Quarterly 2 · 2007 - German Films

AT CANNES

In Competition AUF DER ANDEREN SEITE by Fatih Akin

Un Certain Regard AM ENDE KOMMEN TOURISTEN by Robert Thalheim

Cinéfondation HALBE STUNDEN by Nicolas Wackerbarth

PORTRAITS

Chris Kraus, Ulrike von Ribbeck, Filmquadrat, Nina Hoss

SPECIAL REPORT

10 Years of NEXT GENERATION

German FilmsQuarterly 2 · 2007

In Competition

Auf der anderenSeiteTHE EDGE OF HEAVEN

by Fatih Akin

In Competition

CinéfondationUn Certain Regard

You the Living by Roy Andersson

German Co-Producer: Essential Filmproduktion-Thermidor Filmproduktion/BerlinWorld Sales: Coproduction Office/Paris

Halbe Stunden HALF HOURS

by Nicolas Wackerbarth

Producers: Deutsche Film- & Fernsehakademie (dffb) & Jost Hering Filme/BerlinWorld Sales: Deutsche Film- & Fernsehakademie (dffb)/Berlin

Producer: corazón international/Hamburg World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne

The Man From London by Béla Tarr

German Co-Producers: Black Forest Films & Von Vietinghoff Filmproduktion/Berlin World Sales: Fortissimo Films/Amsterdam

German Films and Co-ProductionsI N T H E O F F I C I A L P R O G R A M

60th Anniversary Tribute

Directors’ Fortnight

Ulzhanby Volker Schloendorff

German Co-Producer: Volksfilm/Potsdam World Sales: Rezo Film International/Paris

Gegenueber COUNTERPARTS

by Jan Bonny

Producer: Heimatfilm/Cologne World Sales: Wide Management/Paris

Critics’ Week

The Mosquito Problemand Other Storiesby Andrey Paounov

German Co-Producer: Filmtank/Hamburg World Sales: TV2 World/Copenhagen

Am Ende kommenTouristenAND ALONG COME TOURISTS

by Robert Thalheim

Un Certain Regard

Producer: 23|5 Filmproduktion/Berlin World Sales: Bavaria Film International/Geiselgasteig

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TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY “NEXT GENERATION”

focus on 10 Years of Next Generation

directors’ portraits

STAYING POWER

A portrait of Chris Kraus

“TEAMWORK, TRUST AND TENSION”

A portrait of Ulrike von Ribbeck

producers’ portrait

PLATFORM FOR DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS

A portrait of Filmquadrat

actress’ portrait

A PASSION FOR ACTING

A portrait of Nina Hoss

news

in production

CHIKO

Oezguer Yildirim

DR. ALEMÁN

Tom Schreiber

DIE EINSAMKEIT IST NIE ALLEIN

Roland Reber

FRUEHSTUECK MIT EINER UNBEKANNTEN

Maria von Heland

HANAMI

Doris Doerrie

IM JAHRES DES HUNDES

Ursula Scheid

IRONMAN

Adnan G. Koese

LIEBE UND ANDERE VERBRECHEN

Stefan Arsenijevic

LULU UND JIMI

Oskar Roehler

SHORT CUT TO HOLLYWOOD

Marcus Mittermeier, Jan Henrik Stahlberg

STELLUNGSWECHSEL

Maggie Peren

VIER SIND EINER ZUVIEL

Torsten C. Fischer

new german films

AM ENDE KOMMEN TOURISTEN AND ALONG COME TOURISTS

Robert Thalheim

DIE ANRUFERIN THE CALLING GAME

Felix Randau

AUF DER ANDEREN SEITE THE EDGE OF HEAVEN

Fatih Akin

German Films Quarterly 2 · 2007

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AUTOPILOTEN AUTOPILOTS

Bastian Guenther

[DESI’RE:] – THE GOLDSTEIN REELS

Romeo Gruenfelder

DOS PATRIAS CUBA Y LA NOCHE

TWO HOMELANDS CUBA AND THE NIGHT

Christian Liffers

DER GOLDENE NAZIVAMPIR VON ABSAM 2 –

DAS GEHEIMNIS VON SCHLOSS KOTTLITZ

THE GOLDEN NAZI VAMPIRE OF ABSAM PART II –

THE SECRET OF KOTTLITZ CASTLE

Lasse Nolte

HALBE STUNDEN HALF HOURS

Nicolas Wackerbarth

DAS HAUS DER SCHLAFENDEN SCHOENEN

HOUSE OF THE SLEEPING BEAUTIES

Vadim Glowna

DAS HERZ IST EIN DUNKLER WALD

THE HEART IS A DARK FOREST

Nicolette Krebitz

KLASSENFAHRT IN DAS REVIER DER WILDERER

SCHOOL TRIP INTO POACHERS’ TERRITORY

Marcus Lenz, Ingo Rudloff

LIBANON – STANDHALTEN IM WAHNSINN

LEBANON – RESISTING LUNACY

Uwe-S. Tautenhahn

LIEBESLEBEN LOVELIFE

Maria Schrader

MIKROFAN

Matthias Staehle

MONDMANN MOONMAN

Fritz Boehm

MONKS – THE TRANSATLANTIC FEEDBACK

Dietmar Post, Lucía Palacios

NEUES VOM WIXXER THE VEXXER

Cyrill Boss, Philipp Stennert

OSDORF

Maja Classen

PAUL UND BATAAR PAUL AND BATAAR

Caterina Klusemann

PRATER

Ulrike Ottinger

PREUSSISCH GANGSTAR PRUSSIAN GANGSTARS

Irma-Kinga Stelmach, Bartosz Werner

DER ROTE ELVIS THE RED ELVIS

Leopold Gruen

VOLLIDIOT COMPLETE IDIOT

Tobi Baumann

DIE WILDEN HUEHNER UND DIE LIEBE WILD CHICKS IN LOVE

Vivian Naefe

film exporters

foreign representatives · imprint

Exterior. Night. An incandescent moon lights the sky as throngs ofcinemagoers stream out of a packed Cannes movie theater, wherethey’ve just attended a highly-anticipated world premiere. Weoverhear bits of conversation. “Amazing narrative structure for a firstfilm!” “A brilliant documentary, never thought of stewardesseslike that.” “The claymation was fantastic.” “Who was that hunkyactor?” “The light in the lake scenes was magical.” “I never saw anen tire film shot in the subway.” “I never saw an entire film shot back-wards.”

Wait, there aren’t any multiplexes in Cannes! But all these peoplecan’t be talking about the same film! There’s a simple explanation: Thecrowd is leaving another packed showing of “Next Generation,”a program of the year’s best shorts by students at German filmschools. On May 20th in Cannes, German Films will unveil the tenthedition of this selection.

FLASHBACK

1998: German Films (or the Export-Union of German Cinema, as itwas then known) was seeking to diversify its activities, increaseawareness of its role, and find new mandates and partners. JochemStrate, former supervisory board chairman of German Films, whoseson was attending the Munich Academy of Television and Film, had abrainwave. Why not involve Germany’s various film schools in a pro-ject to showcase a selection of their productions in Cannes?

Many of Germany’s best-known directors – Wim Wenders, WernerHerzog, Caroline Link and Tom Tykwer, to name only a few – all start -ed out making shorts. And Next Generation offers status-hungryCannes audiences bragging rights: “I was at the world premiere of X’sfirst student film.” They would see new stars being born. Not onlythat the extraordinary vitality, quality and originality of the NextGeneration films and their creators are winning over new audienceseverywhere.

TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY“NEXT GENERATION”

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That is Next Generation’s drawing card, the best shorts by the mosttalented directors of the youngest generation. For instance, back in2000 the program included the Munich Academy of Television andFilm’s Dobermann, by the tallest short film director in NextGeneration history. Seven years later director Florian Henckel vonDonnersmarck was again towering over his peers, winning the OSCAR

for Best Foreign Language Film for The Lives of Others.

Henckel von Donnersmarck said of his experience with NextGeneration: "When Dobermann was selected by German Films tobe part of the Next Generation reel in Cannes in 2000, I was almostas excited as I was when my nomination for the Academy Awards wasannounced seven years later. Apart from a thrilling and all-expenses-paid trip to Cannes, it was a great bonding experience with the othershort film makers. I am still friends with many of them. We had in -


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vitations to all the German events and were suddenly taken seriouslyby the German industry leaders. After all, our films were being shownat Cannes! The turnout at our screening was very impressive, and I

got to meet many of the people who would end up organizing andfinancing my first feature film only four years later.”

Next Generation is the real thing, the diamond in the raw, the newestnew German cinema and directors. To ensure a selection of thehighest quality, the films are selected by a prestigious independent jurycomposed of two permanent members (Astrid Kuehl, managingdirector of the Short Film Agency and co-head of the InternationalShort Film Festival Hamburg, and Heinz Badewitz, director of the HofFilm Days and head of the German Cinema program at the Berlin FilmFestival), as well as a rotating third juror – this year Anke Sterneborg,a film journalist with Munich’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Film schools are invited to submit their year’s best productions – 59for 2007. Since the total running time is limited to about 90 minutes,and in order to ensure the broadest possible selection, individual filmsmay not exceed 15 minutes.

The selection is also competitive, for the jury chooses one directorwho will be sponsored at Cannes by German Films and will representthe other directors from that year. In fact the lure of presenting one’sfilm at a Cannes screening proves irresistible, so almost all the direc-tors, as well as many producers and other members of their posse –actors, DoPs, friends and relatives – travel down, most of them attheir own expense, by camping car, bus, train, even sleeping in tentsin nearby camping parks, if that’s all their budget will allow.

The rewards are ample. They present their films on stage to a packedaudience and deafening applause. And then are fêted like the starsthey are by an international crowd at a beach party that German Filmsthrows in their honor.

And their enthusiasm has been echoed by that of ever larger Cannesaudiences. Astrid Kuehl has noted a huge interest in the selection by


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programmers from festivals around the world. And Heinz Badewitz,who hosts the series of German features shown in the CannesMarket, says buyers and journalists are also eager to discover thenewest talents Germany has to offer. Regulars wouldn’t dream ofmissing a year, having learned to “expect the unexpected.” The onlyconstants are quality and imagination.

MAKING WAVES & BREAKING GROUND

German short directors are making waves. After presenting At the

Lake in the 2002 edition of Next Generation, Ulrike von Ribbeck(German Film and Television Academy Berlin - dffb) was invited backto Cannes the following year to the official program as one of theCinéfondation short film directors. In 2004 her short Charlotte screen -ed at both the Perspectives German Cinema section in Berlin and theDirectors’ Fortnight in Cannes.

Other success stories abound: Ulrike Grote (Hamburg Media School,NG 2004) garnered a Student OSCAR in 2005 and an OSCAR nomina-tion in 2006 for her follow-up film The Runaway. In 2003 FlorianBaxmeyer (a fellow Hamburg Media School graduate, NG 2002)earned a Student OSCAR and an OSCAR nomination for The Red Jacket

in 2004. Shown in Next Generation in 2002, Rocks, directed byChris Stenner, Arvid Uibel and Heidi Wittlinger (Film AcademyBaden-Wuerttem berg ) went on to receive an OSCAR nomination thefollow ing year.

German film schools get high marks from the industry, too. HeinzBadewitz says the films are getting better and better, and points to theFilm Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg in Ludwigsburg, the first inGermany to offer studies in computer animation, which has provideddirector Roland Emmerich with many of his best collaborators inHollywood. And at film schools, free from market pressures, direc-tors may enjoy far greater freedom to express their vision than theywill when they turn pro. Next Generation also serves as a promo reelfor the schools and for the quality of their programs, as attested bythe annual crop of international honors their students’ harvest.

In looking back over the ten years of Next Generation, ChristianDorsch, managing director of German Films, stresses the benefits forall concerned: “With Next Generation we are investing in the future.And the program allows us to establish contacts with filmmakers we’llsoon be working with. The students get an immersion into the realityof the movie business. We provide the students with festivalaccreditat ion, which allows them to participate fully in the festival.They can see the latest and best films from around the world. Plus, itis easy for them to meet producers and funding board representa-

tives, many of whom will have attended the screening in Cannes, anddiscuss future projects.”

Anke Zindler, of Munich’s Just Publicity PR company, agrees: “InCannes students have their first ’real life’ opportunity – at one of themost exciting international platforms – to learn how to present andmarket their films, to deal with the public and press – vital for reachingand winning over audiences at home and especially abroad.”

Jochem Strate says there are two mythical cities all filmmakers dreamabout: L.A. and Cannes. And since German Films has always offeredfilm professionals its expertise and a highly developed support systemin Cannes, it was a natural choice as a launch-pad for NextGeneration. The German Films staff at the German pavilion providesadvice and organizational resources. In the experience of MarietteRissenbeek, publicity manager for German Films, the more thestudents invest in taking advantage of their stay, the more they get outof it.

According to Heinz Badewitz, the charms of the seaside resort, thesun, food, and beautiful setting are more than just perks – they en -courage filmmakers to persevere. Their films are shown alongsidethose of the greatest directors, and the electric atmosphere is con -ducive to discussion, to chance encounters and meetings of minds.Almost everyone who is anyone in German film converges onCannes, and they’re far more available there than back home. MartinScheuring, who coordinates Next Generation at German Films, oftenhears how the screenings pay off for the students, since it helps themto be taken seriously by established directors and producers. And itworks both ways: the impressive array of shorts creates interest inGerman feature films, too.


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Next Generation in Cannes has also been the forum for ground-break-ing discussions between the filmmakers and two federal ministers. In2002 they met with Julian Nida-Ruemelin, then State Minister forCulture and the Media, and in 2003 with his successor, Dr. ChristinaWeiss. “Film students are driven by passion, ambition and vision – andoften too by difficult economic realities,” says Susanne Reinker, for-

mer PR manager at German Films who originally initiated the meet-ings between the Next Generation participants and the developers offilm policy. “They have the most vivid dreams and the most critical,not to say radical views of the film industry. The 2002 meeting wasthe first time students had a chance to speak directly with a minister,to express what they cared about, what they need, the steps they’d


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like to see implemented. And the ministers obviously recognized inthe students essential partners in developing a national film policy.”

After its initial outing in 1998 and the enthusiastic reception, it wasclear that, for Next Generation, “Einmal ist keinmal.” (Once is neverenough.) Cannes is only the kick-off for the program, which, since

year two has been shown for the rest of the year at numerous festi-vals and German film weeks around the world, including Moscow,New York, Mexico, Buenos Aires, Paris, and London – to name buta few – often accompanied by a different director chosen to represent her or his colleagues. For German Films, Next Generationis a year-long commitment: the 2006 selection last screened in March


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this year at Wiesbaden, a little over a month before the 2007 programunspooled.

Laurence Kardish, senior curator at the New York Museum ofModern Art’s film department, says, “Next Generation screens aspart of ‘Kino’, our annual program of new German films. The seriesis very popular, and I’m both pleased and surprised that there is suchgreat attendance for shorts by filmmakers who are not yet well-known but will, we hope, achieve some celebrity in the near future.While the student filmmakers often attend screenings of otherGerman films that haven’t yet opened, I don’t really see them verymuch. They take advantage of their stay in one of the world’s greatfilm cities to watch hard-to-see films – they’re busy educating them-selves.”

INCREASING VISIBILITY & CREDIBILITY

Interestingly, the fact of being present in Cannes insures the studentsgreater visibility back home. German audiences and media are eagerto discover the new films and faces shown in Cannes. And sinceGerman festivals already dedicate a large part of their programmingto local productions, shorts by unknowns run the risk of going unno-ticed. Also, France is the cradle of a thriving short film culture, and itsaudiences are avid fans of German films.

Many festivals are recognizing the need to support young film stu-dents. It’s surely no coincidence that in 1998, the year that GermanFilms launched Next Generation, the Cannes film festival inaugurateda new section, Cinéfondation, which allows 20 film students from aro-

und the world to attend Cannes and show their films. The director ofCinéfondation, Georges Goldenstern, explains: “The festival wanted tocreate a specific forum for film students. It was important that theyhave a unique role, to help them stand out, and to allow the film pro-fessionals in Cannes, distributors, buyers, producers and journalists,to spot the work of filmmakers with a future. What’s more, the pres-tige of Cannes gives credibility to the directors in their home coun-tries.”

Shorts are definitely enjoying a renaissance, for the Cannes FilmMarket too has come on board. In 2004 it created the Short FilmCorner, a center to support producers, distributors and festival orga-nizers, which screens, in addition to a multitude of other German andinternational shorts, the Next Generation films too. The GermanShort Film Association also hosts a Short Film Lounge every year inCannes.

Let’s leave the last word to Germany’s newest star, Florian Henckelvon Donnersmarck: “Next Generation was a major stepping stonefor me, and I hope it will be for many more filmmakers in the future."

