landlord, Gorny, lends him acamera and tells the boy to take photographsof his friends when they go swimming. But
Julian would much rather watch Marusha,Gorny’s precocious 15-year-old step-daugh -ter, who has captivated him with her charms– and also cast a spell over his father…
ADOLF WINKELMANN was born in 1946. Aselection of his films includes: DIE ABFAH-RER (1978), JEDE MENGE KOHLE (1981),SUPER (1983), BANG! YOU ARE DEAD (1986),NORDKURVE (1992), YOUNG LIGHT (2016), aswell as numerous TV movies and mini-series.
GENRE Coming-of-Age Story, Drama, History,Literature, Tragicomedy YEAR OF PRODUC-TION 2016 DIRECTOR Adolf WinkelmannSCREENPLAY Nils Beckmann, Till Beckmann,Adolf Winkelmann CINEMATOGRAPHY DavidSlama CAST Charly Hübner, Oscar Brose,Peter Lohmeyer, Lina Beckmann, StephanKampwirth, Caroline Peters, Nina Petri, GretaSophie Schmidt, Ludger Pistor PRODUCERSMichael Smeaton, Christiane Schaefer PRO-DUCTION COM PANIES FFP New Media,Winkel mann Filmproduktion, in co-pro -duction with WDR & ARTE RUNTIME 122 minLANGUAGE German FESTIVALS 7. Kirch -liches Filmfestival Recklinghausen 2016
SALESFFP New Media [email protected] www.ffpnewmedia.com
Winkelmann [email protected]
photo © Slama Winkelmann
JUNGES LICHTYOUNG LIGHT
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It’s no surprise when Karo is fired. She isloud, over-emotional and egocentric,more so than the average Berliner wise-ass, says her best friend Anna. Karo is not
one to give up easily, though: she opts for ra-dical change and goes into therapy. Althoughher therapist advises her to keep calm, Karothrows herself into it. She wants to be a’super patient’, catch up on the mourning shehasn’t done, put her mother on the spot andbreak up with her boyfriend Philipp. But it’sall too much in one go, her witty façadebreaks and she slides into a depressive mood,to the extent that neither her closest con -fidant Max nor her grandmother Bille canhelp her. It is only when her mother takesKaro in that she slowly pulls herself togetheragain. She now declares war on her crisis,because ’depression is a f***ing event’.
LAURA LACKMANN was born in 1979. Afterworking as an assistant director and pro -duction assistant, she studied History and ArtHistory, followed by studies in Directing at theNew York Film Academy and the German Film& Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). Herfilms include: ROSA UND TAXI (short, 2008),GEGENÜBER VON TROST (short, 2009), BÄR-LINALE (3 shorts, 2009), MITTEN AM RAND(short, 2012), and her feature debut TOOHARD TO HANDLE (2016).
GENRE Tragicomedy YEAR OF PRODUCTION2016 DIRECTOR Laura Lackmann SCREEN-PLAY Laura Lackmann CINEMATOGRAPHYSten Mende CAST Claudia Eisinger, Katja Rie-mann, Barbara Schöne PRODUCER JochenLaube PRODUCTION COMPANY UFA FictionRUNTIME 112 min LANGUAGE German
SALESBeta Cinema [email protected]
photo © Stephanie Kulbach
NEW FEATURES GFQ 2-2016
MÄNGELEXEMPLARTOO HARD TO HANDLE
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In adventure comedy romp OFFLINE,computer game star Jan fights for hisdigital identity and reclaims his real life.
Usually, gamer Jan (17) isn’t Jan, he’s bravewarrior Fenris (Level 69), one of the topplayers in the Battle of Utgard fantasy game.He’s busy preparing for the upcoming onlinetournament, called “Ragnarök”, when he issuddenly expelled from the game. He franti-cally realizes he’s been hacked by anotherplayer, dark sorcerer Loki (Level 70).
It’s the start of the biggest quest of his life –in the real world! He encounters a plethora ofanalog obstacles on his journey to regain hisdigital identity, terrifying opponents, and evencrazy Karo ... an actual, honest-to-goodnessgirl!
FLORIAN SCHNELL was born in 1984 andstudied Fictional Artwork at the University ofHildesheim, Directing at the FilmakademieBaden-Württemberg, and participated in theUCLA Hollywood Workshop. Also active as awriter, his films include ZWEI MENSCHEN(experimental, 2004), HYBRIS (animation,2009), MEINUNGSMEER (animation, 2010),FRISCH GESTRICHEN (short, 2011), MIA ANDTHE MINAUTOR (2012), IM SCHATTENEUROPAS (doc, 2016), and his graduation filmOFFLINE (2016).
GENRE Adventure, Comedy, Coming-of-AgeStory, Fantasy YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016DIRECTOR Florian Schnell SCREENPLAY JanCronauer, Florian Schnell CINEMATOGRAPHYDominik Berg CAST Moritz Jahn, Mala Emde,Ugur Ekeroglu, David Schütter, HannesWegener, Marc Zwinz PRODUCERS ChristianBecker, Benjamin Munz, Anne Büttner, MarcJunker CO-PRODUCER Stefanie Groß PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Rat Pack Filmproduk-tion, in co-production with SWR, BR, ARTE,Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, KarlFilmproduktion RUNTIME 87 min LANGUAGEGerman FESTIVALS Max Ophüls FestivalSaarbrücken 2016
SALES Picture Tree [email protected] www.picturetree-international.com
photo © Rat Pack Filmproduktion
GFQ 2-2016 NEW FEATURES
OFFLINE – DAS LEBEN IST KEIN BONUSLEVEL
OFFLINE – ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT LEVEL?
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For the first time ever, Rico has afriend coming over for a sleepover!After weeks of not seeing eachother, Rico and Oskar are reunited
again and start their adventure with theweekly bingo at the retirement home. But al -though Tanja even wins two handbags, Oskarseems suspiciously grumpy and Tanja oddlysad. On top of things Oskar’s dad leaves a bagin front of the door because he needs somedistance from his son. So much heart af -fliction is too much for Rico!
When Oskar finally tells Rico that Tanja wascheating at bingo the other night and thatthose ugly handbags she wins all the time arereally expensive leather bags, Rico refuses toaccept that his mother could be a crook. EllieWandback, the bingo host, must be black -mailing her. Since the Bühl is too occupiedwith a champagne drinking redhead, Rico andOskar seek help from the sprightly pensionerMr. van Scherten and together they try to find
out what is going on. Not everything goes asplanned, but in the end the two young detec-tives shall discover more than just the truthabout the bingo-cheat and the handbags.
