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DAY 3

Thursday 10 May 2018

exciting new releases such as the latest works from
Schweiger, Schweighöfer and Herbig, plus the ambitious FIVE GERMAN PRODUCERS FIVE UPCOMING
Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver by Dennis Gansel, TO WATCH GERMAN PRODUCTIONS
25KM/H by Markus Goller, starring Lars Eidinger, Roads
by Sebastian Schipper (the acclaimed director of Victoria), WEYDEMANN BROS.
and Lars Kraume’s The Silent Revolution. German films ROADS
were also shining in the selection of the Berlinale. Out of The Berlin- and Cologne-based company,
the 19 candidates for the Golden Bear, four were German- which aims to produce “a narrative By Sebastian Schipper
majority productions (Christian Petzold’s Transit, Emily cinema that is both entertaining and After the terrifi c, Silver Bear-winning tour
Atef’s 3 Days in Quiberon, Thomas Stuber’s In the Aisles, political” has produced well-travelled de force in one take, Victoria, Sebastian Schipper
and Philip Gröning’s My Brother’s Name Is Robert and He features and documentaries for the is presenting his fi rst international project. Roads,
Is an Idiot) and two minority co-productions ended up national and the international market. is a road movie about two 17-year-olds, Gyllen from
winning awards, including the Golden Bear winner, Adina Among its recent productions are Damian London (Fionn Whitehead, the lead in Christopher
Pintilie’s Touch Me Not from Romania. Meanwhile, after John Harper’s In the Middle of the River Nolan’s Dunkirk) and William from Senegal, who
earning Diane Kruger an acting prize at the 70th Cannes and Sabrina Sarabi’s Prélude. meet in the Moroccan desert and start a joint
Film Festival, Fatih Akin’s In the Fade snatched the 2018 odyssey through Europe.
foreign language Golden Globe, and even though it may ONETWOFILMS
have been a disappointment that it did not make it further
than the shortlist in the Oscar race, the foreign langague The Berlin-based outfi t, founded in 2010, LARA
film Oscar crowned a co-production supported by the focuses on fi lms for the international
FFA, A Fantastic Woman. market, both “director-driven projects” By Jan Ole Gerster
The season was indeed promising, but the first stats for (arthouse) and “producer-driven projects” For his second feature fi lm, Lara, Jan Ole Gerster
the first trimester of 2018, as published by Munich-based (developed in-house). Their world- has collaborated again with Tom Schilling, the
agency ComScore, do not quite confirm the positive trend acclaimed international co-productions lead actor of his acclaimed, multi-award-winning
which could legitimately be hoped for. During the first include the 2016 Un Certain Regard Oh Boy!. Lara is a tragi-comedy is about a mother
three months of the current year, 28,583,786 admissions winner The Happiest Day in the Life of (Corinna Harfouch) who has to ask herself why she,
only generated €245,429,564 (respectively 8.9% and Olli Mäki, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson’s of all people, has not been invited to her son’s most
9.6% less than last year, and 23% and 18% less than Under the Tree, Isabel Coixet’s The important piano concert.
during first quarter of the excellent year 2015). However, Bookshop, and the new American fi lm
the results of the first German releases of the year have The Tale by Jennifer Fox.
gone against the general negative trend. GUNDERMANN
WALKER + WORM
FUTURE PROOFING FILM By Andreas Dresen
In a interview published by Cineuropa.org in March, FFA Since its foundation in Munich in 2008, Established director Andreas Dresen, whose
Chairman Peter Dinges described his organisation’s Walker + Worm has put an emphasis on many awards include one in Cannes, for the
current main tasks as follows: “Strengthen the cinema as the unique, personal visions of German heart-breaking Stopped on Track, is now trying
a premium location for the film experience, gain new directors such as Philip Koch, whose Picco his hand at making a biopic. His new feature,
target groups, and ensure that German films are successful deeply shook the Quinzaine back in 2010. Gundermann, depicts the contradictory life of the
on both the national and international level.” In order to Among its upcoming works are Das dritte digger driver Gerhard Gundermann, who became
achieve that, the FFA facilitates “a permanent dialogue Sterben and Happiness is for Sissies. known in the GDR as a singer-songwriter.
with the industry and the world of politics ... to adjust the The fi lm stars Alexander Scheer (Sun Alley).
funding system effectively and adapt it to the needs of the ENDORPHINE PRODUCTION
market.” Dinges also underlines that although technical
developments — the future of which is difficult to see into The company, founded in 2004, with WORK WITHOUT AUTHOR
— are influencing the audience’s consumer behaviour, offi ces in Berlin and Munich, has recently
ensuring “that German cinema will remain an important co-produced the 2017 Venice IFF triple- By Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
part of our culture” is a priority. Thus, although the awardee The Oblivion Verses by Alireza Oscar-winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
increasing flexibility of windows is inevitable, the concept Khatami. It is now preparing the release (The Lives of Others) has gathered the crème de
of ‘cinema first’ should also be protected, says the FFA of Johannes Schaff’s Symphony of Now, la crème of the German acting world for his new
Chairman, whose strategy on all accounts is clearly one about the Berlin electronic music scene. project, Work Without Author. The aforementioned
combining consolidation and adaptation. This is also Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch (The Lives of Others,
© DR reflected in his position towards production funding, SOMMERHAUS FILMPRODUKTION Bridge of Spies) and Paula Beer (Transit) are the
which is going to be focused on fewer films. “We want to leads of this epic psychological thriller unfolding
support the kind of films that people want to see on the The Ludwigsburg-based outfi t develops accross three periods in German history, as artist
big screen. Therefore, we developed some guidelines ... to and produces German and international Kurt Barnert continues to be tormented by
set a focus for the commissions. The challenge was to strike arthouse and independent fi lms. Among experiences endured under the Third Reich
the right balance between commerce and culture, between its acclaimed titles are the 2014 Silver and then the GDR regime, even after he escapes
mainstream and arthouse film,” he says. Bear winner Stations of the Cross, Eat to West Germany.
The emphasis on responding to the public’s demand is also That Question – Frank Zappa in His Own
reflected in a trend that Germany shares with many Words, Burhan Qurbani’s We Are Young.
countries — the increased production of high-class series, We Are Strong, and In the Aisles, in DAS DRITTE STERBEN
including Dark, the first German Netflix production, and competition at this year’s Berlinale.
Babylon Berlin. A spokesperson for German Films confirms By Philipp Leinemann
that Bad Banks is set to be screened on Hulu in the US, This political thriller by the director of The Kings
and The Typist was recently shown in competition at Surrender, starring Alexander Fehling (Three Peaks,
Canneseries. More high-profile series are in the making. SEVEN ELEPHANTS The Captain) and Ronald Zehrfeld (Phoenix), starts
Eight Days by Oscar-winner Stefan Ruzowitzky and with the investigation of a Federal Intelligence
Michael Krummenacher, Deutschland 86 (sequel of the This brand new outfi t was set up this Service agent causing an American drone attack
successful Deutschland 83), and the Constantin Film/ year by three of Germany’s most exciting in Zahiristan. When a critical journalist is killed in a
ZDFneo production The Perfume, inspired by Patrick emerging fi lmmakers (David Wnendt, bomb attack in Germany only a couple of days later,
Süskind’s international best-seller, the worldwide rights of Julia von Heinz, Erik Schmitt) with the agent starts to look into this on his own.
which were recently purchased by Netflix. ✦ leading producer Fabian Gasmia.

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NEWS