Robert Gray, Kinograph / Words for Moving Images


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W H E R E A R E T H E Y N O W ? A selection of some of the current projects of former Next Generation participants

Oliver Dommenget (Train Roulette, NG 1999, University of Hamburg): 2001 children’s film Help, I’m a Boy! (Berlin festival)

Branwen Okpako (LoveLoveLiebe, NG 1999, German Film & Television Academy, Berlin): 2000 documentary Dirt for Dinner (prizesat Leipzig, Saarbruecken, Ouagadougou, etc.), 2003 Valley of the Innocent (Toronto and Berlin festivals), currently in post-production on thedocumentary The Pilot and the Passenger

Zueli Aladag (Listen, NG 2000, Academy of MediaArts Cologne): feature Elefantenherz (2002), television filmsinclude the highly acclaimed Wut (2006)

Christian Ditter (Enchanted, NG 2000, MunichAcademy of Television and Film): 2006 feature French for

Beginners (produced by Christoph Menardi, who also pro-duced the NG 2002 entry, Early Bird)

Holger Ernst (Little Fish, NG 2001, Academy of ArtKassel): 2004 short Rain is Falling in competition in Venice,numerous prizes and festival invitations; and 2006 featureThe House Is Burning as a Special Screening in Cannes

Carsten Strauch (The Pocket Organ, NG 2001,Academy of Art and Design Offenbach): 2007 theatricalfeature Die Aufschneider

Franziska Stuenkel (Make a Wish, NG 2001,University of Applied Sciences & Arts): 2006 theatrical featu re Vineta

Ulrike von Ribbeck (At the Lake, NG 2002, German Film & Television Academy, Berlin): 2003 with the same film at Cinéfondation inCannes, 2004 with Charlotte in Berlin and Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight), 2007 feature Frueher oder spaeter

Florian Baxmeyer (Benny X, NG 2002, Hamburg Media School): 2003 Student OSCAR and 2004 OSCAR nomination for The Red Jacket,2004 two-part TV mini-series Das Blut der Templer, 2007 theatrical feature Die drei Fragezeichen

Ulrike Grote (One Way Ticket, NG 2004, HamburgMedia School): 2005 Student OSCAR and 2006 OSCAR nomi-nation for The Runaway

Ann-Kristin Wecker Reyels (Dim, NG 2005,“Konrad Wolf ” Academy of Film and Television Potsdam):2007 theatrical feature Hounds (Berlinale Forum, FIPRESCI

Award)

Sonja Heiss (Christina Without, NG 2005, MunichAcademy of Television and Film): 2007 with Hotel Very

Welcome, (which also stars former NG colleague CarstenStrauch and received a Special Mention at the Berlin festival)

Marc Brummund (Home, NG 2006, Hamburg MediaSchool): 2007 short Land gewinnen, Special Mention at theBerlin festival


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M E M O R I E S Vera Lalyko (Window with a View, NG 2002)

At the last minute, my school, the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, offered topay my way to Cannes. I got a cheap flight to Marseille and from there traveled bytrain to Cannes. I spent the first few nights in a neighboring town. The NextGeneration directors were supposed to meet on Saturday, but I didn’t have myfestival accreditation so I couldn’t get to the German pavilion. It was raining andquite cool, so I couldn’t pass the time by strolling along the Croisette. The onlything I could think of was to go to a normal movie theater that wasn’t part of thefestival, where I watched Star Wars II with a group of kids (a matinee screen ing!).Despite my faulty French, it was a lot of fun: “Que la force soit avec vous!”Afterwards the Next Generation group met to prepare for our meeting withMinister Julian Nida-Ruemelin in a hotel lobby, where I met my fellow filmmakers.

We met with the minister the next day and I remember that Professor Nida-Ruemelin explained to us changes to the federal film funding laws.We talked to him about our situation as young filmmakers. After the official discussions I had a chance to talk with him about short films andanimation films. He was open to the idea of introducing a separate category for Best Animation Short at the German Film Awards.

Then it was time to present our films. At the party afterwards I had many interesting conversations with other student directors and produ-cers. I met Nana Rebhan, who was studying film production in Berlin, which led to our working together. She helped me to pro duce my nextanimation film, Promenade.

German Films had given us DVDs with all the shorts. On our way home from the party, walking along the beach, who should I see comingtoward us but Jim Jarmusch, whose films I really like. I spontane ously gave him our DVD. Who knows, perhaps he even watch ed it.

I have such fond memories of our participation in Cannes. For us animation filmmakers, the glitter of Cannes and pressures of the film worldwill always seem like a mysterious world.

Tanja Brzakovic (Wedding Day, NG 2002)

Next Generation and especially our stay in Cannes was really amazing – it was oneof the greatest experiences of my professional life. Hopefully there will be moreof them in the future!

Seven of us (from two shorts in the program) drove down to Cannes. I was thatyear’s guest director, so German Films put me up in an apartment. But severalother students had no place to stay, so they moved in with me. It was a lot of fun.(I hope I won’t get into trouble now – no harm was done!) It was a tremendousexperience, we saw a lot, did a lot, and met a lot of interesting people.

Marco Gilles (producer, Knight Games, NG 2003)

For me personally it was a great experience, being supported by German Films,attending for the first time the prestigious Cannes festival, and being invited to allkinds of events and meetings. The inter national recognition that our short filmgained because of Next Generation was a great help in being invited to other fes -tivals. Even now, many years later, I’m still in close touch with several of the film -makers who were also in my year. Today, Daniel Mann (who co-producedKnight Games with me) and I have our own production company, wherewe’re de veloping feature films and tele vision projects.

NEXT GENERATION, TAKE TWO!

Five directors and one producer have been invited twice to Next Generation: Vera Lalyko, Susanne Buddenberg, Felix Goennert, RomeoGruenfelder, Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel and Raoul Reinert. And Astrid Rieger, whose Apple on a Tree is screening in Next Generation2007, starred in last year’s Promenade d’après-midi.


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N E X T G E N E R A T I O N 1 9 9 8 – 2 0 0 7Next Generation 1998

EIN EINFACHER AUFTRAG (AN ORDINARY MISSION) by Raymond Boy, 11 min, KHM Koeln FAKE! by Sebastian Peterson, 12 min, HFF Potsdam FISCHFLECKEN (FISH STAINS) by Michael Salzbrenner, 6 min,Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg FIVEFORTYFIVE by Christoph Roehl, 10 min, dffb FRUEHLING (SPRING) by Silke Parzich, 4.5 min, FilmakademieBaden-Wuerttemberg DAS GELBE TRIKOT (THE YELLOW JERSEY) by Samira Radsi,7 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt LATE AT NIGHT by Stefanie Jordan, Stefanie Saghri, ClaudiaZoller, 4 min, HFF Potsdam NIGHTHAWKS by Dmitri Popov, 15 min, HFF Muenchen EIN PERFEKTER MORD (A PERFECT MURDER) by Frank-Peter Lenze, 6 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt DER SIEG (STEP TOWARDS VICTORY) by Robert Krause, 8 min, HFF Muenchen

Next Generation 1999

BASTA PASTA by Nicolás Hammerschlag, 6 min, dffb LES DEUX CLEFS (THE TWO KEYS) by Sabine Burg, 10 min,KHM Koeln EMMIS GEBURTSTAG (EMMI’S BIRTHDAY) by TongucBaykurt, 7.5 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt FLYING PAUL by Svend Stein-Angel, 1.5 min, HFF Muenchen THE GONER by Peter Kaboth, 4 min, HFF Potsdam HANDLE WITH CARE by Susanne Buddenberg, Lorenz Trees,3 min, HFF Potsdam LOVELOVELIEBE by Branwen Okpako, 10 min, dffb MASKS by Piotr Karwas, 5 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttem -berg PLATONISCHE LIEBE (PLATONIC LOVE) by PhilipKadelbach, 10 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg ROAD TO PALERMO by Marcel-Kyrill Gardelli, 8 min, HFFMuenchen SIND SIE LUIGI? (ARE YOU LUIGI?) by Stephan Brueggenthies,7 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg DIE SUPERSCHURKEN (SUPER JERKS) by Vera Lalyko, 4 min,KHM Koeln ZUGROULETT (TRAIN ROULETTE) by Oliver Dommenget, 6 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt


BIN WEG – LISA (I HAVE GONE – LISA) by MatthiasKutschmann, 8 min, HFF Muenchen BSSS by Felix Goennert, 2 min, HFF Potsdam DOBERMANN by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 4 min,HFF Muenchen HARARA by Andy Kaiser, 9.5 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg HARTES BROT (STICKY DOUGH) by Nathalie Percillier, 7.5 min, dffb HOER DEIN LEBEN (LISTEN) by Zueli Aladag, 7 min, KHM Koeln

LETTERS by Matthias Wittmann, 9 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg MANN IM MOND (MAN IN THE MOON) by Chris Stenner,Arvid Uibel, 7 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg TROMPE L’ŒIL by Ingo Panke, 4.5 min, HFF Potsdam VERZAUBERT (ENCHANTED) by Christian Ditter, 9 min, HFF Muenchen

Special Presentation: Student OSCAR 1999 / OSCAR-nomination 2000KLEINGELD (SMALL CHANGE) by Marc-Andreas Bochert, 15 min, HFF Potsdam


DANS L’ATELIER DU SCULPTEUR by Richard Badé, 2min, KHM Koeln ENDSTATION: PARADIES (TERMINAL: PARADISE) by Jan Thuering, 7 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg FUER DICH MEIN HERZ (FOR YOU MY SWEETHEART) by Johannes von Gwinner, 10 min, HFF Potsdam KLEINE FISCHE (LITTLE FISH) by Holger Ernst, 9 min,Kunsthochschule Kassel MARIE MUSS RENNEN (MARY MUST RUN) by KonradSattler, 5 min, HFF Muenchen OBERSTUBE (THE UPPER STOREY) by Sebastian Winkels, 6 min, HFF Potsdam OHNE TITEL (WITHOUT TITLE) by Romeo Gruenfelder, 10 min, HfbK Hamburg DER PILOT (THE PILOT) by Oliver Seiter, 6 min, FilmakademieBaden-Wuerttemberg QUAK by Wolfgang Dinslage, 7 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt DAS TASCHENORGAN (THE POCKET ORGAN) by Carsten Strauch, 10 min, Hochschule fuer Gestaltung Offenbach WUENSCH DIR WAS (MAKE A WISH) by Franziska Stuenkel,7 min, Fachhochschule Hannover

Special Presentation: OSCAR-winner 2001QUIERO SER by Florian Gallenberger, 34 min, HFF Muenchen


AM SEE (AT THE LAKE) by Ulrike von Ribbeck, 10 min, dffb BENNY X by Florian Baxmeyer, 9 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt FENSTER MIT AUSSICHT (WINDOW WITH A VIEW) by Vera Lalyko, 9 min, KHM Koeln HOCHZEITSTAG (WEDDING DAY) by Tanja Brzakovic, 10 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt MORGENSTUND (EARLY BIRD) by David Emmenlauer, 10 min, HFF Muenchen DAS RAD (ROCKS) by Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel, HeidiWittlinger, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg RED GOURMET PELLZIK by Andreas Samland, 10 min, dffb UNDERCOVER by Susanne Buddenberg, 6 min, HFF Potsdam

Special Presentation: OSCAR-nomination 2002 GREGORS GROESSTE ERFINDUNG (GREGOR’S GREATEST INVENTION) by Johannes Kiefer, 11 min


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THE DAY WINSTON NGAKAMBE CAME TO KIEL

by Jasper Ahrens, 9 min, HFF Potsdam FETISCH (FETISH) by Richard Lehun, 7 min, dffb GACK GACK (CLUCK CLUCK) by Olaf Encke, 6 min, HFFPotsdam GUERRA ALLE PIETRE (WAR ON STONES) by AndreasTeuchert, 11 min, dffb HOCHBETRIEB (NUTS AND BOLTS) by Andreas Krein, 6 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg KUNSTGRIFF (TRICKY FINGERS) by André F. Nebe, 6 min,Hamburger Filmwerkstatt LETZTE BAHN (LAST TRAIN) by Tom Uhlenbruck, 10 min,KHM Koeln RITTERSCHLAG (KNIGHT GAMES) by Sven Martin, 6 min,Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg SOFA by Hyekung Jung, 3 min, Kunsthochschule Kassel SPRING by Oliver Held, 7 min, KHM Koeln

Special Presentation: OSCAR-nomination 2003 DAS RAD (ROCKS) by Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel, HeidiWittlinger, 8 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg


ANNAOTTOANNA by Clemens Pichler, 9.5 min, HFFMuenchen ANNIE & BOO by Johannes Weiland, 15 min, FilmakademieBaden-Wuerttemberg BUSINESS AS USUAL by Tom Zenker, 5 min, dffb HIMMELFAHRT (ONE WAY TICKET) by Ulrike Grote, 13 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt HIMMELFILM by Jiska Rickels, Sanne Kurz, 15 min, HFFMuenchen ICH UND DAS UNIVERSUM (ME, MYSELF AND THE UNIVERSE) by Hajo Schomerus, 14 min, Fachhochschule Dortmund JUERGEN IN SEINEM PASSAT (DRIVING VOLKSWAGEN)by Sebastian Poerschke, 7 min, KHM Koeln LUCIA by Felix Goennert, 9 min, HFF Potsdam NEON EYES by Thomas Gerhold, Markus Wambsganss, 8 min,Bauhaus Universitaet Weimar


DIE AMERIKANISCHE BOTSCHAFT (THE AMERICANEMBASSY) by David Sieveking, 10 min, dffb CHRISTINA OHNE KAUFMANN (CHRISTINA WITH-OUT) by Sonja Heiss, 15 min, HFF Muenchen DIM by Ann-Kristin Wecker (Reyels), 15 min, HFF Potsdam ENDSPIEL (THE FINAL) by Mara Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 12 min, HFFMuenchen I TOOK THE RED PILL by Ramesh Pallikara, 4 min,Hochschule Anhalt/Dessau JAM SESSION by Izabela Plucinska, 9.5 min, HFF Potsdam KERNSEIF (CURD SOAP) by Alexander Kiesl, Sebastian Stolle,3.5 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg DAS KIND (THE CHILD) by Steffen Blechschmidt, 7.5 min,Hochschule Anhalt/Dessau LÂL by Dirk Schaefer, 16 min, KHM Koeln RALLYE by Romeo Gruenfelder, 2.5 min, HfbK Hamburg DER TOURIST (THE TOURIST) by Lancelot von Naso, 7 min,HFF Muenchen


AUF DEM FELD (IN THE FIELD) by Philipp Wolf, 9.5 min, dffb BAZAR by Markus Sehr, Mathias Kraemer, 3 min, ifs koeln DELIVERY by Till Nowak, 9 min, Fachhochschule Mainz DER GEIST VON ST. PAULI (ST. PAULI FOREVER) byMichael Sommer, 7.5 min, Hamburg Media School HEIM (HOME) by Marc Brummund, 6 min, Hamburg Media School ICH RETTE DAS MULTIVERSUM (I’LL SAVE THE MULTIVERSE) by Ulf Groote, 11 min, HfbK Hamburg KALTE HAUT (COLD SKIN) by Sebastian Kutzli, 15 min, HFFMuenchen MY DATE FROM HELL by Tim Weimann, Tom Bracht, 14 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg OUR MAN IN NIRVANA by Jan Koester, 11 min, HFFPotsdam PROMENADE D’APRÈS MIDI by Claire Walka, 2.5 min,Hochschule fuer Gestaltung Offenbach


ANALOG BROTHER by Falk Peplinski, 7.5 min, FilmakademieBaden-Wuerttemberg APPLE ON A TREE by Astrid Rieger, Zeljko Vidovic, 5 min,Hochschule fuer Gestaltung Offenbach DOPPELZIMMER (DOUBLE ROOM) by Erim Giresunlu, 13.5 min, KHM Koeln FAIR TRADE by Michael Dreher, 15 min, HFF Muenchen DIE GUTE LAGE (IN A GOOD POSITION) by Nancy Brandt,13.5 min, HFF Muenchen INFINITE JUSTICE by Karl Tebbe, 2 min, FH Dortmund L.H.O. by Jan Zabeil, Kristof Kannegiesser, 3 min, HFF Potsdam OUTSOURCING by Markus Dietrich, 6 min, BauhausUniversitaet Weimar SPROESSLING by Anne Breymann, 8.5 min, KunsthochschuleKassel TRUCK STOP GRILL by Daniel Seideneder, 5.5 min, FH Mainz VIDEO 3000 by Joerg Edelmann, Joern Grosshans, JochenHaussecker, Marc Schleiss, 5 min, Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart WHIRR by Timo Katz, 2.5 min, FH Bielefeld WUNDERLICH PRIVAT by Aline Chukwuedo, 9 min, dffb


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NEXT GENERATION 2007

A Selection of Short Films by Students of German Film Schools

We thank for their support

Chr

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DI R ECTOR’S PORTRAITChris Kraus was born in Goettingen in 1963 and,after stints as a journalist and illustrator, studied at theGerman Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin from1991 to 1997. For ten years, Chris has enjoyed an out -standing reputation as one of Germany’s most acclaim -ed screenwriters, being nominated twice for the German

Screenplay Award – in 1997 for Poll and in 1999 for The

Einstein of Sex (Der Einstein des Sex) – as well as penningthe screenplays for Detlev Buck’s A Bundle of Joy

(Liebesluder, 1999) and Pepe Danquart’s C(r)ook (Basta –

Rotwein oder tot sein, 2003), among others. He alsoworks as a novelist and teaches Dramaturgy at the dffband the “Konrad Wolf ” Academy of Film and Televisionin Potsdam. In 2002, his debut feature Shattered

Glass (Scherbentanz) was premiered at the MunichFilm Festival where it won the Young German Cinema

Award in the Best Screenplay category and picked up theprize for Best Newcomer Director at the Bavarian Film

Awards the fol low ing year. His second feature as director,Four Minutes (Vier Minuten), had its world pre-miere at the 2006 Shanghai International Film Festivalwhere it won the Golden Cup for Best Feature Film andfollowed this by garnering prizes at festivals in Reyjkjavik,San Francisco, Hof, Braunschweig and Sofia, amongothers. (Prior to production, it had been presented withthe Baden-Wuerttemberg Screenplay Award). In January2007, the film received four Bavarian Film Awards forBest Screenplay, Best Female Lead (Monica Bleibtreu),and Best New Talent (Hannah Herzsprung) as well asthe VGF Young Producers Award. It was also nominatedin eight categories for the 2007 German Film Awards. Hisother credits include: Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass

(dir: Klaus Kraemer, 1999, dramaturgy), Die Blech -

trommel 2 (2000, screenplay), Home Sweet Home (dir:Filippos Tsitos, 2001, co-screenplay), Acapulco (2004,screenplay), and, currently in development, Poll (2008).