WOLFGANG GROOS was born in 1968. Hestudied Production at the German Film andTelevision Academy Berlin (DFFB), graduatingin 2003. He directed the short WENN ZWEISICH STREITEN (2004) and various TV showssuch as FREUNDE FÜR IMMER (2005),SWITCH RELOADED (2006) and RUDI – THERACING PIG (2007-2009). In 2009, hisaward-winning debut feature HANGTIME wasreleased theatrically, followed by THECROCODILES – ALL FOR ONE (2011), WHENINGE IS DANCING (2013), VAMPIRE SISTERS(2012), VAMPIRE SISTERS 2 (2014), and RICO,OSKAR AND THE BROKEN HEARTED (2015).
GENRE Family Entertainment YEAR OF PRO-DUCTION 2015 DIRECTOR Wolfgang GroosSCREENPLAY Martin Gypkens CINEMATOG -RAPHY Stefan Biebl CAST Anton Petzold,Juri Winkler, Karoline Herfurth, Henry Hüb-chen, Moritz Bleibtreu PRODUCERS PhilippBudweg, Robert Marciniak PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Lieblingsfilm RUNTIME 95 minLANGUAGE German
SALES Beta Cinema [email protected]
photo © TCF/Lieblingsfilm
RICO, OSKAR UND DASHERZGEBRECHE
RICO, OSKAR AND THE BROKEN HEARTED
NEW FEATURES GFQ 2-2016
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West Germany 1982: Hubertusand Sebastian don’t want toend up like their fathers, ever.Music and their shared love
for punk princess Debbie are the only way toescape the foul smell of polishing wax andbourgeois self-pride. When a cool rockabillyband is looking for a support act to their up-coming tour, it’s obvious: This is their one andonly chance to get away from middle-classlife with all its rules and constraints! ButHubertus’ father leaves nothing untried tostop his son’s musical aspirations. As theyare invited to an audition, the situation isabout to explode.
TILL MÜLLER-EDENBORN was born in 1965and studied Film, Philosophy and French inParis and Cologne. He has directed severalshort films and numerous episodes of theseries GUTE ZEITEN, SCHLECHTE ZEITEN,SOKO MUNICH / SOKO 5113, HERZENS -BRECHER and SCHLOSS EINSTEIN. His filmsinclude: BABY PLEASE DON’T GO (1999),WEITE (2001), TANGO (2002), BLACK MARK(2003), DIE LIEBE IST EIN HAUS (2006), andhis feature debut ROCKABILLY REQUIEM(2016).
GENRE Coming-of-Age Story, Drama, MusicYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016 DIRECTOR TillMüller-Edenborn SCREENPLAY Till Müller-Edenborn, Jörg Bruhn CINEMATOGRAPHYSönke Hansen CAST Ben Münchow, Ruby O.Fee, Sebastian Tiede, Martin Feifel, MargaritaBroich, Barbara Romaner, Alexander Hauff,Roland Schregl mann, Jeremias Koschorz,Hendrik Duryn, Marko Dyrlich, DietrichMattausch, Jutta Wachowiak, Lena SchultzPRODUCER Elke Peters CO-PRODUCERSMarcel Noll, Carsten Rocker PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Neue Mira Film RUNTIME 92 minLANGUAGE German FESTIVALS Max OphülsFestival Saarbrücken 2016 AWARDS BestNewcomer Actor (Ben Münchow) Saar -brücken 2016
SALESNeue Mira Filmproduktion [email protected]
photo © Neue Mira Filmproduktion/Robert Többe
ROCKABILLY REQUIEM
GFQ 2-2016 NEW FEATURES
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Hedi is the new neighbor of Iva, whoraises her daughter Sophia byherself. The two women start arelation ship and Iva is desperately
in love with Hedi. Suddenly Iva’s father ap -pears. Hedi feels strongly attracted to him. Itseems that only one world exists for Hedi. Herown.
DON’T LOOK AT ME THAT WAY pushes youinto a world where you start to doubt yourown being. What does it mean to love? Isn’t italways connected with sacrificing and op-pressing? Then you try to find your own iden-tity in a world which points to where youactually don’t belong. Iva and Hedi make love,they make hate, watch them how they act inthis regime.
UISENMA BORCHU was born in 1984 in Ulan-Baatar/Mongolia and moved to Germanyin 1989. She studied French, History andLinguis tics at Mainz University from 2004-2006 and worked as a journalist. She thenstudied Directing in the documentary depart-ment of the University of Television & FilmMunich. Her films include: DONNE-MOI PLUS(short doc), THOS (image film), HIMMELVOLLER GEIGEN (doc), DIE TRIANGEL (musicvideo), KHUYAGAA – LIFE OF A NOMAD CHILD(doc), and her feature debut DON’T LOOK ATME THAT WAY.
GENRE Drama, Love Story YEAR OF PRODUC-TION 2015 DIRECTOR Uisenma BorchuSCREENPLAY Uisenma Borchu CINEMATO-GRAPHY Sven Zellner CAST Uisenma Borchu,Catrina Stemmer, Josef Bierbichler, Anne-Marie Weisz PRODUCERS Martin Kosok,Alexander Fritzemeyer, Julian AnselminoPRODUCTION COMPANY DREIFILM, in co-production with Hochschule für Fern sehenund Film München RUNTIME 88 minLANGUAGE German, Mongolian FESTIVALSTallinn Black Nights 2015, Munich 2015,Kunstfilmtage Sachsen-Anhalt 2015, Braun-schweig 2015, REC Tarragona 2015, Göteborg2016, Osaka Asian Film Festival 2016, Vilnius2016 AWARDS FIPRESCI Award Munich 2015,Best Feature Kunstfilmtage Sachsen-Anhalt2015, Special Mention REC Tarragona 2015,Bavarian Film Award: Best Newcomer Direc-tor 2016
SALES DREIFILM [email protected]
photo © DREIFILM
SCHAU MICH NICHT SO AN
DON’T LOOK AT ME THAT WAY
NEW FEATURES GFQ 2-2016
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ERNST GÜNTER HANSING LIFE ANDWORKS is the first documentaryabout the 1929 born and 2011 de-ceased total artist. With an im -
pressive mixture of documents, painted andsculptural artwork, historic shots, self-certi-ficates and interviews, the filmmakers createan entertaining documentary, opening up adifferent perspective on the artist and promo-ting a deeper understanding of artistic moti-vation, thinking and inner inspiration. Thefilm tells, in 11 chapters, about the formativestations of his life, the multitude of his art-work and familiarizes the spectator with hisportraits, his sculptural works and his ab-stract-expressionist painting. Interviews withcontemporaries, his family, companions,friends and portrayed people complete a fa-cetted, deeply reflected image of the man andartist.