Contact: Above the Line Berlin GmbH · Uschi Keil Wielandstrasse 5 · 10625 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-2 88 77 30 · fax +49-30-2 88 77 310 email: [email protected] · www.abovetheline.de

If there is one thing writer-director Chris Kraus definitely has, it isstaying power to see an idea through to its realization.

His second feature is a case in point. It may have the short and sweettitle of Four Minutes, but the German Film & Television Academy(dffb) graduate spent more than eight years developing the projectbefore it first saw the light of a projector on its world premiere at the

Shanghai International Film Festival last year.

“I got the idea for the film from an item in a newspaper, but I alsowant ed to make a very personal film,” he recalls. ”I was attracted bythe biography of an old lady who had taught for 60 years in a Berlinprison. This story then led me to look for an adversary, someone whowould be quite the opposite of the old woman.”

STAYING POWER A portrait of Chris Kraus


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In spite of the ups and downs during the eight-year odyssey to get thefilm made, Kraus was adamant that Four Minutes would be hisnext project as a director after his impressive debut with Shattered

Glass in 2002. “I like films which ask the question to what extent arthas anything to do with real life and how far artistic expression canactually intrude on reality. That’s what I like about cinema becausethere have been films which have really touched me and changed mylife. I was particularly interested in this potential of the story and thatwas the reason why I held out for so many years to see the filmmade.”

During the 2005 Berlinale, Kraus began discussing the project withproducer sisters Meike and Alexandra Kordes of the recentlyestablish ed production company Kordes & Kordes Film and at lastfound kindred spirits who shared his vision. “Suddenly, it was likerock’n’roll,” he observes. “We didn’t have any money, but just a greatpassion. I knew from Meike [who had served as line producer onShattered Glass] that she only does things she really likes andwould go through concrete to achieve it. I like people who aren’t putoff by the concrete!”

It hadn’t been plain sailing either for his first feature Shattered

Glass which had existed in screenplay form for several years beforegoing into production. “It just takes a while until you can push throughsuch individual projects,” Kraus argues, although his perseverance wasthen rewarded when the completed film was praised at the 2002Munich Film Festival as one of the buzz titles and Kraus held up as amajor new talent.

The film went on to win two Bavarian Film Awards, the German

Screenplay Award, the German Film Award for Best Cinematographyfor DoP Judith Kaufmann, the New Talent Award for Best DirectorialAchievement, and the Golden Camera for lead actor Juergen Vogel.

While Kraus showed himself adept at working with such seasonedplayers as Vogel, Margit Carstensen, Peter Davor and Nadja Uhl inShattered Glass – Uhl recalled last year that he “was always pre-pared to be open to our suggestions and made for a very creativeatmosphere which has stayed with me in my memory” – Four

Minutes posed new challenges, but also further proof of the direc-tor’s collaborative relationship with his actors.

Casting the two leads – veteran Monica Bleibtreu for the elderlypianist Traude Krueger and the newcomer Hannah Herzsprung as theconvicted killer Jenny – was of crucial importance. “I could see that itwouldn’t be possible to have an 80-year-old on such a project work -ing for 16 hours a day,” Kraus notes. “So when I met MonicaBleibtreu, I thought she could do it but there’d be the problem of age,as she is only 60. There was the question of whether the make-upwould function and, above all, whether there would be any chemistrybetween the older woman and the younger one.”

As Kraus recalls, he had to go in two different directions with his twolead actresses: “In actual fact, Monica is a very extroverted personand we had to tie her down [for the role], while Hannah is veryreserv ed and modest in real life. But this contrast worked thanks totheir talent and the desire to follow this extreme line of preparation.Hannah, of course, had much more to do in this respect beforethe shooting because she had six months of piano lessons and boxingtraining.”

He says that it was “a conscious decision” to have the world pre miereof Four Minutes outside of Germany – at the Shanghai

International Film Festival in June of 2006 – although German filmfestivals had also been clamoring to show the film. Four Minutes

then had its German premiere at the 40th Hof Film Days last Octoberwhere it was one of the program highlights with a packed-outSaturday evening slot and Hannah Herzsprung was feted as a “nameto watch”.

As Chris Kraus points out, there has been great interest around theglobe in this film which has now been sold to 40 territories: “InEastern Asia, Four Minutes is mostly being launched [in thecinemas] on a larger scale than in Germany. In these countries, inparti cular China and Japan, it is, above all, the disciplining by the olderteach er that is at the fore,” he explains. “Most of the Japanesejournalists ask about details of the character of Traude Krueger andsee her as the main figure. In the Western countries, particularly theUSA, the focus is on the young Jenny. That is quite a surprisinglydiffer ent reception. But the high emotional effect of the drama goesstraight through all cultural milieus and it is understood everywhere asa signal for the free dom of the individual.”

Back home in Germany, the film began picking up prizes even beforeits theatrical release at the end of January with four Bavarian Film

Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Female Lead (Monica Bleibtreu), andBest New Talent (Hannah Herzsprung) as well as the VGF YoungProducers Award for Kordes & Kordes Film. Kraus describes himselfas being “overjoyed” at the film’s success on its home turf: distributorMovienet reached 250,000 admissions with just 70 prints by mid-Aprilto make it the most successful German arthouse film so far this year.

“The distributor reckons that we will reach between 300,000 and400,000 spectators in the end, a sensation for this little film,” Kraussays. “As far as the recognition with the many prizes is concerned, youonly have this luck once in your life. We are all pleased that we canuse this attention to continue working.”

Having also bagged eight nominations for the German Film Awards,Kraus is now looking at working together again with Meike andAlexandra Kordes on future projects for the cinema.

He has already prepared one project entitled Acapulco, a black co -medy and satire, which is intended to be made with the Kordessisters. This might seem to be a shift in genre for Kraus, but as heexplains: “that’s where I came from – writing for comedy – starting anage ago with the Motzki series for television and later writing screen-plays for Pepe Danquart [C(r)ook] and Detlev Buck [A Bundle of Joy].”

Another long-gestating and much cherished project of Kraus’ is thehistorical romantic drama Poll whose screenplay was nominated forthe German Screenplay Award back in 1997. Set in the Baltic Germancommunity of Latvia shortly before the outbreak of the First WorldWar, Poll also has a young girl in the foreground in the same way asFour Minutes: “It is a love story between a 13-year-old and arevolutionary she hides on a country estate,” Kraus says. “This pro-ject is a very personal one for me because my family originates fromRiga, my grandmother was Latvian, and so there’s a particular af finity.”

Chris Kraus spoke with Martin Blaney

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DI R ECTOR’S PORTRAITUlrike von Ribbeck was born in Minden/Westfaliain 1975. Bitten by the film bug at an early age (livingin the same street as the cinema playing a large part inthis), she spent many hours a week sitting alone in thedark! After graduating school she majored in VisualCommunication at Hamburg’s Hochschule fuer bildendeKunst, made videos, realized she was permanently inlove with film, applied for and was accepted by theGerman Film & Television Academy Berlin (dffb), whereshe studied from 1999. Her short films Laurentia

(1999), Kleine Traeume (2000), Little Star

(2001), Am See (2001) and Charlotte (2004) haveplayed at more festivals and won more awards thanthere is space to list! Suffice it to say that Am See

screen ed in the Cinéfondation section at Cannes 2003and Charlotte in the Berlinale’s Perspectives German

Cinema and Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2004. Her firstfeature, the family drama Frueher oder Spaeter

which she developed during her attendance of the“Atelier de la Cinéfondation” in Cannes 2005, was pro-duced by Polyphon in co-production with ZDF/Das klei-ne Fernsehspiel and ARTE. Today, Ulrike von Ribbecklives and works in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.

Contact: Ulrike von Ribbeck Grimmstrasse 30 · 10967 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-61 62 36 42 · email: [email protected]

Walking into one of these interview situations is very much like ForestGump and his box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonnaget! Especially when it’s a noisy, smokey, overcrowded café and you’vekept the interviewee waiting long enough to finish at least half of hertuna fish sandwich!

Once the initial power struggle had been waged and won, Ulrike

von Ribbeck, despite her claims she has never been interviewedbefore and instead of rightfully mauling me to death in a public place,proved a confident and self-assured conversation partner.

“TEAMWORK, TRUSTAND TENSION” A portrait of Ulrike von Ribbeck


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Watch her shorts and you’ll know she tells the truth when she affirms,“I love emotional cinema.” But the kicker is that she loves emotionalcinema that derives its power from the script and cast, not directoraltheatricality. “I thought Woody Allen’s Match Point was fantastic,” shecontinues. “Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm, The Graduate, Lost in Translation,too. I like tense, emotional stories that show the characters’ innerconflicts. They’re plot-orientated, certainly, but the main driver is theemotional. Personal feelings are most important,” she continues, “Ibuild on my own experience and build that into the story.”

And then, just when you think we are about to take the ArthouseAutobahn, she mentions ET as one of her favorites and then cites Star

Wars and suddenly we’re cruising the Hollywood Highway!

“Feelings and moments become part of the fantasy and story-telling.I’ve read and studied the classic three-act-structure, the story of thehero – it functions just like the Star Wars principle – and I stay with theclassical narrative methods but I love it when genres get mixed. Youcan have crossover with realism, sure.”

And given that the mainstream is also a broad stream, von Ribbeckalso “loves thrillers because they leave so many possibilities open,such as The Cut from Jane Campion. Match Point is also a thriller butit tells so much about human relationships.”

So what kind of director is she? She tries “to get the actors to bringin as much as possible about their own lives. I work long and closelywith them, building up a basis of trust to create an ensemble film. Wetalk a lot about role and character. We talk our way into the charac-ters and create them between us.”

Now, finally unleashed to talk about her latest film, Frueher oder

Spaeter, von Ribbeck immediately expands her definition of team-work to those behind the camera, singling out co-author KatharinaHeld, editor Natali Barrey, casting agent Bernhard Karl, music con -sultant Martin Hossbach, first AD Petra Misovic and camerawomanSonja Rom for praise.

On the writing process, von Ribbeck says she “likes working with co-authors. You talk, you get new ideas, you toss them around. It’s lesslonely! The ideas are your own but team working opens new doors,new opinions, inspiration and confrontation. Katharina made thewhole process very constructive and I’ll co-write with her again on mynext film.”

While some are content to film the storyboard, von Ribbeck is readyto seize any opportunity that comes her way if it adds to the film,such as “when you come across a great prop, like this small ballerinathat turns on a box. I took that immediately! I have my plans and ideasbut am ready to change. If rehearsals give the actors the opportunityto develop the character then I take that as well. Likewise with thelocations.”

She says she also cares very much about the other partner in the rela-tionship, the audience, “to give them a view of life they might not havehad before. I like it when films stay in the memory, touch and affectpeople.”

Then she reels off another list of people, whom she thanks for makingFrueher oder Spaeter happen: Kirsten Niehuus of MedienboardBerlin-Brandenburg, Lucas Schmidt of ZDF’s Das kleine Fernsehspiel,Georg Steinert at ARTE, actors Lola Klamroth and Peter Lohmeyer,

producer Steffi Ackermann, Michael Weber and Tobias Pausinger ofThe Match Factory, and very much Georges Goldenstern andCatherine Jacques at the “Atelier de la Cinéfondation” for their sup-port.

Von Ribbeck is now working on the treatment for a thriller about ayoung manager who is mobbed and tries to discover who is behind it.“He’s lost his job, his life and woman,” she says. “It’s about control.How strong must an individual be? Personally and socially? We live ina performance-orientated society and I’m interested in what happenswhen this society, or the family in Frueher oder Spaeter, fallsapart; that threat in the everyday when the familiar comes underpressure.”

Now about that name … Yes, lovers of classical German literatureeverywhere, Ulrike von Ribbeck is related to the Herr von Ribbeck imHavelland in the poem by Theodor Fontane!

“Kids had to learn it at school,” she says, “and the name’s alwaysassociat ed with it. He was an ancestor and I get people reciting thepoem to me! It happens a great deal!”

Like all young and new directors, von Ribbeck is “optimistic about thefuture. I’d love to work in France as it inspires me, but there is also somuch talent in German film and good stories can and will be told.”

Simon Kingsley spoke with Ulrike von Ribbeck

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“When we decided to join forces in 2002, the idea was to create anopen platform rather than just establish another production com-pany,” says Stefan Tolz, one of the founding fathers along withThomas Riedelsheimer and Thomas Wartmann ofCologne/Munich-based Filmquadrat.

All three had built up quite a track record in the documentary worldbefore they took this step to pool their forces.

Thomas Riedelsheimer, who studied at the Academy of Television &Film (HFF/M) in Munich, worked after graduation as a freelanceauthor, director, cameraman and producer, with an increasing focus onfeature-length documentaries for cinema release. His most well-known work was Rivers and Tides – Andy Goldsworthy Working with

Time which was produced by Berlin-based Mediopolis with Scotland’sSkyline Productions and was shown in cinemas all over the world,taking $2.5 million at the US box office.

Filmquadrat was founded in 2002 by a trio of experienced inde-pendent filmmakers – Thomas Riedelsheimer, Thomas

Wartmann and Stefan Tolz – with the aim of creating a com-pany within which they could be mutually supportive in the making oftheir films. Working according to this principle, Filmquadrat has de ve -lope d into one of the leading German production houses for creativedocumentaries with production offices in Munich and Cologne and anetwork of international contacts. The company’s output has rangedfrom work by the three founders to third party projects, includingBeyond Horizon – The Niger Delta (dirs: Thomas Riedels -heimer, Thomas Wartmann, doc series, 2003), Shomal – Riviera

of the Mullahs (dir: Stefan Tolz, TV doc, 2003), Arjeplog – Ice

and High Tech in Lapland (dir: Claudia Seifert, TV doc, 2004),Touch the Sound – A Sound Journey with Evelyn

Glennie (dir: Thomas Riedelsheimer, 2004), Adobe Towns (dirs:Stefan Tolz, Thomas Wartmann, doc series, 2004), Living

Heritage – Beyond Samarkand (dirs: Lisa Eder, ThomasWartmann, doc series, 2005), Neither Heaven Nor Hell –

Cuba (dir: Arnim Stauth, TV, 2005), The Dubai Experiment

(dir: Arnim Stauth, TV, 2005), The Search for Happiness (dir:Annette Dittert, doc series, 2005), Between the Lines – India’s

Third Gender (dir: Thomas Wartmann, 2005), Living

Heritage – The Andean Healer (dirs: Richard Ladkani,Thomas Wartmann, doc series, 2006), Living Heritage – Days

of the Dead (dirs: Joanna Michna, Thomas Wartmann, doc series,2006), Nomads (dirs: Bettina Haasen, Thomas Wartmann, docseries, 2006), and Traders’ Dreams (dirs: Stefan Tolz, MarcusVetter, 2006). Filmquadrat’s productions have been shown at nume-rous international festivals and won several awards at home and a -broad. Last year, for example, Lisa Eder and Thomas Wartmann’sBeyond Samarkand received the Bavarian Television Award, Der

blaue Panther for Best Documentary and the City of Bolzano Award atthe International Mountain Film Festival in Trento, while AnnetteDittert’s The Search for Happiness won two Adolf Grimme

Awards and nominations for the German Camera Award and theInternational Emmy Awards. In addition, Thomas Wartmann’sBetween the Lines – India’s Third Gender won, amongother things, the Vision School Award at the Ophuels Festival inSaarbruecken, the Audience Award at Turin’s Gay & Lesbian FilmFestival and prizes in all categories at River to River in Florence.Previous to this, Thomas Riedelsheimer’s Touch the Sound wasawarded the main prize of the Critics Week at Locarno in 2004, theLeipzig Documentary Film Festival’s Golden Dove for Best Film, and anomination for the 2004 European Film Awards in the category ofEuropean Documentary of the Year as well as receiving a BAFTA

Award Scotland, the German Film Award ’s Lola for Best Sound Designand the 2006 One World Film Festival’s prize for Best Sound.

Contact: Filmquadrat

Viktoriastrasse 34 · 80803 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-38 32 98 20 · fax +49-89-38 32 98 21

Goltsteinstrasse 28-30 · 50968 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-80 04 71 30 · fax +49-2 21-80 04 71 25 email: [email protected] · www.filmquadrat.de

PLATFORM FOR DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERSA portrait of Filmquadrat

P R O D U C E R S ’ P O RTRAITT

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Similarly, Stefan Tolz was a graduate of Munich’s HFF/M, but had alsostudied at the Georgian Institute for Theater in Tbilisi, with short-term stays at the film department of New York University and at theBeijing Film Academy. He then worked, since 1993, as a freelancefilmmaker and producer for various public broadcasters and pro -ductions for theatrical release, with his multi-award-winning featuredocumentary On the Edge of Time becoming a ’must-see for cinemalovers’ around the globe.

Thomas Wartmann, on the other hand, had studied Journalism inMunich and later Directing at the American Film Institute in LosAngeles. After working on several productions as an assistant direc-tor, he traveled throughout Asia, Africa and South America as ajourna list for leading magazines before focusing on the directing ofmore than 25 documentaries since 1994.

OPEN PLAN

“We had been making our films independently with individual com-panies and came to the realization that it would be better to have amutually supportive infrastructure which would also take care of thefilms once the production was completed,” Tolz recalls. “The ideafrom the outset was that the company should not just be for us, butshould be open for other filmmakers as well so that they could havea chance of participating in the value chain of their productions.”

Hence, the name Filmquadrat and the fact that there were only threepartners in the company: the fourth corner in the square was to bekept open for others.

Among the filmmakers welcomed into the Filmquadrat fold wereClaudia Seifert (Arjeplog – Ice and High Tech in Lapland),Lisa Eder (co-director with Thomas Wartmann on Living

Heritage – Beyond Samarkand), Bettina Haasen (Shadows

of the Desert), Arnim Stauth (The Dubai Experiment),Annette Dittert (The Search for Happiness) as well as RichardLadkani (co-director with Thomas Wartmann on Living Heritage

– The Andean Healer) and Marcus Vetter (co-director onTraders’ Dreams).

As Tolz explains, the focus of Filmquadrat’s output in the past fiveyears has been on feature-length documentaries for theatrical release– such as Touch the Sound and Traders’ Dreams – and docu-mentary series whose subject matter is usually set abroad out side ofGermany. “We don’t make reportages, historical documentaries orjournalistic reports,” he notes. “We come from cinema and thus wantour productions to be visually of a high quality.”

As the titles of Filmquadrat’s productions show – e.g. Beyond

Horizon – The Niger Delta, Shomal – Riviera of the

Mullahs, or Living Heritage – Beyond Samarkand – theoutput addresses international issues and is mainly shot in countriesoutside of Germany. One of the reasons for this international dimen-sion is, Stefan Tolz argues, the fact that he and Thomas Wartmann,for example, spent some time studying abroad and so became fa miliarwith foreign cultures.

But there are exceptions with films where the story is based inGermany. Thomas Riedelsheimer’s latest theatrical documentary, forexample, Das rote Sofa (working title) is being made in co -operation with a children’s cancer unit in Munich and addresses thequestion of how children who are threatened by deadly diseases like

leukemia cope with the issues of life and death. Shooting has nowreach ed halfway through and been mainly done in Munich, with thefinancing partly coming from the German Film Award prize-money.Moreover, Stefan Tolz and Marcus Vetter have been looking at thephenomenon of the online auction house Ebay in Germany inTraders’ Dreams which will be released theatrically by PifflMedien later this year.

MAKING CONTACTS

“As a company, we enjoy a special situation in Germany,” Tolz con -tinues. “There are few people in our age group with similar filmswork ing the way we do, and it is a very small segment.” Moreover, heis optimistic about the situation of documentary production inGermany at the moment: “The possibilities have become more variedand there are many program slots available. The fact is that everythinghas become more and more diversified, and the contacts you haveare increasingly important.”

Since founding Filmquadrat, the filmmaker trio has been keen to de -velop and extend their international network of contacts. “There areall different kinds of ways of making international contacts: it can beat the film academies where we are teaching, or when we sit on juries,or at film festivals when you have a film invited. We have also beenrecommended to people by the commissioning editors at SWR, andthe German-French “Rendez-vous” in Cologne and Munich was help -ful.”

“At the documentary film festival in Leipzig, for example, we had anopportunity to meet Canadian and Chinese producers to talk aboutprojects and the pitching sessions there are in a more family atmos-phere than at the Documentary FORUM in Amsterdam.”

FESTIVAL SUCCESSES

In its first five years, Filmquadrat has seen many of its productionsinvited to international festivals and picked up for theatrical release orTV airing by foreign distributors or broadcasters.

Thomas Riedelsheimer’s Touch the Sound was awarded the mainprize of the Critics’ Week after premiering at the LocarnoInternational Film Festival in August 2004 and then went on to pick upthe Golden Dove for Best Film in Leipzig and a nomination for the 2004European Film Award in the category of European Documentary of theYear (Riedelsheimer was a member of the jury for the European

Documentary Award for last year’s European Film Awards presented inWarsaw in December). Touch the Sound also received a BAFTA

Award Scotland, a Lola for Best Sound Design and the 2006 OneWorld Film Festival’s prize for Best Sound.

Meanwhile, Thomas Wartmann’s Between the Lines – India’s

Third Gender has been to over 20 festivals, winning such com-mendations as the Vision School Award at the Ophuels Festival inSaarbruecken and the Audience Award at Turin’s Gay & Lesbian FilmFestival. The film was on the German Film Academy’s shortlist thisyear in the German Film Awards’ categories for Best Sound and BestEditing.

Moreover, Annette Dittert’s The Search for Happiness wassold to the UK’s BBC and Russia’s Channel One, won two Adolf

Grimme Awards and received nominations for the German Camera

Prize and the International Emmy Awards.Martin Blaney

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It was as if German actress Nina Hoss had been struck by lightning:for a few seconds she couldn’t believe that her name – and notMarianne Faithfull’s – had been called out at this year’s Berlinaleawards ceremony to receive the Silver Bear for Best Actress for herperformance as Yella in Christian Petzold’s film of the same name.

But anyone familiar with the 31-year-old’s resume would know thatthe award was totally justified and recognition for a talent with muchmore to show in the future.

In many respects, it is not that surprising that Nina Hoss should have

decided to follow the career of an actress: after all, her motherHeidemarie Rohwedder appeared on the stage and was the formerdirector of the Wuerttembergische Landesbuehne. Nina’s firstcontact with the world of thespians came at the tender age of sevenwhen she started acting in radio plays. “Some people came from theradio station to my school and held a casting session,” she recalls.“I was chosen, but I didn’t do it on a large scale. However, I liked beingon stage and took piano and singing lessons and so on. Acting wasalways my passion, and then I started appearing on the stage, withthe first production Ich liebe Dich, ich liebe Dich nicht by WendyKesselmann.”

ACTR E S S ’ P O RTRAIT

Born in Stuttgart in 1975, Nina Hoss received her training at therenowned Hochschule fuer Schauspielkunst “Ernst Busch” and ongraduating became a member of the company at Berlin’s DeutschesTheater for two years in 1998. Since then, she has often returned asa guest to appear there in productions by such directors as ThomasOstermeier, Einar Schleef and Amelie Niermeyer. She could be seenin Michael Thalheimer’s stagings of Lessing’s Emilia Galotti andHauptmann’s Einsame Menschen and appeared as Helena in his pro-duction of Goethe’s Faust. Der Tragoedie Zweiter Teil. After playing thetitle role of Minna von Barnhelm for Amelie Niermeyer, Nina was castby Barbara Frey in her version as the maid Franziska opposite MartinaGedeck and Ulrich Matthes. Moreover, she appeared in the SalzburgFestspiele production of Jedermann along with this year’s “ShootingStar” Maximilian Brueckner. In March of this year, she received theGertrud Eysoldt Ring, one of the most respected acting awards in the

German speaking area, for her interpretation of Eurypides’ Medea inFrey’s staging at the Deutsches Theater. Nina became known to awider audience both through her work with Luc Bondy and RobertWilson at the Berliner Ensemble as well as through her roles for TVand cinema. The lead part in Bernd Eichinger’s TV remake A Girl

Called Rosemarie (Das Maedchen Rosemarie) in 1996marked her breakthrough, winning her the Golden Camera of theHÖRZU listings magazine, the German Video Prize, and the Golden Lion.She has since worked with such film directors as Detlev Buck,Ottokar Runze, Doris Doerrie and with Christian Petzold on threeoccasions. At the 1999 Montreal Film Festival, Nina received the Best

Actress prize for her performance in Der Vulkan and an Adolf

Grimme Award for Petzold’s Something to Remind Me (Toter

Mann) in 2003. Two years later, she picked up her second Grimme

trophy for the second collaboration with Petzold on Wolfsburg.She took the lead in Hermine Huntgeburth’s The White Masai

(Die weisse Massai) which was based on Corinne Hofmann’sinternational bestseller and had its world premiere at the 2005Toronto International Film Festival, bringing her a Bavarian Film Award

for Best Actress in January 2006. Her title role in Christian Petzold’slatest film Yella won her a Silver Bear for Best Actress at this year’sBerlinale in February. A selection of her other films includes: And

Nobody Weeps For Me (Und keiner weint mir nach, dir:Joseph Vilsmaier, 1995), Love Your Neighbor (Liebe Deine

Naechste, dir: Detlev Buck, 1997), Fire Rider (Feuerreiter,dir: Nina Grosse, 1997), Die Geiseln von Costa Rica (dir: UweJanson, TV, 1999), “Naked” (Nackt, dir: Doris Doerrie, 2001),Epstein’s Night (Epsteins Nacht, dir: Urs Egger, 2001),Bloch – Schwestern (dir: Edward Berger, TV, 2003), Living

with Hannah (Leben mit Hannah, dir: Erica von Moeller,2005), Elementary Particles (Elementarteilchen, dir:Oskar Roehler, 2005), The Heart is a Dark Forest (Das

Herz ist ein dunkler Wald, dir: Nicolette Krebitz, 2007), Die

Frau des Anarchisten (co-dirs: Marie Noelle and Peter Sehr,2007), and Anonyma (dir: Max Faerberboeck, 2007).

Contact: Players Agentur Management GmbH

Sophienstrasse 21 · 10178 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-2 85 16 80 · fax +49-30-2 85 16 86 email: [email protected] · www.players.de

A PASSION FOR ACTING A portrait of Nina Hoss

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“At the time, I set myself a personal test: if it all goes well, then that’swhat I will do, that will be my profession,” Nina says. “Fortunately, itwent really well and so I continued acting and singing until I decidedduring high-school to start applying for a place at one of the dramaschools.”

Hoss was accepted by the famous Hochschule fuer Schauspielkunst“Ernst Busch” – where she studied at the same time as Yella co-starDevid Striesow – and praises the “very good personal training and thefact that I had a voice coach who was specially working with merath er than doing this in a group. The studies were predominantlygeared to acting on the stage, and film really only became aware ofme by chance.”

“The teaching approach was a bit like Stella Adler,” Nina explains.“You learn from out of a situation and put yourself into a character.You aim to preserve an openess about the relationship of the charac-ter to the space he or she is in and to the other figures.”

The first brush with cinema came before Nina had even made themove from her home town of Stuttgart to Berlin to start her studiesat “Ernst Busch”: Joseph Vilsmaier was looking for a lead actress forhis next feature And Nobody Weeps For Me and was given hername by an acting friend. Nina was in her final year at school, butVilsmaier liked what he saw and cast her shortly before the film wentbefore the camera.

Her performance in Vilsmaier’s film was subsequently seen by produ-cer Bernd Eichinger who was preparing his directorial debut with aremake of A Girl Called Rosemarie as part of SAT.1’s “GermanClassics”. Screen tests were made – just a month into her studies atacting school – and the rest is, as they say, history.

Nina’s lead role as Rosemarie catapulted into the headlines and sub-sequently the hearts of audiences in cinemas and theater alike, win-ning the Golden Camera of the HÖRZU listings magazine, the German

Video Prize, and the Golden Lion for her performance. But despitemany tempting offers for film and TV work, she resolutely stayed onthe course at “Ernst Busch” to complete her studies. “I wanted to beon the stage and also enjoy being a student, something you don’talways have a chance to do,” Nina says.

As her subsequent career shows, she has been able to combine work -ing for theater and film: “I am not afraid of the stage,” she explains. “Iwas helped by the fact that I come from a theater family and had goodadvisors and an agent to support me.”

On her graduation from drama school, she became a member of thecompany at Berlin’s Deutsches Theater on the invitation of ThomasLanghoff where she stayed for two years before trying her luck withfreelance status (she has become a permanent member of the com-pany again since 2005). Nevertheless, she often returned as a guest toappear at the Deutsches Theater in productions by such directors asMichael Thalheimer (Emilia Galotti, Einsame Menschen) or BarbaraFrey (Minna von Barnhelm). In March of this year, she received theGertrud Eysoldt Ring, one of the most respected acting awards in theGerman speaking area, for her interpretation of Eurypides’ Medea inFrey’s production.

“I have also been able to coordinate my theater engagements withroles for the cinema projects,” Nina observes. “The theater is like ahome away from home for me because it gives me a continuity towork with interesting people again and again. The combination of

stage and cinema is good for me – I would really miss it if one of themwas gone because I find that my work in films is something I can usefor my roles on the stage.”

Her regular collaborations with certain theater directors is reflectedin her work for the cinema with the now long-standing workingpartner ship with Christian Petzold: she first worked with him onSomething to Remind Me in 2001 and followed this a year laterwith Wolfsburg, both performances winning her one of the covet -ed Adolf Grimme Awards, and was then cast in the title role ofPetzold’s 2007 Berlinale competition film Yella.

“Christian has a similar approach to me: he revolves around the storyand the figure and gives me such a freedom,” Nina explains. “I like theway that he talks about the plot and the characters – he never be -comes concrete. I don’t like it when a director tells you in detail howyou should play a scene. A good director should give you space andtheir confidence in your ability. The work with Christian is all aboutgive and take.”

“When I am making a decision about which role to accept, I look tosee if I feel the story is coherent and the figure is interesting for me,”Nina continues. “And I also think about the other people involved inthe project. In fact, there are so many different factors that lead to thisdecision.”

Nina Hoss has often been said to have almost magical qualities in theway she can slip from one character into another, but she finds it hardto identify that one film role which was a particular challenge. “Everyfilm and character is a challenge in its own way. I always have the feel -ing that each role brings you a little further and that it is an ongoingprocess,” she suggests. In her theater work, though, she has no pro-blem naming the role which was a real challenge for her as an actress:the award-winning performance as Medea.

Winning the Silver Bear in February is sure to have put Nina’s name onto the radar of many international producers who were perhaps notso aware of her work, although she did become known to a widerinternational audience after the Toronto premiere of HermineHuntgeburth’s The White Masai in 2005.

With genuine modesty, the young actress says that she doesn’t wantto get too caught up in the excitement generated at the Berlinale andprefers to let things take their course. While she is “very satisfied”with what is now possible in German cinema and the success of thefilms on an international level, Nina wouldn’t be averse to taking onroles in international productions.

A start will be made this month [May] with Marie Noelle and PeterSehr’s German-French-Spanish co-production Die Frau des

Anarchisten where she will be required to speak her lines inFrench, playing opposite such internationally respected colleagues asLaura Morante and Jean-Marc Barr. Then, in June, she will follow thiswith the lead role in Max Faerberboeck’s Anonyma, to be shot inBerlin and in St. Petersburg, with Russian actors. “I think it is enrichingfor me to act in another language because you get to becomeacquainted with other cultures, languages and people,” Nina suggests.“One gets to see different ways of acting and other approaches to thecharacters, and that’s what I like about this greater openness inEuropean cinema!”