MANUELA ZIMMER and HARALD KÜHR areactive as filmmakers, artists and musiciansin the realms of media, arts and music. Theirspectrum reaches from the development ofaudio-visual concepts to documentaries,screenplays and computer-based animationand visual effects. The central point of theirartistic expression is the interaction of film,
artwork and musical compositions, expandedcinema, video art, mental sculptures, andcomplex image and film installations.
GENRE Art YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016DIRECTORS Manuela Zimmer, Harald KührSCREENPLAY Manuela Zimmer, HaraldKühr CINEMATOGRAPHY Manuela Zimmer,
Harald Kühr PRODUCERS Manuela Zimmer,Harald Kühr PRODUCTION COMPANY TenDirections Media RUNTIME 120 min LAN -GUAGE German
SALES Ten Directions [email protected]
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ERNST GÜNTER HANSING LIFE AND WORKS
photo © TDM 2016
GFQ 2-2016 NEW DOCUMENTARIES
Surfers glide across the wild waves ofthe Southern Ocean, and on thesmall island of Maremma, marinebiologists fight for the survival of the
little penguin. Along the coast, paleontolo-gists dig for fossils, while lobster fishersbattle against meter-high waves. With im-pressive images and stories, the series ex -plores the Australian continent along theGreat Ocean Road. The spectacular coastalroad leads through rain forests and past theeucalyptus trees providing a home to Koalabears. Numerous ships have gone under hereand to this day seafarers still have great re-spect for the area – the legendary ShipwreckCoast. Legendary too are the beaches of BellsBeach, where surfers ride the best waves thecountry has to offer. Toward the south thereis only Antarctica.
JOACHIM HAUPT had his directorial debutwith a documentary on the undergroundtechno scene in Berlin. His films include:PEPPERS AND NUDES – THE PHOTOG -RAPHER EDWARD WESTON (2004), CARLDJERASSI – MY LIFE (2009), the series UP TOTHE SKY (2009/2012/2016), and GREATOCEAN ROAD (2016).
GENRE Adventure, Wild Life, Road MovieYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016 DIRECTORJoachim Haupt SCREENPLAY Sabine Poll-meier CINEMATOGRAPHY Peter Zakharov PRODUCER Sabine Pollmeier PRODUCTION COMPANY Parnass Film RUNTIME 3 x 52 minLANGUAGE English
SALES Parnass [email protected]
photo © Sabine Pollmeier/Parnass Film
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Czech photographer Josef Koudelkagrew up behind the Iron Curtainand always wanted to know “whatwas on the other side”. Forty years
after capturing the iconic images of the Sovietinvasion of Prague in 1968, the legendaryMagnum Agency photographer arrives inIsrael and Palestine. On first seeing the nine-meter-high wall built by Israel in the WestBank, Koudelka is deeply shaken and em-barks on a four-year project in the regionwhich will confront him once again with theharsh reality of violence and conflict.
GILAD BARAM is a photographer, visual artistand documentary filmmaker based in Berlinand Jerusalem. His work, focusing primarilyon lens-based images in the era of Internetand big data, has won scholarships and prizesand has been exhibited in art venues world-wide. KOUDELKA: SHOOTING HOLY LAND ishis directorial debut.
GENRE Art, Socio-Political Issues YEAR OFPRO DUCTION 2015 DIRECTOR Gilad BaramSCREENPLAY Gilad Baram, Elisa PurfürstCINEMA TOGRAPHY Gilad Baram PRODUCERGilad Baram CO-PRODUCER Radim Pro-cházka PRODUCTION COMPANY NowhereFilms, in co-production with Produkce RadimProcházka RUNTIME 72 min LANGUAGE
English, Hebrew, Arabic FESTIVALS DocAviv2016, DOK.fest Munich 2016
SALES Wide [email protected]
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photo © Gilad Baram
NEW DOCUMENTARIES GFQ 2-2016
Mali, situated in the heart ofWestern Africa, is often regardedas the cradle of today’s Blues.For centuries, music has
strength ened Mali’s cultural identity. WhenMali’s North came under the rule of Islamicfundamentalists, the fighters went after thecountry’s culture, destroyed ancient culturalheritage and imposed an incredibly strictSharia law, which banned all worldly music.Musi cians had to flee. Following FatoumataDiawara, the young shooting star of theglobal pop scene, MALI BLUES explores thecountry’s rich musical culture and it’s threatby radi cal Islamists. In the film we meet othercommitted musicians who are fighting forunity and the freedom of artistic expression,like the traditional Griot Bassekou Kouyaté,Rapper Master Soumy, and Tuareg musicianAhmed Ag Kaedi.
LUTZ GREGOR is particularly interested in thelink between society, music, dance and docu-mentary. A selection of his other films in -cludes: ZANZIBAR’S FIRST WOMEN’SORCHESTRA (doc, 2015), HIDDEN VENICE (3-part doc series, 2014), LAND OF THE DOGON– WORLD HERITAGE IN PERIL (doc, 2012),TIMBUKTU’S LOST HERITAGE (doc, 2009),RAFT OF MEDUSA (film/dance installation,
2008), FRANKFURT DANCE CUTS (short docs,2004), and THE KING’S CHILDREN (fiction,2001).
GENRE Music YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016DIRECTOR Lutz Gregor SCREENPLAY LutzGregor CINEMATOG RAPHY Axel SchneppatPRODUCER Christian Beetz PRODUCTIONCOMPANY gebrueder beetz filmproduktion
RUNTIME 93 min LANGUAGE French, Bam-bara, Tamasheq FESTIVALS Visions du RéelNyon 2016, Indie Lisboa 2016
SALES gebrueder beetz [email protected]
photo © Konrad Waldmann
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Her paintings are disturbing andtender, painful and touching at thesame time. Naked, sexless, anddisfigured bodies; blissful smiles,
places that look like paradise, people who canfly. Originally from Bulgaria, Oda Jaune stud -ies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, be -comes Jörg Immendorff’s student. And shebecomes his wife. After Immendorff’s deathin 2007 she leaves Germany to move to Paris.Years pass before she agrees to being in thisfilm.