Nina Hoss spoke with Martin Blaney

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DOKVILLE 2007

From 21 - 22 June the MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg-fundeddocumentary sector meeting will take place: Dokville 2007. One ofthe event’s highlights is the Baden-Wuerttemberg Award for BestDocumentary 2007 which is awarded every second year. The awardof €20,000 is presented by the MFG and SWR for outstanding achie-vement in the field of classical documentary films for television andcinema. It is one of the highest endowed prizes for documentaries inGermany.

In 2007, 15 films are nominated – including four projects funded by theMFG: Comrades in Dreams (Uli Gaulke), Die Unzerbrechlichen (DominikWessely), Heavy Metal auf dem Lande (Andreas Geiger) and One Who

Set Forth: Wim Wenders’ Early Years (Marcel Wehn).

MFG FUNDS INTERNATIONALLY SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTIONS

MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg is the competency center for thefilm scene in the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg andhas been supporting exceptional and cultural film production in thearea since 1995 – from script development and production to distri-bution and film theater support.

One of the many successful examples of MFG Filmfoerderung’s fund -ed projects is Four Minutes by Chris Kraus. The prison drama tells thestory of two very different characters, an elderly piano teacher andthe young, talented but disturbed convict Jenny who is trained for aYoung Musicians’ competition. The movie has not only emerged as ascreen success but has also won numerous prizes at different re -nowned film festivals. So far it is being distributed in 40 countriesworld wide (e.g. Italy, France and Australia) and was nominated ineight categories for this year’s German Film Awards.

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FLORIAN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD …

Once again this year, German Films and Villa Aurora (Foundation forEuropean American Relations) in cooperation with the GermanConsulate General and the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles welcomedsome 400 guests to the traditional OSCAR reception under theCalifornia sun at the Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades in honor of thenomination for The Lives of Others.

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO …

With the support of German Films, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern andMedienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, over 200 guests got together fora “viewing party” of this year’s OSCAR awards ceremony at aprivate villa in Hollywood and celebrated Florian Henckel vonDonnersmarck’s victory into the early morning hours.

The Lives of Others (US distributor: Sony Pictures Classics) got off toa great start in the US and can already claim the second largest boxoffice take for a German-language film in the US.

AWARDS FOR GERMAN SHORT FILMS IN TAMPERE, ASPEN AND MAR DEL PLATA

At recent festivals, German short films have garnered some majorawards: At the Tampere International Short Film Festival (7-11 March2007) Michaela Kezele’s short Milan was the first German film to winthe Grand Prix. Fair Trade by Michael Dreher received the Best Drama

award at the Aspen Shortsfest (3-8 April 2007).

Both awards qualified the films for entry at the 2008 Academy Awards

in the Short Film-Live Action category. At Aspen, Fair Trade also wonthe Youth Jury Prize, and Motodrom by Joerg Wagner received theaward for Best Cinematography. And at the Mar del Plata Film Festival(8-18 March 2007), the ACCA Jury (Asociación Cronistas Cine -matográficos de la Argentina) chose the short dark comedy Wigald byTimon Modersohn as Best Foreign Short Film.

GERMAN SHORT DOCUMENTARIESIN ECQUADOR AND MEXICO

In April 2007, the fourth edition of Ambulart – Festival of Visual Arts,a non-commercial, trilateral event was organized in Ecuador.Ambulart is a traveling festival founded in 2004 by German and LatinAmerican students from the Academy of Visual Arts Hamburg. Its aimis to stimulate cultural exchange between European and LatinAmerican countries, thereby improving cultural understanding.

The German Short Film Association (AG Kurzfilm) pre-sented a selection of outstanding German short documentaries at thefestival: Motodrom by Joerg Wagner, Cousins (Cousin Cousine) by MariaMohr, Hallelujah! by Jochen Hick, Through Red Wine (Durch Rotwein

durch) by Dagie Brundert, Cigaretta mon Amour – Portrait of My Father

by Hannah Ziegler, Benidorm by Carolin Schmitz, female/male byDaniel Lang, and Fresh Air Matchcut (Frischluft Matchcut) by Stephan-Flint Mueller. Director Maria Mohr was on hand to present the pro-gram and conducted a one-week workshop for Ecuadorian film -makers. Festival venues were the cinema Ocho y Medio in Quito andthe MAAC Cine in Guayaquil. In September 2007, Ambulart will be aguest of the Museo de Artes in Guadalajara/Mexico. The festival’sprogram can also be seen in Hamburg from 10-11 November 2007.

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GERMAN PREMIERES IN NEW YORK

Great start into the new year: in January, German Films started off itsnew “Premiere” year presenting the national box office hit Grave

Decisions (Wer frueher stirbt ist laenger tot) by Marcus H. Rosenmuellerin the presence of the director, the producer Andreas Richter (RoxyFilm) and world sales agent Dirk Schuerhoff (Beta Cinema).

In March, Ulrike Ottinger arrived in New York with her latest filmPrater, which had its world premiere during the Berlinale. Ottinger wasaccompanied by Ida Martins (Media Luna Entertainment) who is hand-ling the film’s international sales. In April, the documentary The Big

Sellout by Florian Opitz was also screened to buyer’s in New York, justbefore it was shown in competition at Nyon. Director Opitz andworld sales agent Thorsten Schaumann (Bavaria Film International)were on hand for the screening in New York.

GERMAN SHORT FILM AWARD 2006 ON TOUR

The best short films from 2006 will be touring German communalcinemas until October 2007. Two programs (Grenzen and Suechte) willbe presenting the German Short Film Award nominated and winningfilms and the winners of the German Federal Film Board’s Short Tiger

Award. For the first time in 2006, both prizes were awarded during ajoint ceremony. The tour not only proves that the short film formbrings forth great talent, but also that the short film genre is an experi -mental field for technical and aesthetic innovation. At the same time,the tour mirrors the creative diversity of current topics that Germanshort films are dealing with today. And Germany’s communal cinemasare particularly active in supporting and promoting short films – thisyear’s tour marking the eighth time that such an event has beenorganiz ed. Tour dates and further information are available atwww.kommunale-kinos.de and www.kurzfilmpreisunterwegs.org.

The Grenzen program will be presenting: The Ballad Battle by DirkHendler, Motodrom by Joerg Wagner, Eine einfache Liebe by Maike MiaHoehne, Kein Platz fuer Gerold (Short Tiger Award 2006) by DanielNocke, Dog by Daniel Lang, Fair Trade (German Short Film Award 2006)by Michael Dreher, and Hattenhorst (Short Tiger 2006) by Ove Sander.The Suechte program will screen: Ralf Stadler’s Zigarettenpause

(German Short Film Award 2006), Hanna Nordholt and FritzSteingrobe’s Drei Grazien, Hanna Doose’s Gut moeglich, dass ich fliegen

kann, and Carolin Schmitz’ documentary Benidorm.

A JOINT EFFORT FOR FILM

The new joint Filmfoerderung Hamburg Schleswig-

Holstein is due to commence operating from Hamburg as of thisJune. The merge entails the examination of the combined economicspace. Thus the regional effects cease to be split up within the fundingsection, while the film commission sees a substantial increase inattracti ve shooting locations. “Both federal states will profit from thisfusion. In future we can operate more generously and are in a posi tionto promote both locations and their respective advantages together,”says Eva Hubert, executive director of FilmFoerderung

Hamburg. Besides the fusion of the film funding institutions ofHamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, the mutual interstate media treatyalso regulates the joining together of both respective regional mediaauthorities. The new MAHSH has already begun its work and will beseated in Norderstedt.

SHORT FILM LOUNGE IN CANNES

After the huge success last year, the German Short Film

Association (AG Kurzfilm) resumes its activities in Cannes. Asthe major event, AG Kurzfilm, the BMW Group and German Films

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will hold a reception to create a meeting point for the short film scenein Cannes. On May 19th at 6pm, industry professionals and film -makers are invited to a Short Film Lounge on the boat El Bravo.Additionally, with the support of German Films, international buyersand festivals once again have the opportunity to access German shortfilms in the Short Film Corner. This year’s selection includes some ofthe most recent German short film productions: the short fictionsDuel in Griesbach (Duell in Griesbach) by Olaf Held and Moonman

(Mondmann) by Fritz Boehm, as well as the short documentaryChainsaw Woodcarver (Der Holzmenschbauer) by Katrin Jaeger. To pro-vide an additional service for industry professionals, the short filmspresented in the Short Film Corner are available on the fourth volumeof the German Short Films DVD edition.

FFF BAYERN AND THE OSCAR: A DECADE’S STORY …

After having won all important German Film Awards as well as threeEuropean Film Awards, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s drama The

Lives of Others finally achieved the ultimate success in the film busi -ness: In February, the FFF-funded production by Wiedemann & Berg,BR, ARTE and creado film won the OSCAR as “Best Foreign LanguageFilm”. The OSCAR-nomination for a supported film has become apleasant routine for FFF Bayern: This year’s success was the 15thnomination since the Bavarian film fund’s foundation in 1996. In 1997,Caroline Link first entered OSCAR territory with her debut featureBeyond Silence.

In 2001 Florian Gallenberger’s Quiero Ser won an OSCAR for Best ShortFilm, and Steffen Schaeffler’s The Periwig Maker received a nominationfor Best Animated Short. Two years later, two FFF-supported filmswon Academy Awards: Nowhere in Africa by Caroline Link and The

Pianist by Roman Polanski, which won three OSCARS and had fourfurther nominations. In 2005, Luigi Falorni and Byambasuren Davaawere short-listed for their documentary The Story of the Weeping

Camel, accompanied by Oliver Hirschbiegel for The Downfall as BestForeign Language Film. Marc Rothemund followed the year after:Sophie Scholl – The Last Days was nominated in 2006.

GERMAN SHORT FILMS IN ABU DHABI

From 7 – 13 March 2007, the Cultural Foundation of Abu Dhabi/United Arab Emirates organized the 6th edition of the Emirates FilmCompetition. Last year, the competition for filmmakers from Arabcountries was complemented by a non-competitive section for inter-national short films.

This year’s topic, Road Cinema, dealt not only with the classic per-ception of “the road”, but also with its philosophical, social and pro-fessional dimension, i.e. changes in life and the crossing of real or ima-gined borders. 18 German short films were screened at the festival,including Stay Like This (Einfach so bleiben) by Sven Taddicken, Subway

Score by Alexander Isert, and The Raft (Das Floss) by Jan Thuering.

FILMSTIFTUNG NRW’S INTERNATIONALFILM CONGRESS: “LIMITLESS” IN COLOGNE

Where does it work well, and where are there still problems withinternational co-productions? This is just one of the topics to be dis-cussed during the Filmstiftung NRW’s International Film Congress

from 16 – 19 June 2007. Under the motto “Limitless”, the NorthRhine Westphalia-based film funder invites the international film indu-stry to the Cologne Exhibition for the Medienforum NRW to examinethe possibilities of transnational cooperation and the current situationof European films in the individual neighboring countries. In additionto the top-class panels, which will also present the new GermanFederal Film Fund, the event will serve as the German premiere-ground and preview forum for NRW-funded films and offer a co-pro-duction meeting, organized this year in cooperation with ACE.More information about the International Film Congress is availableon the Filmstiftung’s website www.filmstiftung.de or [email protected].


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GERMANY’S INDUSTRY TIGERS 2007

Germany’s most successful producers and distri-butors of German films were awarded a total

of €18.5 million in March during theGerman Federal Film Board’s FFA

Branchentiger 2007 get-together. Thedeciding factors for the prize moneyare the number of tickets sold andawards received. The most successfulproducers at national and internatio-nal film festivals in 2006 were Berlin-based Razor Film Produktion, whose

film Paradise Now won a Golden Globe

among other honors, and Wiedemann &Berg Filmproduktion, whose production

The Lives of Others began its victory march in2006 with the German Film Award in Gold and

the European Film Award.

For the third year in a row, Constantin Film Produktion andConstantin Film Verleih took home the Golden Branchentiger in bothcategories: production and distribution. The Munich-based company(whose hits include Perfume – The Story of a Murderer, Elementary

Particles, Hui Buh – The Goofy Ghost, and The Robber Hotzenplotz,among others) received €3.4 million in support funds for new featureprojects. In the field of production, the other Branchentigers wereSamFilm (The Wild Soccer Bunch 1 – 3) with €1.3 million andZipfelmuetzen Film (7 Dwarves – The Wood is Not Enough). The distri-bution Tigers were X Verleih AG (Summer in Berlin, Into Great Silence,Requiem) with €424,594 in funding and Buena Vista InternationalGermany (The Lives of Others and The Wild Soccer Bunch 3, amongothers) with €284,147.

The reference funding is based on the legal claims that producers anddistributors are entitled to as laid down in the Federal Funding Law(FFG). The FFG makes it possible for companies to receive financialsupport based on the audience and festival success of their films andprovides funds for the production and distribution of new projects.The funding is available without any obligations to location or to tele-vision broadcasters and can be used without having to receive projectapproval from a funding committee.

GERMAN FEDERAL FILM FUND IN THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Since the beginning of 2007, the German film industry has a new fun-ding model that can hold up competitively in the European context.On the initiative of State Minister for Culture Bernd Neumann, theGerman federal government is putting up €180 million over the nextthree years for the German Federal Film Fund in order topromote Germany as a film location.

To find out more about the new fund since its introduction in January2007, just go to www.ffa.de/dfff for a pool of information about theinnovative fund ing model. The website provides an up-to-date pro-duction list of projects which have received this support with com-plete crew and content information and a project status report.Answers to detailed questions can be found in the BKM Guidelines,which are available for download, as is the application form. And ofcourse, the FAQs offer a quick alternative to some of most commoninquiries into the fund. All information is available in both English andFrench.

FIRST MOONSTONE FILMMAKERS’ LAB IN THURINGIA

This year the international training initiative Moonstone Internationalis celebrating its 10th anniversary. Established in 1997 in Edinburgh incooperation with Robert Redford and the Sundance Institute,Moonstone has organized numerous Screenwriters’ and Filmmakers’Labs which have been instrumental in bringing forth internationallysuccessful films. Two years ago, Moonstone opened an office inLeipzig to serve as the contact central for writers and filmmakers fromGerman-speaking as well as Eastern and Central European countries.And Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung has been supportiveof Moonstone East from the outset: after four Screenwriters’ Labs inCentral Germany, a first Filmmakers’ Lab took place from 13 – 28April 2007 in Thuringia. Eight young directors were able to gain film -making experience with a complete crew and with renowneddirectors such as John Irvin, Robert Pejo and Srdan Golubovic as ad -visors. Other Moonstone Lab supporters include the EU MEDIA pro-gram and the German Federal Film Board.


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For the first time, German Films and the German Short FilmAssociation are partners of MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, theAnimations Department of the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttembergand the Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart in holding the GermanReception at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Thefestival in Annecy and the accompanying film market MIFA are the big-gest business venues for animated film worldwide. The reception isscheduled for 12 June 2007 at the hotel Le Clos Marcel. Among theshort films competing for the Annecy Cristal this year are four Germanshorts: Bernd und sein Leben by Ingo Schiller and Stephan-Flint Mueller,Bildfenster/Fensterbilder by Bert Gottschalk, Canary Beat by JuergenHaas, and Der Kloane (The Runt) by Andreas Hykade.


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Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre DramaProduction Company corazón international/Hamburg, in co-production with NDR/Hamburg With backing from

Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), German Federal Film Fund (DFFF),FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Nordmedia, Kuratorium junger deutscherFilm Producers Fatih Akin, Klaus Maeck Director OezguerYildirim Screenplay Oezguer Yildirim Director of Photog -

raphy Matthias Bolliger Editor Sebastian Thuemler Production

Design Iris Trescher Principal Cast Denis Moschitto, MoritzBleibtreu, Volkan Oezcan, Fahri Oguen Yardim, Reyhan SahinCasting Nurhan Sekerci Special Effects Norbert SkodockFormat 16 mm, color, blow-up to 35 mm, 1:1.85, Dolby DigitalShooting Language German Shooting in Hamburg, Hanover,February – April 2007 German Distributor Falcom MediaGroup/Berlin

Contact

corazón international GmbH & Co KG

Ann-Kristin Demuth

Ditmar-Koel-Strasse 26 · 20459 Hamburg/Germany

phone +49-40-3 11 82 38 34 · fax +49-40-3 11 82 38 21

email: [email protected] · www.corazon-int.de

Marking the feature directorial debut of Oezguer Yildirim,Chiko is as hard and gnarly as any film about a Turkish wannabe drugboss can be.

Throwing instead of pulling its punches, this is the story of Isa (as he’sactually named, but who finds the nickname Chiko much cooler) whogrows up in a Hamburg suburb. It might be one of the world’s richestcities but every beast has its belly and here, in the very underbelly,Chiko lives in a world where violence, staking and keeping a claim, anddrug taking are the norm. Where down is not an option, Chiko isdetermined to rise to the top, whatever and whomever it costs.Regardless of time and circumstances, he wants immediate and un -limited respect. And with the means justifying his ends, for Chikoevery means is justified.

Yildirim, who also wrote the script, was born in 1979 in Hamburg andhad a novel (Graue Naechte, translation: “Grey Nights”) publishedwhen he was just fourteen. After graduating high school and complet -ing his non-military service, he entered the University for Theater,

Musical Theater and Film, today known as the Hamburg Media School,and graduated as a director in 2004.

He has already made a number of shorts, including the 2002 Der

noeti ge Schneid, which was nominated for the Short Tiger Award at theFilmfest Munich, an award he was to carry away two years later withAlim Market. This latter film was also nominated for the First Steps

Award 2004 and the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award for Best Film.

Chiko is played by Denis Moschitto, last seen on the big screen inthe comedy Kebab Connection in which he played the young hero, Ibo,trying to win back his pregnant girlfriend Titzi by persuading her he canindeed be a good father. As wonderful and charming as he was in thatfilm, think of Chiko as the flipside of the coin and if any young actorcan carry it off, it’s Moschitto.

Moritz Bleibtreu (Elementary Particles) plays Brownie, the local bigman, who eventually forces Chiko to question where his loyalties andfuture lie: it is a question of life and death.

Production company corazón international was founded in2003 by Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel and Klaus Maeck. Theirfilms include Akin’s Head-On, which won, among many others, theGolden Bear in Berlin in 2004, Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of

Istanbul, which screened Out of Competition in Cannes in 2005, andmost recently Auf der anderen Seite, screening this year In Competition

in Cannes.

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Type of Project Action/Adventure, Drama Production

Company 2 Pilots Filmproduction/Cologne With backing

from éQuinoxe, BKM, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), FilmstiftungNRW, MEDIA Plus Producers Harry Floeter, Joerg SiepmannDirector Tom Schreiber Screenplay Oliver Keidel Director of

Photography Olaf Hirschberg Editor Andreas WodraschkeProduction Design Alex Scherer Principal Cast August Diehl Casting Anja Dihrberg Special Effects Flash Art Format 35mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting Language SpanishShooting in Cali/Colombia, North-Rhine Westphalia, May – June2007 German Distributor ZORRO Filmverleih/Munich

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TELEPOOL GmbH · Wolfram Skowronnek

Sonnenstrasse 21 · 80331 Munich/Germany

phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29

email: [email protected] · www.telepool.de

It’s a common complaint: there are not enough good scripts. Thatdoesn’t stop films getting made, of course. And a good script canalways be killed by the wrong director, miscasting, bad camerawork,poor editing, etc. But start with a good script and you have as solid afoundation as possible. With Dr. Alemán, Oliver Keidel wonthe German Script Award 2006.

Dr. Alemán is the story of Marc, a 26-year-old German medicalstudent, who decides to spend his year of on-the-job training inColombia. What starts off as an adventure very quickly develops intoa fight between life and death – and death is an ever-present threatthat is not confined just to the hospital.

Referencing such films as City of God, Blow, Traffic and The Beach, Dr.

Alemán is, says Keidel, “an emotional film about a young mansearch ing for adventure. It’s about the collision of two cultures inextreme form, a man from cosy Germany in the hardest region ofSouth America, in a city with the highest murder rate.”

Director Tom Schreiber was “fascinated by Marc’s story becauseit tells what it’s like to be lost in a foreign world. It tells of the hopeof understanding the foreign reality, of the desperate attempt toadapt to foreign places and integrate into foreign societies, and of thefact, that despite all efforts, you always remain an outsider.”

In fact, Dr. Alemán originated when Schreiber described to Keidelthe true story of a friend of his, a German anaesthetist, who spent ayear doing on-the-job medical training in Cali.

With a mixture of professionals and non-actors, Dr. Alemán pro-mises to deliver another show stopping performance from August

Diehl. German Film Award, Best Actor, 1999; European “ShootingStar”, Berlinale 2000; German Film Critic’s Award for Best Actor (forWas nuetzt die Liebe in Gedanken) 2005, Diehl brings a depth to hisperformances that few actors his age can.

Says Diehl, “Dr. Alemán describes via its story, and especially via itsmain character, what it’s like to make a decision based on the need tolook for danger. The need to look for oneself in something strangeand foreign, as it were.”

Dr. Alemán will not be an easy journey, and there is no guaran teeof arriving safely, but it promises to be an exciting ride!

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Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Tragicomedy,Phantasmagoria Production Company wtp international/Munich Producers Patricia Koch, Marina Anna Eich, Roland ReberDirector Roland Reber Screenplay Roland Reber, Mira GittnerDirectors of Photography Mira Gittner, Juergen KendziorEditor Mira Gittner Music by Wolfgang Edelmayer Production

Design Martin Lippert, Christoph Baumann Principal Cast MiraGittner, Wolfgang Seidenberg, Marina Anna Eich, Sabrina Brencher,Antonio Exacoustos, Andreas Heinzel, Sven Thiemann Format DVCam, blow-up to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting

Language German Studio Location Panther Studios/Ober -haching Shooting in Munich, Landsberg/Lech, Kaufbeuren, April –May 2007

World Sales

wtp international GmbH · Marina Anna Eich

Bayerisches Filmzentrum · Bavariafilmplatz 7

82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany

phone +49-89-64 98 11 12 · fax +49-89-64 98 13 12

email: [email protected] · www.wtpfilm.de

Lest we forget, film itself is just a medium. It is the message thatcounts. Each film, and here we are talking about the finished product,whether it be viewed in a cinema, on TV or DVD, seeks to elicit anemotional response. That response can be measured in the numberof millions it takes at the box office, bags of popcorn sold, merchan-dise shifted over the counter: the film as product, if you like, the oneswith star names and the classic three-act structure.

Then there are other films, the ones that seek to elicit an emotionalresponse in the same way Philip Glass does with his music; minimalistand profound. Die Einsamkeit ist nie allein (translation:“Lonli ness is Never Alone”) is just such a film.

The man (Wolfgang Seidenberg) flees from the constantreoccuranc es of his life; from the expectations, from the respon sibilityforced upon him by a normal life. On a disused industrial estate hemeets Godot (Mira Gittner), a woman who collects rubbish, livesin an old caravan and spends her time on a paradise island, a rubberboat with inflatable palm tree, drifting along the city’s sewers, search -ing for signs of human existence.

In memories, tragic and strange phantasmagorias, the man – in this


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one night – reviews his own life. In his visions he meets the maincharact ers of his life: the wife (Marina Anna Eich), whom he hasleft, his girlfriend, his mother, his grandfather.

“The film is a phantasmagoric excursion into the depths of the soul,”explains writer-director-producer Roland Reber. “It is a revue-likeconfrontation with the forces of the conscious and subconscious. Theman’s confused thoughts,” he continues, “offer the material for amedia spectacle that excludes not a single genre of the contemporarymedia landscape, with intellectual discourses and fantas tic images,crazy and grotesque scenes that twist fairytales and satirize the politi-cal past. In partly impressively real, partly amazingly surreal images fullof comedy, the man zaps through his thoughts like through a tele -vision program.”

In 2001 Roland Reber won the Emerging Filmmaker Award at the AngelCity Hollywood Film Festival for his feature-length thriller Das

Zimmer.

wtp international dates back to 1998 and, says actress-producerMarina Anna Eich, “makes all its feature films without subsidy orbroad caster money so we are even more engaged with the projectand place the emphasis on artistic creativity. We see ourselves as aforum of innovative materials and techniques.”

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Fruehstueck mit einerUnbekanntenType of Project TV Movie Genre Romantic ComedyProduction Company Egoli Tossell Film/Berlin, in co-productionwith Cinema for Peace & Star Entertainment/Berlin With backing

from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Producers Judy Tossell,Jens Meurer, Jaka Bizilj Director Maria von Heland Screenplay

Martin Rauhaus, adapted from English original by Richard CurtisDirector of Photography Gero Steffen Editor PatriciaRommel Music by Biber Gullatz Production Design Ulrika vonVegesack Principal Cast Julia Jentsch, Jan Josef Liefers, AndreaSawatzki, Stefan Kurt, Juergen Heinrich Casting Anja DihrbergFormat S16 mm, color, 1:1.78, Dolby SR Shooting Language

German Shooting in Berlin and Heiligendamm, February – March2007

Contact

SevenOne International GmbH

Medienallee 7 · 85774 Unterfoehring/Germany

phone +49-89-95 07 23 20 · fax +49-89-95 07 23 21

email: [email protected]

www.sevenoneinternational.com

The idea for Fruehstueck mit einer Unbekannten cameduring a conversation after the awards ceremony of the Cinema forPeace gala during last year’s Berlinale.

The British screenwriter Richard Curtis, whose credits include Four

Weddings and a Funeral, Mr Bean and Bridget Jones, had just receivedan award for his BBC/HBO film The Girl in the Cafe and was talking toevent organizer Jaka Bizilj and Bob Geldof about the possibility ofmaking a German version to coincide with the G8 summit being heldin Germany in June 2007.

“Jaka very quickly got SAT.1 onboard and then approached us to bethe producers,” recalls Berlin-based producer Judy Tossell whowas reunited on this project with director Maria von Heland withwhom she made the comedy Big Girls Don’t Cry in 2001. “Jan Josef

[Liefers] was the first choice for the male lead, but we decided tomake him much younger than Bill Nighy in the original,” Tossellexplains. “Julia Jentsch was cast as ‘the girl’ [played by KellyMcDonald in the BBC version] just before Christmas, and the rest ofthe cast includes Iris Berben as the Federal Chancellor, Stefan

Kurt, Andrea Sawatzki, Joerdis Triebel and Juergen

Heinrich.”

Moreover, Tossell landed quite a coup during the shoot in February bypersuading French diva Catherine Deneuve – who is one of theleading lights of the Cinema for Peace initiative – to make a cameoappearance as a mysterious French delegate at the summit in a morn -ing shoot at the Konzerthaus at Gendarmenmarkt just hours after theCinema for Peace gala had been staged there.

But it was quite a race against time for the production, since, as withthe BBC film, the idea all along was to have the finished TV film airedin the days leading up to the G8. Thus, SAT.1 is planning to broadcastvon Heland’s film at the end of May in a primetime slot.

Adapted by Martin Rauhaus from Curtis’ original screenplay, theGerman version has Liefers as a research assistant of the FinanceMinister and shy workaholic who falls in love in a coffee shop with theunconventional Gina (played by Jentsch who was in Berlin this yearwith Jiri Menzel’s competition film I Served the King of England). Shefollows his invitation to accompany him to the G8 summit inHeiligendamm where she not only changes his life but also causesrippl es among the other bureaucrats there.

“It will be younger, sweeter and lighter, but the political side is just aspronounced as in the Curtis original. It is more of a classical romanticcomedy with a political twist,” Tossell observes. “We have made thecouple younger and the girl is more like a normal young woman thatthe audience would be able to identify with.”

Tossell points out that the project will come into its own with theDVD release of Fruehstueck mit einer Unbekannten: “It ismore than just a one-off TV film, there is so much more you can dowith background materials on the G8 and Cinema for Peace.”


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Moreover, the venture will also be benefiting some good causes:SAT.1 is donating all income from DVD, video and international salesto the UNICEF schools in Africa as well as “Deine Stimme gegenArmut”, the German branch of Richard Curtis’ “Make PovertyHistory” campaign. Furthermore, producers Egoli Tossell Film

and Cinema for Peace will be waiving any profit and all proceeds fromthe production, and Curtis has committed to donate his fee for theadaptation rights to “Make Poverty History”.

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Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama Pro -

duction Company Olga Film/Munich With backing from

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern,Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), German Federal Film Fund (DFFF)Producers Molly von Fuerstenberg, Harald Kuegler Director

Doris Doerrie Screenplay Doris Doerrie Director of Photog -

raphy Hanno Lentz Editor Inez Regnier Production Design

Bele Schneider Principal Cast Elmar Wepper, Hannelore Elsner,Nadja Uhl, Birgit Minichmayr, Felix Eitner, Maximilian Brueckner,Floriane Daniel Casting Nessie Nesslauer Format HD, blow-upto 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Shooting Language GermanShooting in Tokyo, Berlin, Baltic Sea coast, Allgaeu, March – April2007 German Distributor Majestic Filmverleih/Berlin

World Sales

Bavaria Film International

Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann

Bavariafilmplatz 8 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany

phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20


www.bavaria-film-international.com

Doris Doerrie has once more traveled around the globe to thedistant climes of Japan for her latest production Hanami afterhaving filmed there in the past for her two features Enlightenment

Guaranteed and The Fisherman and His Wife.

The €2.9 million film also marks another kind of reunion: with Molly

von Fuerstenberg and Harald Kuegler’s Munich-based pro-duction house Olga Film which had produced Doerrie’s inter -national breakthrough hit Men more than twenty years ago as well astwo other of her films, Straight Through the Heart and Money.

“We worked over the past two years with Doris on this film idea andit is naturally wonderful that we are able to work together again aftersuch a long time. The film is just right for us,” von Fuerstenberg de -clares.

“This new film can’t be seen as a continuation of the previous twofilms set in Japan,” she stresses. “There is perhaps a little connectionwith Enlightenment Guaranteed, but in fact it is really something quitedifferent.” Unlike many of her previous films, Hanami is not basedon one of Doerrie’s short stories, but is an original story this time.

Doerrie and the Olgas have put an impressive cast together for thistragicomic drama about a widower traveling from Germany to Japanin the search of the lost dreams of his late wife.

“The cast was pretty clear from the outset,” von Fuerstenberg recalls,“but we then had to re-cast one role at the last minute when MonicaBleibtreu fell ill and we were fortunately able to get Hannelore

Elsner instead.” This year’s “Shooting Star” Maximilian

Brueckner plays the widower’s son who is living in Japan, and otherroles are taken by Nadja Uhl (Summer in Berlin), Birgit

Minichmayr (Fallen) and Floriane Daniel (Winter sleepers).

“The shooting schedule was so rigid for us to start in the middle ofMarch because the global warming means that the blossoming of thecherry trees in Japan is taking place earlier than ever,” she continues.“This is an important element in the film so we couldn’t postpone thestart of shooting.”

The producers and Doerrie are also very pleased to have been ableto cast Elmar Wepper in the role of the widower: “We knew thathe is a very good actor and would be the right choice to play an older,Bavarian civil servant from the countryside,” von Fuerstenberg says.Indeed, Doerrie had worked with Wepper on her last feature The

Fisherman and His Wife and Olga Film knew him from their collabora-tion on the 2005 TV movie Mathilde liebt by Wolfram Paulus.

However, it is the first time that Doerrie will have worked with thecinematographer Hanno Lentz whose feature film credits includethe lensing of Sherry Hormann’s Guys and Balls and Jobst Oetzmann’sThe Loneliness of the Crocodiles.

“We are shooting in the HD format because it is very important forDoris and us at Olga Film to have this feeling of mobility and to be upclose to the characters,” von Fuerstenberg explains. “And you have amuch better chance of really capturing the crazy atmosphere in Tokyothan if you tried to set up a 35 mm camera there.”

After the Japanese end of the shoot, the production moved at thebeginning of April to locations in Berlin and on the Baltic Sea coastbefore wrapping in the Allgaeu region in Southern Germany at theend of April.

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Type of Project Documentary Cinema Genre Tragicomedy,Society Production Company Wasabi Film/Munich With

backing from Filmstiftung NRW, FilmFernsehFonds BayernProducers Martin Kircher, Hendrik Feil Director Ursula ScheidScreenplay Ursula Scheid Directors of Photography ArminDierolf, Petra Wallner Format HDV-C Pro, blow-up to 35 mm,color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting Language Chinese Shooting

in Beijing, Chang Chun, Gong Zhu Lin, February & May 2007

Contact

Wasabi Film GmbH & Co. KG · Hendrik Feil

Bayerisches Filmzentrum · Bavariafilmplatz 7

82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany

phone +49-89-64 98 12 00 · fax +49-89-64 98 13 00

email: [email protected] · www.wasabifilm.com

In the words of writer-director Ursula Scheid, “Im Jahr des

Hundes tells of dogs in China and about the dogs of people andabout the people of that society. Of belief and superstition, of therituals in the Year of the Dog, of dog owners and dog food, of child-ren and money, of loneliness and faith in the future. These are enter-taining stories, informative, bright and wacky, critical and sad. I comecloser to the people via the dogs, and vice versa.”

Scheid, who is no stranger to China, least of which being that she didher Master’s degree in Sino-German Relations, has known most ofher film’s protagonists for many years. “Close enough,” she says, “toshare a part of their lives, to show their everyday existence.”

Opting for an episodic structure, Im Jahr des Hundes narratesseveral stories.

There is the nouveau-riche and pregnant property dealer who has lefther dog, and a 50-year-old woman who was left by her husband andlives, together with her dog and old mother, in a dark flat. They tell ofthe problems of having children while unmarried, the high dog tax andthe prices of property.