The plan seems simple: the director and hercinematographer will join her in the studioand film the process of creating new paint -ings for an upcoming exhibition. But it soonbecomes apparent that the nature of what issupposed to be captured makes it almost im-possible not to destroy it in the process...
KAMILLA PFEFFER was born in 1982. Shestudied Political Science and Romance Philo-logy in Mainz and Strasbourg before beginningher studies in Documentary Filmmaking andPhotography at the Academy of Media ArtsCologne. Also active as a freelance journalistand script consultant, her films include: DASARCHIV – WIE KÖLN SEIN GEDÄCHTNISWIEDER FINDET (doc, 2010), MENSCHEN,
KEINE NUMMERN MEHR (report, 2012, in co-direction with Felix Kuballa), and her gradua-tion film WHO IS ODA JAUNE? (doc, 2016).
GENRE Art YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016DIRECTOR Kamilla Pfeffer SCREENPLAYKamilla Pfeffer CINEMATOGRAPHY Magda-lena Hutter PRODUCER Christian Beetz PRO-DUCTION COMPANY gebrueder beetz film-
produktion, in co-production with Kunsthoch-schule für Medien Köln (KHM) RUNTIME 75min LANGUAGE German, French FESTIVALSBerlinale 2016
SALES Wide [email protected]
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WHO IS ODA JAUNE?
photo © Magdalena Hutter
GFQ 2-2016 NEW DOCUMENTARIES
Kenny (31) arrived from Sri Lanka,having come to Germany to furtherhis career as a musician. He rentsa spare room from Rola. Rola (80)
lives alone on the outskirts of Berlin, whereshe sometimes needs to protect herself bycarrying a gun. In living together these twodifferent individuals find that life is not merelydependent on personal security, instead dis-covering the possibility that our dreams maydefine our true reality.
OSWALDO DIAZ MEDINA was born in 1980in Lima/Peru. He studied Communicationsat the University of Lima and AudiovisualProduction at the Autònoma University ofBarcelona and currently studies Directing atthe German Film & Television AcademyBerlin (DFFB).
GENRE Experimental, Tragicomedy YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2015 DIRECTOR Oswaldo DiazMedina SCREENPLAY Oswaldo Diaz MedinaCINEMATOGRAPHY Paul Rohlfs PRODUCERTara Biere PRODUCTION COMPANY DeutscheFilm- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB)RUNTIME 73 min LANGUAGE German
SALES Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin [email protected]
photo © DFFB
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THE BATHTUB
photos © Coronado Films
Three brothers in a bathtub. It wouldactually sound normal, if theyweren’t way over thirty. Responsiblefor this is the youngest brother
Niklas, who had the idea to re-enact an oldpicture from their childhood for a present. Onthe evening before their mom’s birthday partyhe is arguing with his older brother Georg,who thinks the idea is just stupid. The argu-ment develops into a fight which shows howmuch time has passed since the old photo.Filmed as a one-take from the perspective ofthe photo camera.
TIM ELLRICH initially studied Theater, Filmand Media Studies in Vienna and is nowstudying Directing at the FilmakademieBaden-Württemberg. His films include: theshorts CHILD’S PLAY (2012), VEILED (2014),THE OUTCASTS (2014), THE BATHTUB (2016),and TWO WINDOWS (2016).
GENRE Comedy YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2016DIRECTOR Tim Ellrich SCREENPLAY Tim Ell-rich, Dominik Huber CINEMATOGRAPHYLukas Gnaiger CAST Simon Jaritz, RainerWöss, Stefan Pohl PRODUCER Tim Ellrich
CO-PRODUCERS Dominik Huber, LeopoldPape PRODUCTION COMPANY Coronado FilmRUNTIME 13 min LANGUAGE German FESTI-VALS Clermont-Ferrand 2016, 17th ShortShorts Film Festival & Asia 2016, Oberhausen2016, Shortfilm Week Regensburg 2016, PalmBeach International Film Festival 2016,Filmfest Dresden 2016, Brussels Short FilmFestival 2016, Regard – Saguenay 2016, Inter -national Film Festival Bratislava 2016, ViennaIndependent Shorts 2016, FEC Festival Euro-pean Short Film Festival 2016, Hamburg Int.Short FF, and many more AWARDS SpecialJury Prize Clermont-Ferrand 2016, BestInter national Short Audi Dublin IFF 2016, BestComedy Landshut 2016, Audience AwardDüsseldorf 2016, Best Jury Film Mumbai2016, Second Place Würzburg 2016, SpecialJury Mention Konstanz 2016, Prize of the JuryEuropean Short FF Bordeaux, Best Int. FictionKinoki 2016
SALESKurzFilmAgentur Hamburg [email protected]
BROKEN
photos © Volker Schlecht/Die Kulturingenieure
Gabriele Stötzer and Birgit Will-schütz were political inmates atHoheneck Castle, the most noto-rious women’s prison in East
Germany. Their story is one of overcrowdedcells, despotic hierarchies, ruthless every -days, and the enduring effects of incarcera-tion. Most of all, however, it is about thecrushing pressure of forced labor. Prisonersat Hoheneck manufactured millions of panty-hose, bed sheets, and other products for WestGerman retailers, bringing enormous profitsto both sides of the Iron Curtain. Part of theyoung animadoc tradition, the seven-minutefilm pairs original audio interview extractswith abstract, monochrome animation.
VOLKER SCHLECHT was born in 1968 andworks as an illustrator and filmmaker in Berlin. He studied Communication Design atthe Burg Giebichenstein University of Art andDesign Halle and taught in the Animationdepartment of Film University BabelsbergKONRAD WOLF. Currently he also works as aprofessor of Sequential Illustration at the BTKUniversity of Art and Design.
ALEXANDER LAHL was born 1979 andstudied Cultural Sciences in Berlin, Wroclawand Frankfurt (Oder). He works as a writer,filmmaker and producer and co-founded themedia label Die Kulturingenieure.