Episode two features an artist’s family, with one child and six dogs,who have settled for life in the country. Scheid depicts their everydaylife; getting up, cooking, playing chess. The conversation ranges fromthe Year of the Dog and faith to art and money.

Northern China is the setting of the third episode where we meet an

old man, a civil servant, who was born in the Year of the Dog.Mourning his deceased wife, he dares to start anew.

In episode four, a young couple plan their wedding and celebrate, singkaraoke, argue, play with teddy bears and swear eternal love to eachother. “At the end of the film,” says Scheid, “I explain, from the dog’s-eye perspective, about the new love people have developed for theanimal, of dyed and stuffed dogs, of dog restaurants and dogcemeter ies. Of the Olympic dog, Milu, his owner and life in povertyin Hutong. Also, dog training with the Beijing police and a dog butcher.Of stories and places that have not been revealed before.”

As should now be patently obvious, Im Jahr des Hundes is aboutdogs in China and more than about dogs in China. It is about Chinaitself, from a wholly new perspective; the dog as metaphor, as avehicle for a new and original take on this amazing country.

Founded in 2006 by Martin Kircher and Hendrik Feil,Wasabi Film takes its name from the very hot and delicious greenhorseradish, without which no sushi is complete. Once tasted, neverforgotten!

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Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre DramaProduction Company enigma film/Munich, in co-productionwith Odeon Pictures/Munich, Lunaris Film- und Fernseh -produktion/Munich, Neue Kinowelt Filmproduktion/Berlin With

backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA),FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF)Producers Fritjof Hohagen, Clarens Grollmann Director AdnanG. Koese Screenplay Adnan G. Koese, Fritjof Hohagen Director

of Photography James Jacobs Editor Alexander DittnerProduction Design Oliver Hoese Principal Cast Max Riemelt,Jasmin Schwiers, Axel Stein, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Ingo NaujoksCasting Buenker Casting/Berlin Format 35 mm, color, cs, DolbyDigital 5.1 Shooting Language German Shooting in Dinslaken,Amsterdam, Lanzarote, February – March, May 2007 German

Distributor Kinowelt Filmverleih/Leipzig

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World Sales

Beta Cinema / Dept. of Beta Film GmbH

Andreas Rothbauer

Gruenwalder Weg 28 d · 82041 Oberhaching/Germany

phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 · fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88


www.betacinema.com

In 2000, an article in the magazine Der Spiegel on the book about thetrue story of the world-class triathlete Andreas Niedrig caught theattention of producer Frithjof Hohagen.

“The book Vom Junkie zum Ironman created quite a stir at the time,”Hohagen recalls. “There were TV documentaries about the case, andseveral film production companies showed interest in the story, butnothing then came of these plans.”

However, when he set up Munich-based enigma film with partnerClarens Grollmann in 2004, the Ironman story came to mindagain and he approached Niedrig in person to discuss the idea ofmaking a film about his life. The next step was to find a director, thechoice falling on Adnan G. Koese whom Hohagen already knewfrom a previous collaboration.

As Koese recalls, his reaction after being approached by Hohagen wasto ask to meet Niedrig: “I am interested in the person behind thestory and in getting to know them. We met and a very good relation -ship developed with Andreas, giving me every creative freedom.”

“We have had a very close and trusting collaboration with Andreasand he has been very supportive and constructive with his advice,”Hohagen adds.

“Creatively, one of the very first questions was who would playAndreas and we had extensive casting sessions in Berlin with many ofthe leading young German actors attending,” he continues.

Germany’s “Shooting Star” 2005 Max Riemelt, whose previouscredits include Napola and The Red Cockatoo, was finally chosen forthe physically demanding role of Niedrig who had lived the life of ajunkie and petty thief before radically changing direction and trainingto become one of the world’s most successful triathletes.“Max was insuperb condition and muscular in Napola, but he had to really loseweight for this role and is now quite skinny for the scenes duringAndreas’ decline as a junkie in the Ruhr region,” explains Hohagen,who co-wrote the screenplay with Koese.

The cast includes Jasmin Schwiers (Tattoo) as Andreas’ wifeSabine and Uwe Ochsenknecht as his mentor and trainer, whileAxel Stein – known until now for his roles in such pratfall co mediesas Ants In The Pants – takes a distinctly new direction with a characterpart as one of Andreas’ friends who pays the price for their drugaddiction.

For Koese, who came to directing via acting and screenwriting,Ironman is his feature film debut and also marks the first pro ductionof newly-established Neue Kinowelt Filmproduktion run byHermann Florin and Boris Schoenfelder. “I really like theclassic way of filmmaking and working with light,” the director says.“I also spend a lot of time on the visual composition: before we beganshooting, I sat down with the DoP and discussed the shots to the lastdetail. Everything is composed and prepared, there is no room forimprovisation.”

“Moreover, my background as an actor means that when we arerehearsing, I am not in front of the monitor, but always like to be withthe actors as if on the stage. That physical contact is important forme.”

80% of the shoot was in and around Dinslaken – an area Koese knewwell as he originates from this part of the Ruhr region – and the pro-duction team couldn’t want for more support from the local peopleand authorities, with mayor Sabine Weiss doing everything in herpower to make the shoot feel welcome. The NRW shoot was thenfollowed by a day of scenes in Amsterdam and then a break of sixweeks for Riemelt to “fatten up” to look like a real sportsman beforethree days of filming on Lanzarote during the real Ironman com -petition in mid-May.

MB

Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama,Tragicomedy Production Company COIN Film/Cologne, in co-production with Art & Popcorn/Belgrade, Amour FouFilmproduktion/Vienna, Studio Arkadena/Trzin With backing

from Filmstiftung NRW, BKM, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Eurimages,City of Belgrade, Serbian Ministry of Culture, South EasternEuropean Cinema Network, Vienna Film Fund, Hubert Bals Fund,Atelier du Cinéma Européen, WDR, BMW Group Producer

Herbert Schwering Director Stefan Arsenijevic Screenplay

Stefan Arsenijevic Director of Photography Simon TansekEditor Andrew Bird Production Design Volker SchaeferPrincipal Cast Anica Dobra, Milena Dravic, Vuk Kostic, HannaSchwamborn Casting Susanne Ritter Format 35 mm, color,1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting Language Serbian Shooting in

Belgrade, February – March 2007 German Distributor PandoraFilm Verleih/Aschaffenburg

World Sales

The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber

Sudermanplatz 2 · 50670 Cologne/Germany

phone +49-2 21-2 92 10 20 · fax +49-2 21-29 21 02 10


www.the-match-factory.com

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After working together on the omnibus film Lost and Found whichopened the Berlinale’s Forum section in 2005, Belgrade-born film -maker Stefan Arsenijevic and German producer Herbert

Schwering of COIN Film have collaborated again on the youngSerbian director’s feature film debut, the tragicomedy Liebe und

andere Verbrechen (“Love and Other Crimes”) which wrapp edat the end of March. The film is the first production by HerbertSchwering with his new company COIN Film (formerly ICON Film).

Expectations are running high after Arsenijevic’s numerous shortfilms, including (A)torsion from 2003 which won the European Film

Award, a Berlin Golden Bear and a nomination for the Academy Award’sBest Fiction Short category. “I feel quite different,” says Arsenijevicabout the transition from short to a feature-length shoot. “The wholeshooting will be as many days I had for my shorts, it feels strange andit’s like I am running a marathon!”

“Liebe und andere Verbrechen is about a woman who is notsatisfied with her life in contemporary Serbia and decides to stealsome money and escape from the country forever,” Arsenijevicexplains. “The film follows her over the course of this last day frommorning to evening. In the evening, she is supposed to steal themoney and leave and we see her meeting people who were part ofher life; she is now able to take some small acts of revenge and tellthem what she really thought of them, to leave some presents andmake a quiet departure from her imperfect life. But, then on that veryday – since life is not easy and simple – a boy from the neighborhoodwho is more than ten years younger tells her that he is in love withher and their relationship develops during this day. At the end of theday, she will have to de cide what she is going to do.”

“In a way, the film deals with the Serbia of today and will give us a pic-ture of the life of the main character and the situation and feeling inSerbia nowadays,” he continues. “It also looks at one topic which isreally important here and that is of emigration: in the last 15 yearsbecause of the war and so on, 300,000 people left Serbia and it ismainly young people who went. This is so present in our lives andeveryone of us knows someone who left. As a young person, youkeep asking yourself whether you should go or not. I had an urge todeal with this issue and show how hard it is to make this decision.”

As Arsenijevic points out, it would “usually be hard to make a co-pro-duction on such a movie because it is so very much based in theneigh borhood of New Belgrade where I grew up. It is very, very localeven though there is a universal story. I see it as a very intimate filmand, in a way, it is my Amarcord.”

Nevertheless, his feature debut has been structured as a co-produc-tion between Germany, Serbia, Austria and Slovenia for the financingof the €1.43 million budget and drew its cast and crew from the fourcountries. “I shot almost all of my short films here, but I had the feel -ing that I lost my objective view of the space,” Arsenijevic explains.“So, my idea was to invite the DoP (Simon Tansek from Slovenia)and production designer (Volker Schaefer from Germany) fromoutside to come and see things objectively. This really helped mebecause they have a similar taste as I do and we were going throughNew Belgrade together and seeing things afresh through their eyes.”

The central role of Anica who is planning to turn her back on herhomeland is played by Anica Dobra (equally familiar to audiencesin Serbia and Germany thanks to her appearances in Doris Doerrie’sAm I Beautiful? and Enlightenment Guaranteed as well as Srdan

Golubovic’s 2007 Berlinale film The Trap), while the part of her youngadmirer Stanislav is taken by Vuk Kostic (star of Golubovic’s 2001drama Absolute Hundred), with other roles cast with veteran Serbianactress Milena Dravic and the young German actress Hanna

Schwamborn (Good Bye, Lenin!).

Meanwhile, the international flavor is continued behind the camera:production designer Volker Schaefer, who, among other things, creat -ed the sets at Cologne’s MMC Studios for Amelie from Montmartre,brought his art department team to Belgrade; Veronika Albert,sister of filmmaker Barbara Albert, is serving as co-costume designer,with NRW-based Georg Nonnenmacher (whose recent creditsinclude The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Paradise Now) as gaffer,and Hamburg-based editor Andrew Bird (Head-On) coming toCologne to work on the edit over the coming months.

MB

Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Love Story, Music,Road Movie, Pop Art Production Company sperl + schottfilm/Munich, in cooperation with BR/Munich, WDR/Cologne,NDR/Hamburg, ARTE/Strasbourg With backing from FilmstiftungNRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MitteldeutscheMedienfoerderung Producers Gabriela Sperl, Uwe Schott Director

Oskar Roehler Screenplay Oskar Roehler Director of

Photography Wedigo von Schultzendorff Editor Bettina BoehlerMusic by Martin Todsharow Production Design Eduard KrajewskiPrincipal Cast Ray Fearon, Teresa Weissbach, Katrin Sass, RolfZacher, Udo Kier, Bastian Pastewka, Georg Friedrich Casting NinaHaun Casting Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting

Language German Shooting in Thueringer Wald, Rheinland, July –September 2007 German Distributor X Verleih/Berlin

World Sales

Beta Cinema / Dept. of Beta Film GmbH

Andreas Rothbauer

Gruenwalder Weg 28 d · 82041 Oberhaching/Germany

phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 · fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88


www.betacinema.com

Oskar Roehler’s next film Lulu und Jimi will be the first featureproject coming from the new company sperl + schott film set uplast year by Bavarian Television’s former TV drama chief Gabriela

Sperl and producer Uwe Schott, formerly managing director ofAllmedia Pictures.

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However, Roehler and Sperl are not strangers to one another: duringher time at the TV drama department in Munich, Sperl had been thecommissioning editor for Angst (Der alte Affe Angst) and collaboratedwith him on the screenplay for Agnes and his brothers (Agnes und seine

Brueder).

“The idea for Lulu und Jimi comes from Oskar Roehler,” Sperlstresses, pointing out that she is “particularly keen in this film to lookbeyond the level of the Romeo and Juliet story and portray aGermany of racial prejudice and narrow-mindedness in the 1950s. Atthe center is a family of the Economic Miracle, which rejects every -thing that doesn’t fit in with its view on life. I think you will find thatone can see several levels to this film. It is a typical ‘Oskar Roehlerstory’, he is really in his element with this family story which has thatcruel twist which is so ‘Oskar’, but it is also a modern fairytale with arock’n’roll pop art world, wild and full of color.”

“It is the story of an impossible love affair,” she continues, “and of aconflict between a mother and daughter: the mother sees that herformer beauty is slipping away and begrudges her daughter any happi -ness of her own.”

While recent period pieces in German cinema have concentrated onthe years in the nation’s history between 1933 and 1945, Sperl be -lieves that “a lot of films will start coming through in the future aboutthe 50s because it shows us how Germany was reconstructed on aNazi past that was not reflected upon, a fact which led to the studentuprisings in the 60s and ultimately to the terrorism of the RAF. I thinkit is an extremely exciting and fascinating time – I am myself workingon a screenplay set in the 50s – because there was so much suppress -ed.”

While an eclectic cast has been brought together for the film with thelikes of Katrin Sass, Udo Kier, Rolf Zacher, Bastian

Pastewka and Georg Friedrich, casting of the two loversfighting against all odds has been particularly imaginative.

The role of Lulu will be taken by the young German actress Teresa

Weissbach who made her film debut at the age of 17 in a head-turn ing performance in Leander Haussmann’s comedy Sun Alley

(Sonnenallee) and followed this up with a role in Catharina Deus’acclaimed film About a Girl (Die Boxerin).

Meanwhile, Jimi will be played by the Royal Shakespeare Companyactor Ray Fearon who, in addition to his stage work, also appear -ed in the British soap opera Coronation Street and Harry Potter and the

Philosopher’s Stone and was a contestant on the BBC’s Saturday nightshow Strictly Come Dancing.

The project, which is scheduled to shoot in the Thuringian Forest andNorth Rhine-Westphalia from July, and will be released in Germanyby X Verleih.

According to Sperl, she is currently in negotiations with English andFrench production partners to possibly come onboard the project asco-producers.

MB

Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Road Movie,Tragicomedy, Black Comedy Production Companies SchiwagoFilm/Berlin, Bavaria Pictures/Geiselgasteig, Muxfilm/Pentling, BavariaFilm/Geiselgasteig, in co-production with Capture Film Inter -national/Los Angeles, Artdeluxe/Vienna With backing from

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA),BKM, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), Kuratorium junger deut-scher Film Producers Marcos Kantis, Marcus Mittermeier, JanHenrik Stahlberg, Philipp Kreuzer, Dr. Matthias Esche Co-

Producers Andrea Balen, Corina Danckwerts, Robert HoffererDirectors Marcus Mittermeier, Jan Henrik Stahlberg Screenplay

Jan Henrik Stahlberg Director of Photography David HofmannEditors Sarah Clara Weber, Stine Munch Music by Rainer OleakProduction Design Peter Naguib Principal Cast Jan HenrikStahlberg, Marcus Mittermeier, Christoph Kottenkamp, MartaMcGonagle, Henning Gruebel Casting Astrid Rosenfeld Format

HDV, transfer to 35 mm, color, 1:1.78, Dolby Shooting

Language German Shooting in New York, Emporia, Lynchburg,Orlando, Miami, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Las Vegas, Los Angeles,Berlin, February – April 2007 German Distributor Senator FilmVerleih/Berlin

World Sales

Bavaria Film International

Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann


phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20


www.bavaria-film-international.com

After Quiet as a Mouse, which was shown in the 2004 Berlinale’sPerspectives German Cinema section after winning the Max Ophuels

Award, Short Cut to Hollywood is the second collaborationbetween Marcus Mittermeier and Jan Henrik Stahlberg.The duo co-directs and appears in front of the camera, and Stahlbergis also serving as screenwriter.

According to one of the film’s producers, Philipp Kreuzer ofBavaria Pictures, Short Cut to Hollywood “is a combi -nation of a road movie, black comedy and media satire and has thesame kind of approach to the screenplay and concept that the duoStahlberg/Mittermeier had followed successfully in Quiet as a Mouse.They have a screenplay, but efficiently use the room for creativity andimprovisation.”

Short Cut to Hollywood

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He explains that the new project is “also a ‘film within a film’: thethree friends from Germany embark to the USA, the paradise of fameand fortune. The plan is to turn one of them into a media star namedJohn F. Salinger [played by Stahlberg], by shooting his first, unforget -table and, in many ways, exceptional movie. But the price for eternalfame is high. John F. Salinger is willing to give everything for it and thatcan be a lot …”

“In contrast to Quiet as a Mouse, Short Cut to Hollywood is avery emotional story,” Mittermeier and Stahlberg suggest. “John F.Salinger is looking for the purpose of his life. Our 35-year-old herohasn’t really achieved anything and is longing for ‘true’ meaning andlove. John F. Salinger is a tragic hero and evolves, despite the humorand ab surdity, into a living legend within the story of the film.”