GENRE Animation YEAR OF PRODUCTION2016 DIRECTORS Volker Schlecht, AlexanderLahl SCREENPLAY Alexander Lahl, MaxMönch CINEMATOGRAPHY Volker SchlechtANIMATION Volker Schlecht PRODUCERSAlexander Lahl, Max Mönch PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Die Kulturingenieure RUNTIME 7min LANGUAGE German FESTIVALS Berli-nale 2016, Dresden 2016, Stuttgart Festival ofAnimated Film 2016, Animafest Zagreb 2016,Annecy 2016, Melbourne 2016
SALES Die Kulturingenieureinfo@diekulturingenieure.dewww.diekulturingenieure.de
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SON
photos © Leif Thomas/Konstantinos Sampanis Filmproduktion
Set against the backdrop of post-warGermany, the screen adaptation ofSiegfried Lenz’s short story re-leased in 1949 shows a snapshot in
time of Mr. Schwamm, an indulgent husbandand caring father, who wants so save his de -pressed son. During the pivotal night of thismission, he has an odd encounter: Paired upby destiny, he confides his troubles to a bitterand insensitive stranger, who in the very lastminute manages to turn the story into atouch ing parable for kindness and humanity.
KONSTANTINOS SAMPANIS studied MediaManagement and is an autodidactic film -maker. His films include: the Emmy-winningSIX FEET DEEP (short, 2012) and SON (2016).
GENRE Drama, Literature YEAR OF PRODUC-TION 2016 DIRECTOR Konstantinos SampanisSCREENPLAY Konstantinos Sampanis CASTHeinz Hoenig, Dirk Böhling, Maurizio Magno,Wilfried Pucher PRODUCER KonstantinosSampanis PRODUCTION COMPANY Konstan-tinos Sampanis Filmproduktion RUNTIME 19min LANGUAGE German
SALESKonstantinos Sampanis Filmproduktionkonstantinos.sampanis@moodboard-film.dewww.moodboard-film.de
9 NEW GERMAN SHORT FILMS available at the Short Film Corner
at the Festival de Cannes and on Preview DVD.
www.ag-kurzfilm.de www.german-films.de
C A N N E S E D I T I O N 2 0 1 6
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DIE ANFÄNGERIN
Alexandra Sell’s feature debut is a co-ming-of-age tale with a differenceabout the grumpy doctor Annebärbel
Buschhaus donning her ice skates again atthe age of 58 after an absence of 40 years.Back on the ice, she tries to revive long sup-pressed childhood dreams – and makes anew friend, Jolina Kuhn, Berlin’s youth figureskating champion. Through her new friend,Annebärbel begins to open up and break awayfrom her dominant mother. The film alsofeatures a cameo by the real-life figure skaterChristine Stüber-Errath, who won theOlympic bronze medal in 1976, and was theworld champion and three-times Europeanchampion.
GENRE Children & Youth, Drama, SportsCATEGORY Feature DIRECTOR Alexandra SellSCREENPLAY Alexandra Sell CAST UlrikeKrumbiegel, Annekathrin Bürger, ChristineStüber-Errath, Maria Rogozina, Rainer Bock,Stephan Grossmann PRODUCER MartinHeisler CO-PRODUCERS Joachim Ortmanns,Katrin Schlösser, Helge Neubronner PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Lichtblick Media, in co-production with Lichtblick Film, cine plusFilmproduktion LANGUAGE German
CONTACT Lichtblick Media [email protected]
DER AUSFLUG
Trapped in a small Polish village inthe middle of nowhere, desperate toescape and live a different life, young
Anna suddenly sees her opportunity tochange everything when Andrzej and Joanna,a rich couple from Warsaw, stop off in theirsearch for a nearby ruin. Offering to be theirguide, Anna seeks to make herself indispens -able to them, not only driving a wedge be -tween Andrzej and Joanna but also becominga ’better’ Joanna than the original! And themore and more she assumes the role, thegreater a threat she becomes as her pursuitfor freedom, her longing for the existence shedoes not have, becomes fatally destructive toall concerned.
GENRE Drama, Thriller CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTOR Bartosz Grudziecki SCREENPLAYBartosz Grudziecki CAST Anna Ilczuk,Katarzyna Wajda, Piotr Domalewski PRO -DUCERS Martin Kosok, Alexander Fritze-meyer, Julian Anselmino PRODUCTIONCOMPANY DREIFILM, in co-production withHochschule für Fernsehen und FilmMünchen LANGUAGE Polish
CONTACT [email protected]
CRESCENDO
CCC Filmkunst’s latest feature projectcenters on events set in motion whenan Israeli-Palestinian youth orchestra
comes to Potsdam for a concert on the in -vitation of the German government. The ideafor CRESCENDO is inspired by the example ofthe West Eastern Divan Orchestra which wasfounded in 1999 by Daniel Barenboim andEdward Said to bring young Israeli, Palesti-nian and other Arab musicians together in thespirit of peaceful co-existence as a way ofcontributing to a solution of the Middle Eastconflict. As in CCC’s 2011 production CHILDPRODIGIES, Martin Stock will once againwrite the score and this new film will alsoshow that music has the power to buildbridges between people from different reli -
gions and natio nalities despite the manychallenges and obstacles.
GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIRECTORMarcus O. Rosenmüller SCREENPLAYStephen Glantz, Marcus O. Rosenmüller CASTThomas Kretschmann, Pegah Ferydoni,Michael Nouri, Ralph Herforth PRODUCERS Alice Brauner, Michael Zechbauer PRODUC-TION COMPANIES CCC-Filmkunst, MZ-FilmLANGUAGE English, Hebrew, Arabic
SALESGlobal Screen [email protected]
photo © Hardy Spitz/Lichtblick Media
photo © DREIFILM
photo © CCC Filmkunst
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ES WAR EINMAL INDIANERLAND
Adapted from Nils Mohl’s eponymousnovel, İlker Çatak’s feature debut is awild genre mix between a boxer film,
urban western, road movie and music video,set at the end of the summer holidays in adrab neighborhood on the outskirts of Ham-burg. Young boxing talent Mauser is pre -paring for a pivotal competition when hisfather kills his step-mother and flees. Tryingto find his father, Mauser embarks on a jour-ney through the world of music, psychedelia,violence, love, and a biblical thunderstorm.And where does the Native American comeinto all of this? ONCE UPON A TIME ININDIAN COUNTRY (WT) is a story radiatingboth heat and poetry.
GENRE Drama, Road Movie, Western CATE-GORY Feature DIRECTOR Ilker ÇatakSCREENPLAY Nils Mohl, Max Reinhold CASTLeonard Scheicher, Emilia Schüle, ClemensSchick, Johanna Polley PRODUCER MichaelEckelt PRODUCTION COMPANY Riva FilmLANGUAGE German
CONTACT Riva Filmproduktion [email protected]
DER HAUPTMANN
Later this year, Robert Schwentke willreturn to German-language film -making for a true-life story set during
the final days of the Second World War whenanarchy and arbitrary murder prevail as thedemoralized Wehrmacht hunted down anysoldier separated from his company as a po-tential deserter and traitor. While escapingfrom the patrols through the bleak Emsestuary, 19-year-old private Willi Herold dis-covers the abandoned uniform of a highlydecorated Luftwaffe captain. Now mas -querading as ’Captain Herold’, Willi gatherssoldiers around him to complete an imagi-nary assignment allegedly given by Hitlerhimself – and reveals an unexpectedly darkside to his character...
GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIRECTORRobert Schwentke SCREENPLAY RobertSchwentke CAST Max Hubacher PRODUCERFrieder Schlaich CO-PRODUCERS PaoloBranco, Ewa Puszczynska PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Filmgalerie 451, in co-productionwith Alfama Films, Opus Film LANGUAGEGerman
SALES Alfama [email protected]
IGUANA TOKYO
What happens when an ordinary nu-clear family lives in different rea-lities in a city that is arguably at its
most advanced? What happens when the linebetween the reality and phantasm starts todisappear, when a computer game is (re-)de-fining the spaces of existence, when a giantgreen iguana is the observer of the realitiesof their being? IGUANA TOKYO tells the storyof this family who installs a computer gamein their small flat in Tokyo. The rule of thegame is simple: the one who wins, leads thehouse and accordingly each one’s own roomenlarges or shrinks via moving walls. As thecomputer game becomes the center of theirordinary lives, the relationship among thethree starts to shift. Only the iguana can
witness this dangerous tension among themother, father and their 14-year-olddaughter. After his acclaimed SIVAS, KaanMüdjeci’s latest project IGUANA TOKYO willbe participating in the Cinéfondation L’Atelier2016 in Cannes.
GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIRECTORKaan Müjdeci SCREENPLAY Kaan MüjdeciPRODUCER Yasin Müjdeci PRODUCTIONCOMPANY COLOURED GIRAFFES LANGUAGEEnglish, Japanese, German
CONTACT COLOURED [email protected]
photo © Riva Film
Max Hubacher (photo © Filmgalerie 451)
photo © Tenmyouya Hisashi
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IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER
Led to believe his abusive grandfather isresponsible for his sister’s recentdeath, Gabriel (26) returns to his hum-
ble home in rural New Mexico. Yearning toprotect his family, he swears to secretly killhis grandfather, yet at the moment of truthhis plan is foiled and they are forced to spendthe day together. The two men, both war ve-terans, begin speaking about their distinct yetsimilar traumatic experiences. Despite hisrage, Gabriel realizes the world is not asblack and white as he once thought andslowly he is forced to accept responsibility forhis own part in the family crisis.
GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIRECTORDamian John Harper SCREENPLAY DamianJohn Harper CAST Eric Hunter, Morgan Hill,Max Thayer PRODUCERS Jonas Weydemann,Jakob D. Weydemann PRODUCTION COM-PANY Weydemann Bros., in co-productionwith ARTE, ZDF LANGUAGE English
CONTACT Weydemann [email protected]
REPLACE
SIMPEL
Markus Goller follows such films asFRIENDSHIP! and FRAU ELLA withan adaptation of My Brother Simple
by the French children’s novelist Marie-AudeMurail. Ben and his brother Barnabas havebeen bosom buddies for as long as he canremember. Although Barnabas, known as“Simple”, is now 22, he has stayed at themental age of a three-year-old. He may geton his brother’s nerves at times, but Bencould never imagine life without him. How -ever, when their mother unexpectedly dies, itis decided to put Simple in a home. Thebrothers go on the run and Ben realizes aftera crazy odyssey that only one option is leftopen to him: he must find the father they lastsaw 15 years ago.
GENRE Dramedy CATEGORY Feature DIREC-TOR Markus Goller SCREENPLAY Dirk AhnerCAST David Kross, Frederick Lau, EmiliaSchüle, Devid Striesow, Axel Stein, AnnekeKim Sarnau, Tim Wilde, Annette Frier PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Letterbox Filmpro -duktion, in co-production with C-FILMS(Germany), Amalia Film LANGUAGE German
SALESGlobal Screen [email protected]
photo © Bogumił Godfrejow
photo © Alina Hartwig/Sparkling Pictures
photo © Universum/Gordon Timpel
Young and beautiful, Kira is afflictedwith a strange disease, her skin startsto age rapidly, dry out and crumble
away. When she discovers that she can re-place her own skin with somebody else’s, shehas to choose: watch her own body wither anddie – or give in to temptation… whatever theprice.
GENRE Psycho Thriller, Thriller CATEGORYFeature DIRECTOR Norbert Keil SCREEN-PLAY Norbert Keil, Richard Stanley CASTRebecca Forsythe, Lucie Aron, BarbaraCrampton, Sean Knopp, Adnan Maral PRODU-CER Felix von Poser PRODUCTION COMPANYSparkling Pictures, in co-production withEberhard Müller Filmproduktion, GerhardLidl Film LANGUAGE English
CONTACT Sparkling Pictures [email protected]
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STREETSCAPES – CHAPTER III
There are streets, paths, motorways, al-leys, sandy paths and promenades.And there are also life paths, dry stret-
ches, crossroads and cul-de-sacs... DirectorHeinz Emigholz’s latest project sees himcombining various elements of his previousfilms as he focuses on streetscapes as wellas the buildings of the late Uruguayan engi-neer and architect Eladio Dieste and the Ber-lin-based architect Arno Brandlhuber. This isEmigholz’s first film to have three performersappearing on camera – the Argentinian film-maker Jonathan Perel, the German actress-screenwriter Natja Brunckhorst, and theAmerican actor John Erdman – and featuringa continuous, analytical text.
GENRE Experimental CATEGORY Documen-tary DIRECTOR Heinz Emigholz SCREENPLAYHeinz Emigholz PRODUCER Frieder SchlaichPRODUCTION COMPANY Filmgalerie 451LANGUAGE English
SALES Filmgalerie 451 [email protected]
UND DAS STREBEN NACH DEM GLÜCK
Paul is from Cameroon. He made hisway via the Sahara to Morocco to crossthe Mediterranean. Jakob experienced
the fall of the Wall as a Berlin teenager, whichmotivated him to make a film on today’s bor-ders of Europe. This is how he meets Paul,who soon after gets to Spain. He survives –half die on the tragic 50 hour odyssey. There,instead of getting psychological help, he issent to a deportation center. It is only on hisrelease that Jakob and Paul meet again. In-creasingly, Germany becomes the destina-tion. At this point Jakob has to decide: will hebecome an active part in Paul’s pursuit ofhappiness or remain the observing film -maker? In the end Jakob himself finds it hardto believe that Paul now lives in his formerchildhood room.
GENRE Society CATEGORY DocumentaryDIRECTOR Jakob Preuss SCREENPLAY JakobPreuss PRODUCERS Jakob D. Weydemann,Jonas Weydemann PRODUCTION COMPANYWeydemann Bros., in co-production with ZDFDas kleine Fernsehspiel LANGUAGE French
CONTACT Weydemann [email protected]
DAS UNVERLÄSSLICHE LEBEN
DAS UNVERLÄSSLICHE LEBEN(DRAGONFLIES) is a poetic docu-mentary-fiction hybrid dealing with
the inevitable and eternally reoccurring pat-terns of personal transformation. At thecelebration of his parents’ 30th weddinganniversary, Florian, a phlegmatic youngGerman, struggles to relate to the love he isreceiving and decides to break all bonds for -ever. He flees to rural Mexico where he triesto construct an independent and self-deter-mined life, but is ultimately forced into an un-expected transformation of his own, thusconfirming the inevitability and eternity of thecycle.
GENRE Poetic Hybrid CATEGORY Docu-Fiction DIRECTOR Florian Seufert SCREEN-PLAY Florian Seufert, Raffaela Then CIN -EMATOG RAPHY Moritz Tessendorf CASTFlorian Seufert PRODUCERS Martin Kosok,Alexander Fritzemeyer CO-PRODUCERS JimStark, Carlos Sosa PRODUCTION COMPANYDREIFILM, in co-production with Hochschulefür Fernsehen und Film München, Viento delNorte Cine LANGUAGE German, Spanish
CONTACT [email protected]
photo © Filmgalerie 451
photo © Juan Sarmiento
photo © DREIFILM
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DIE VIERHÄNDIGE
Director Oliver Kienle’s long-standingfascination for stories about multiplepersonalities has inspired him to
write the screenplay for his second featurefilm featuring the Burgtheater actress Frida-Lovisa Hamann and Friederike Becht as si-sters Sophie and Jessica. When Jessica iskill ed in an accident, Sophie wavers betweengrief over losing her sister and the hope thatshe will now be able to lead a normal life afterhaving been subjected to Jessica’s morbidparanoia. But she keeps having blackouts andgradually realizes that another person is con-trolling her spirit and life. Sophie fights backagainst this other person residing in her body,but will she succeed?
GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIRECTOROliver Kienle SCREENPLAY Oliver KienleCAST Frida-Lovisa Hamann, FriederikeBecht, Christoph Letkowski, Detlef BothePRO DUCERS Klaus Dohle, Markus ReineckeCO-PRODUCERS Thomas Reisser, MarcusMachura, Dan Maag PRODUCTION COMPANYErfttal Film- und Fernsehproduktion, in co-production with Niama Film, PantaleonEntertain ment LANGUAGE German
SALES ARRI Media [email protected]/international
WHATEVER HAPPENS
Dutch Shooting Star Sylvia Hoeks (THELAKE) and Fahri Yardim (NICK:OFF DUTY) are the leads for Niels
Laupert’s second feature film WHATEVERHAPPENS. Hannah and Julian have just splitup and are forced to meet one last time inorder to complete the process of moving outof their shared flat. But nothing goes as plan-ned and this last night turns into a wild rol-lercoaster ride: the handover falls throughand the two are condemned to spending NewYear’s Eve – of all evenings – together afterweeks of avoiding one another to give the flatthat one final coat of paint. But what mighthave looked like the end can sometimes turnout to be the start of something new...
GENRE Drama, Love Story, TragicomedyCATEGORY Feature DIRECTOR Niels LaupertSCREENPLAY Niels Laupert CAST FahriYardim, Sylvia Hoeks, David Zimmerschied,Amelie Kiefer, Torben Liebrecht, AlexanderBeyer, Victoria Mayer, Eckhard Preuß PRO -DUCERS Benjamin Grosch, Niels Laupert,Benedikt Böllhoff, Max Frauenknecht CO-PRODUCER Antonio Exacoustos PRODUC-TION COMPANIES Jumpseat Film, VIAFILM,in co-production with ARRI Media LANGUAGEGerman
SALESTELEPOOL [email protected]
WHO’S THAT MAN
In the 70s and 80s, artists such as Kraft-werk, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Gianna Nan-nini, Ultravox and the Eurythmics queued
to record in Conny Plank’s studio, a farm-house near Cologne. Plank, one of the mostinnovative sound experimentalists, producedrecordings that revolutionized music and arestill as valid as ever.
Dying at only 47, Plank left behind a wife, ac-tress Christa Fast and a 13-year-old-son, Ste-phan. Now, 20 years on, Stephan sets out tofind his father, the film taking a journeythrough music history as well as around theworld, to give an unusually intimate and emo-tional view of the artists, their work withConny Plank and the many musical traces heleft behind.
GENRE Music CATEGORY DocumentaryDIRECTORS Reto Caduff, Stephan PlankSCREENPLAY Ziska Riemann, Reto Caduff,Stephan Plank WITH Gianna Nannini, DaveStewart, Annie Lennox, The Scorpions, DanielMiller PRODUCER Milena Fessmann PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Sugar Town Filmproduk-tion, in co-production with ZischlermannFilmproduktion, cine plus Filmproduktion, incooperation with WDR, ARTE LANGUAGEEnglish, German
SALES K5 [email protected]
photo © Erfttal Film/Camino Filmverleih
photo © Marc Reimann
photo © Reto Caduff
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GFQ 2-2013 43
REMUNERATION IN GERMANY
FOR
PRIVATE COPYING VIDEO RENTAL CABLE RETRANSMISSION
VGF, a collecting society under German law, was founded in 1981 when private copying of TV-programs (in particular feature films) by means of video recording equipment started to become commercially important. Since 1982 VGF collects blank tape levies due to German and foreign film producers under Art. 54 of the German Copyright Act and distributes them to the respective rightsholders. The German Collecting Societies Act obliges VGF to make sure that all rightsholders and owners of neighbouring rights of motion pictures, including foreign rightsholders who enjoy national treatment under the international copyright conventions, receive an equitable share of the monies collected for all rightsholders of programs broadcasted by German TV-Stations. Since it is virtually impossible for the individual rightsholders to control the use of the property and to make claims individually, Art. 54 provides that the respective rights must be administered collectively and claims can be made through a collecting society only. VGF now administers a great number of film rights of important film and TV producers from USA, Great Britain, Germany and other countries who have joined VGF as members. Since VGF's activities come under the supervision of the German Patent Office, it is safeguarded that a fair division of monies among all rightsholders concerned takes place and that producers receive an equitable share of the royalties in Germany. The following rights are administered by VGF:
Art. 54 German Copyright Act Private Copying
Art. 54 of the German Copyright Act provides a remuneration for private copying of films. As rightsholders cannot prevent private copying, makers of recording devices and storage media which are used to effect private copying are charged with a levy. The claim can be made by a collection society only (Art. 54h German Copyright Act). VGF as a trustee administers the rights for film and TV producers and distributes the respective amounts to the rightsholders. Licensing of television rights does not imply transfer of the above mentioned right.
Art. 27 German Copyright Act Video Rental
Art. 27 of the German Copyright Act entitles rightsholders to a supplementary remuneration for the rental and lending of videograms by video-retailers. The money must be paid by the video retailer. It is provided by law (Art. 27 Sec. 3) that claims can be made by collecting societies only.
Art. 20 b German Copyright Act Cable Retransmission
Rightsholders whose programs are broadcast by German TV stations and retransmitted via cable are also entitled to a remuneration for such cable retransmission. VGF is also active in collecting this fee. Administration of the above mentioned fees by VGF incurs no costs for the rightsholders. If your company is interested in collecting these remunerations, please contact VGF for more detailed information.
www.vgf.de [email protected]
VGF Berlin (for non-German films)
Neue Schönhauser Straße 10, D-10178 Berlin T: +49-30-2 79 07 39-46 F: +49-30-2 79 07 39-48
VGF Munich (for German films) Beichstraße 8, D-80802 München T: +49-89-1 89 37 84-0 F: +49-89-1 89 37 84-29
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GERMAN FILMS: A PROFILE GFQ 2-2016
40
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 €4.55million comes from film export levies, theoffice of the Federal Government Com -missioner for Culture and the Media, and theFFA. The seven main regional film funds(FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, FilmförderungHamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Film- undMedien stiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden-Württemberg,Mittel deutsche Medien förderung, and Nord -media) make a financial contribution –currently amounting to €319,000 – towardsthe work of German Films.
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, China/Southe ast Asia, and the USA/Canada.
.
RANGE OF ACTIVITIES
� Close cooperation with major interna -tional film festivals, in cluding Berlin, Cannes,Venice, San Sebastian, Locarno, Rome,Karlovy Vary, Montreal, 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, Shanghai,Toronto, Clermont-Ferrand, Annecy)
� 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 BestForeign Language Film
� Collaboration with Deutsche Welle’sDW-TV KINO program which features thelatest German film releases and inter nationalproductions in Germany
� 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
SUPERVISORY BOARD
Peter Herrmann Chairman
Jana CernikKatharina Cramer-Hadjidimos Peter Dinges Antonio Exacoustos Petra Müller
TEAM
Mariette Rissenbeek Managing Director
Christine Harrasser Distribution Support, Business Affairs
Angela Hawkins Communications & Marketing
Nicole Kaufmann Regional Coordinator: USA, UK & Northern Europe
Birgit Koch Press & PR
Verena Köstler Accounts
Dennis Ruh Festival Relations
Maike Schantz Regional Coordinator: Southern Europe & Latin America
Martin Scheuring Project Coordinator & Short Film
Sabrina Schrödl Assistant to the Managing Director
Bernhard Simek Regional Coordinator: Eastern Europe & Australia, Documentary Film
Konstanze Welz Television, Regional Coordinator: Asia
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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/Germanyphone +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- 89-57 08 77 53 | fax +49-89-57 08 77 60 | [email protected] | www.vdfe.de
Verband Deutscher Filmproduzenten e.V. German Producers AssociationBavariafilmplatz 7 | 82031 Grünwald/Germanyphone +49-89-64 95 64 18 | fax +49-89-64 95 64 40 [email protected] | www.filmproduzentenverband.de
Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und MedienFederal Government Commissioner for Culture & the MediaKöthener Str. 2 | 10963 Berlin/Germany | phone +49-30-18 68 10fax +49-30-1 86 81 54 43 51 | [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
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 GmbHHainstr. 17-19 | 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
41
GFQ 2-2016 SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORTERS
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ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS GFQ 2-2016
42
ASSOCIATION OFGERMAN FILM EXPORTERS
Robert-Koch-Str. 1 80538 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-570 877 53 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]@arri.dewww.arrimedia.de/international
Beta Cinema GmbHGrünwalder Weg 28d82041 Oberhaching/Germanyphone +49-89-6 73 46 98 28fax +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 fax +49 30-69 53 78 51 [email protected] www.filmsboutique.com
Global Screen GmbHSonnenstr. 2180331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-24 41 29 55 00fax +49-89-24 41 29 55 [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 GmbHZur Börse 12 10247 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-30-420 824 80fax +49-30-420 824 812pti@picturetree-international.comwww.picturetree-international.com
SOLA Media GmbHFilderhauptstr. 4970599 Stuttgart/Germanyphone +49-7 11-96 89 44 40fax +49-7 11-96 89 44 [email protected]
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GFQ 2-2016 IMPRINT & FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES
43
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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, Knut Elstermann,Moritz Holfelder, Simon Kingsley
TranslationsLucinda Rennison
CoverMaren Ade(photo © Iris Janke)
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 258 million hectares of PEFC certificated forestworldwide.
FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES
Eastern EuropeSimone BaumannSaxonia EntertainmentAltenburger Str. 904275 Leipzig/Germanyphone +49-3 41-35 00 45 36fax +49-3 41-35 00 77 45 [email protected]
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GERMAN PAVILION · # 125 · INTERNATIONAL VILLAGEGERMAN FILMS · phone +33-(0)4-92 59 01 80 · www.german-films.deFOCUS GERMANY · phone +33-(0)4-92 59 00 04 · www.focusgermany.de
NEW FILMSFROM GERMANYIN CANNES 2016
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