Turning to the issue of media satire addressed in their film, the direc-torial duo point out that “the world is constantly looking for a newsuperstar, the next hot thing. Who hasn’t had the dream of fame andsuccess? The dream of a life with glory, screaming groupies, money,stardom and the feeling of being loved for your exceptional nature. Ifyou thought talent separates the wheat from the chaff, think again!Today, anybody can be a superstar as long as the media pay atten-tion.”

“If it’s true that success comes from breaking limits, we are not far offfrom our hero’s story,” they continue. “Whether it approves or not,the theater audience has to admit that John F. Salinger is right aboutthe world we live in. The recipe for great success is breaking greattaboos.”

Mittermeier and Stahlberg describe their film as “a ride on the razorblade because our heroes are unpredictable. Every time you think youknow what to feel about them, the pendulum swings into the op -posite direction. At times, you will be with them, laugh at them orscorn them. Nevertheless, deep inside you understand and sympa -thize with them. Once more, we will break conventions and go pastlimits.”

Kreuzer admits that it has been a “big challenge to make a road movielike this for a modest budget”, but “looking at the rushes, one can seethat the team has really captured the American look with many extra-ordinary locations to render lots of production value. Audiences willsee locations throughout the US they know well including New York,Florida, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Especially the ones in Arizona andNew Mexico remind you of films like Easy Rider.”

Marcos Kantis, producer at Schiwago Film, which also producedQuiet as a Mouse and is now working with Stahlberg for the third time,underlines thanks to the support of Capture Film, “we managed toproduce the film with a value which multiplies its low budget manytimes over.” He adds that for future projects, there might be a similarco-production set-up.

Produced by Schiwago Film, Muxfilm, Bavaria Pictures andBavaria Film with Capture Film International andArtdeluxe as co-producers, Short Cut to Hollywood is thefirst project with a foreign shoot to benefit from the recentlyestablish ed German Federal Film Fund (DFFF). It will be distributedtheatrically in Germany by Senator Film and handled internationally byBavaria Film International.

MB

Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Social ComedyProduction Company Claussen+Woebke+Putz Film/Munich, inco-production with ZDF/Mainz, in cooperation with ARTE/Strasbourg With backing from German Federal Film Fund(DFFF), Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern,MEDIA Producers Jakob Claussen, Uli Putz, Thomas WoebkeDirector Maggie Peren Screenplay Maggie Peren, Christian BayerDirector of Photography Christian Rein Editor PeterKirschbaum Music by Superstrings (Caro Heiss, Marc SidneyMueller) Production Design Heike Lange Principal Cast

Florian Lukas, Sebastian Bezzel, Gustav P. Woehler, Kostja Ullmann,Herbert Knaup, Lisa Maria Potthoff, Nina Kronjaeger, Ulrike Kriener,Diana Staehly Casting An Dorthe Braker Format 35 mm, color,1:1.85, Dolby Surround Shooting Language GermanShooting in Munich, January – February 2007 German

Distributor 20th Century Fox (Germany)/Frankfurt

World Sales



phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29


What do five (male) losers do when life has dealt them too manylemons? Well, in the case of Frank (Doctor of Philology and house-husband), Gy (police officer locked in an eternal struggle with hishealth insurance company), Olli (delicatessen owner, no customers),Giselher (unemployed and most likely to stay that way) and Lasse (theliving definition of a non-starter) the answer is … No, NOT makelemonade! But rather start an escort agency for women, offering“German gourmet food to get your hands on!”

Although the German language does not lend itself to the same levelof punning and wordplaying that English does, the word‘Stellungswechsel’ means to change one’s position, as in getting adiffer ent job, as well as, quite literally, shifting your body posture. Italso applies in a sexual context …

With wordplays and situational comedy to the fore, writer-directorMaggie Peren again proves she is one of the most versatile hyphe-nates working in contemporary German cinema.

“The idea came from my co-author, Christian Bayer,” says Peren,“and I found it very sweet. It was intensive work because they are

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offering to sleep with women via the Internet, so the characters need -ed to stay sympathetic. It’s a social comedy, after all.”

“The main character, Frank, is very similar to Christian,” Peren con -tinues, “while the girls are based on women I’ve met. We did a lot ofresearch and wrote over sixteen drafts. I have to say, comedy can bea real nightmare!”

Then she confesses she’s working on, yes, another comedy, Bloody

Germans, about the 1996 World Cup in which England was knockedout by Germany in the semi-finals, on penalties! And an England fan isforced to admit he’s the father of a German child!

Peren’s many credits include Vergiss Amerika (1999), the multi-Grimme

Award winning TV movie Das Phantom (1999) and the smash hitcomedy Girls on Top (2001). She then turned her talents to the ThirdReich with Napola (2004) and co-authored (with Stefan Schaller)Detlev Buck’s latest film Haende weg von Mississippi.

As befits an ensemble film, Stellungswechsel has assembledsome top notch Teutonic thesps. Florian Lukas (Frank) won BestSupporting Actor in the 2003 German Film Awards for Good Bye,

Lenin!. Sebastian Bezzel (Gy) is one of Germany’s best knownTV cops. Gustav Woehler, when not singing with his band, hasfeatur ed in, among many, Doris Doerrie’s Der Fischer und seine Frau

and Sven Unterwaldt’s 7 Zwerge comedies. Herbert Knaup

(Giselher) was in the OSCAR-winning Das Leben der Anderen whileKostja Ullmann (Lasse) starred in Verfolgt, which won a Golden

Leopard at Locarno in 2006.

Claussen+Woebke+Putz Filmproduktion can claim thecredit for many a critical and audience hit. To name just a few: thehorror films Anatomie and Anatomie 2, the OSCAR-nominated Jenseits

der Stille, Crazy, 23 and Lichter.SK

Type of Project TV Movie Genre Romantic ComedyProduction Company mementoFilm/Berlin, in co-productionwith NDR/Hamburg Producers Markus Gruber, Doris J. HeinzeDirector Torsten C. Fischer Screenplay Hans G. Raeth, SathyanRamesh Director of Photography Achim Poulheim Editor

Benjamin Hembus Production Design Martin SchreiberPrincipal Cast Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, Hannes Jaenicke,

Jan-Gregor Kremp Casting Gitta Uhlig Format 16 mm, color,Stereo Shooting Language German Shooting in Hamburg andsurroundings, February – March 2007

Contact

mementoFilm GmbH · Andrea Guenther

Leibniz Strasse 33 · 10625 Berlin/Germany

phone +49-30-43 72 79 10 · fax +49-30-43 72 79 19


www.mementofilm.de

Spare a thought for what has to be one of the hardest genres of themall, the romantic comedy, or romcom as it is affectionately known.Now, factor in this is a German romcom and, be honest now, you’remost likely playing the word association game: which is to say the twowords you least associate with Germany are comedy and romantic!Well … you lose! Because, contrary to popular belief, there is a verystrong and developed German romcom tradition that, for businessand structural reasons, exists primarily on TV.

Long introduction to one side, Vier sind einer zuviel (trans -lation: “Four is One Too Many”) takes the traditional ingredients (menand a woman) and serves up a helping of bittersweet romantic come-dy in which melancholy and slapstick harmonize in a swirl of deliciousdelight.

Lisa (Barbara Auer) discovers on her wedding anniversary thathusband Felix (Matthias Brandt) makes her really unhappy, andvice versa. She packs her bags and takes up residence in a shabbyhotel to get her thoughts together, with little success. Felix, mean -while, makes the transition from househusband to homeless. Lisa thenlands in a shared apartment with Chris (Hannes Jaenicke) andEdgar (Jan-Gregor Kremp), two not-quite-over-the-hill ladies’men. Separate soon be come shared beds. Life is great, until the po -lice deliver a handcuffed Felix to her door. Now four really are onetoo many!

Production company mementoFilm was founded in Cologne in2001, with the Berlin subsidiary opening its doors in 2005. With animpressive number of films, for the big as well as small screen, alrea-dy under the belt, company credits include the 2002 Das Jahr der

ersten Kuesse and the TV movie Der Anwalt und sein Gast (2002),which won a slew of awards including the Nymphe D’Or at the 43rdMonte Carlo Television Festival 2002 for Best Actor (Goetz George)and director Torsten C. Fischer took the 2003 German Television

Award for Best Director. On Vier sind einer zuviel Fischer againoccupies the director’s chair and is working again with Barbara Auerwho also starred in his feature film Liebeswunsch.

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Auschwitz wasn’t what Sven, a young German, had inmind when he signed up to do his civil service abroad. Forhim, Auschwitz is a small town in Poland, a strange langu-age, a concentration camp, all the musty grayness of high-school German history classes. To make matters worse,he’s got to care for an unpleasant old man, StanislawKrzeminki, a former inmate who never left the camp andnow spends his time either giving contemporary-witnesslectures or repairing suitcases. Krzeminki’s world revolvesaround the suitcases taken from the Jews as they arrivedat the concentration camp from all over Europe. Besideshaving to endure Krzeminki’s haughty, gruff manner, Svenalso has to put up with the barely concealed contempt ofvarious locals. Luckily, there’s Ania, a young guide wholets Sven stay at her place … As the weeks go by, Svenbegins to discover both Auschwitz and Oswiecim, theplace of horror and the Polish town, the memorial to inhu-manity and the tourist industry that has sprung up aroundit. Yet within this push and pull of conflicting sensationsgrow love for Ania, compassion for Krzeminki, and thetroubling, challenging realization about his own role in pre-serving the memory of this place …

Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of

Production 2007 Director Robert Thalheim Screenplay

Robert Thalheim Director of Photography Yoliswa GaertigEditor Stefan Kobe Music by Anton Feist, Uwe Bossenz

Production Design Michal Galinski, Rita-Maria HallekampProducers Britta Knoeller, Hans-Christian SchmidCommissioning Editor Christian Cloos Production

Company 23|5 Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co-production withZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, in cooperation with PictorionPictures/Huerth Principal Cast Alexander Fehling, RyszardRonczewski, Barbara Wysocka, Piotr Rogucki, Rainer Sellien, LenaStolze, Lutz Blochberger, Adam Nawojczyk, Roman Gancarczyk,Willy Rachow, Halina Kwiatkowska, Joachim Laetsch Casting

Simone Baer, Magda Szwarcbart Length 85 min, 2,400 mFormat 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German/Polish/English Subtitled Versions English, French Sound

Technology Dolby Digital Festival Screenings Cannes 2007(Un Certain Regard) With backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), BKM German

Distributor X Verleih/Berlin

Robert Thalheim was born in Berlin in 1974. After completinghis schooling in the USA and Germany, he worked as an assistantdirector for the Berlin Ensemble theater and took up studies at theFree University and the “Konrad Wolf ” Academy of Film andTelevision. Also a writer and a publisher, his films include: Um vier

Uhr ploetzlich ging die Welt unter (documentary, 1996),Zeit ist Leben (short, 2000), Granica (short, 2002), Three

Percent (short, 2002), Ich (short, 2003), his feature debutNetto (2004), and And Along Come Tourists (Am Ende

kommen Touristen, 2007).

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World Sales

Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann


phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20

email: [email protected] · www.bavaria-film-international.com

Am Ende kommen Touristen AND ALONG COME TOURISTS

“Please, can you tell me another story? No, not a bedtimestory. A really exciting one …,” the voice of a lonely childbegs somebody on the telephone. Craving for warmth andcompassion, it is Irm, a woman in her early 30s. She callsstrangers and, imitating a child’s voice, pretends she is ayoung cancer patient. In heart-rending conversations, sheestablishes relationships that she abruptly ends when theythreaten to become too close. This is Irm’s way of reachingout from her life, a life in which she jobs in a laundretteand looks after her bed-ridden mother. Though no longerable to talk, her mother still makes it clear that her favor -ite was always Irm’s sister Margit. But now Irm has theupper hand and lets her know it.

When she meets the self-assured but emotionally vulner -able Sina, she comes up against a woman who is in greatneed of a friend and thinks she’s found her in Irm. Caughtbetween the pull of her mother’s imminent death and hermanipulative play-acting, Irm is increasingly drawn to thestrong, life-loving woman who offers her friendship. Sheknows that Sina must learn the truth some day and isafraid of losing her. But Sina is more tenacious than shethinks – and believes in Irm more than she does herself …

The Calling Game is director Felix Randau’s secondfeature after his 2003 film Northern Star, which also wonhim the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award for Best Script.


Production 2007 Director Felix Randau Screenplay VeraKissel Director of Photography Jutta Pohlmann Editor

Gergana Voigt Music by Thies Mynther Production Design

Peter Menne Producers Ralph Schwingel, Stefan Schubert, HejoEmons Associate Producer Bjoern Vosgerau Commis -

sioning Editors Lucas Schmidt, Barbara Haebe Production

Company Wueste Film West/Cologne, in co-production withZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, in cooperation with ARTE/Strasbourg Principal Cast Valerie Koch, Esther Schweins,Franziska Ponitz Casting Deborah Congia Length 80 min, 2,189m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version GermanSubtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SRWith backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Nordmedia

Felix Randau was born in 1974 in Emden. After studies inGerman Literature and Ethnology in Bonn, he enrolled in theDirecting program at the German Academy of Film & Television(dffb) in Berlin. His films include: Ritual and Something

Happened to Me Yesterday (shorts, 1996), Matadore andBoomtown Berlin (shorts, 1997), Something Stupid

(short, 1998), Siemensstadt (short, 2000), Northern Star

(2003), and The Calling Game (Die Anruferin, 2007).Va

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2 · 2 0 0 7 4 3

World Sales



phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20


Die Anruferin THE CALLING GAME

Nejat seems disapproving about his widower father Ali’schoice of prostitute Yeter for a live-in girlfriend. But hegrows fond of her when he discovers she sends moneyhome to Turkey for her daughter’s university studies.Yeter’s sudden death distances father and son. Nejattravels to Istanbul to search for Yeter’s daughter Ayten.Political activist Ayten has fled the Turkish police and isalready in Germany. She is befriended by a young woman,Lotte, who invites rebellious Ayten to stay in her home, agesture not particularly pleasing to her conservativemother Susanne. When Ayten is arrested and her asylumplea is denied, she is deported and imprisoned in Turkey.Lotte travels to Turkey, where she gets caught up in theseemingly hopeless situation of freeing Ayten …


Production 2007 Director Fatih Akin Screenplay Fatih AkinDirector of Photography Rainer Klausmann Editor AndrewBird Music by Stefan “Shantel” Hantel Production Design

Tamo Kunz, Sirma Bradley Producers Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel,Klaus Maeck Production Company corazón international/Hamburg, in co-production with NDR/Hamburg, Anka Film/Istanbul, Dorje Film/Rome Principal Cast Baki Davrak, PatryciaZiolkowska, Nurcel Koese, Hanna Schygulla, Tuncel Kurtiz, NurguelYesilcay Casting Monique Akin Length 122 min, 3,312 m

Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version

German/Turkish/English Subtitled Version English Sound

Technology Dolby Digital Surround Ex Festival Screenings

Cannes 2007 (In Competition) With backing from

Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), BKM, FilmFoerderung Hamburg,Filmstiftung NRW, Nordmedia, Kulturelle FilmfoerderungSchleswig-Holstein German Distributor Pandora Film Verleih/Aschaffenburg

Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg and began studyingVisual Communications at Hamburg’s College of Fine Arts in 1994.In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, Sensin –

You’re The One! (Sensin – Du bist es!), which received theAudience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival, fol-lowed by Weed (Getuerkt, 1996). His first full-length featurefilm, Short Sharp Shock (Kurz und schmerzlos, 1998),won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno and the Bavarian Film Award

(Best Young Director) in 1998. His other films include: In July (ImJuli, 2000), Wir haben vergessen zurueckzukehren

(2001), Solino (2002), the Berlinale Golden Bear-winner and win-ner of the German and European Film Awards Head-On (Gegen

die Wand, 2003), Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of

Istanbul (2005), and The Edge of Heaven (Auf der

anderen Seite, 2007).

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2 · 2 0 0 7 4 4

World Sales

The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber

Sudermanplatz 2 · 50670 Cologne/Germany

phone +49-2 21-2 92 10 20 · fax +49-2 21-29 21 02 10

email: [email protected] · www.the-match-factory.com

Auf der anderen Seite THE EDGE OF HEAVEN

Autopilots tells the story of four people trying to live upto their lost ideals in interwoven episodes. Each of themhas become a social outcast. Lacking a foothold, theyerrati cally move through their own lives. During 24 hoursthese characters’ paths cross on the freeways of the RuhrArea.

Georg, trainer of a soccer league team, must win the gametonight if he wants to keep his job. He discovers how themechanisms of the soccer trade have begun to turn againsthim. Dieter, freelance reporter is on the pursuit of specta-cular images. He loves his son, who lives with his ex-wifeRita, but does not devote much attention to him. Joerg, asalesman for bathtub lifts finds himself drifting off into iso-lation and discovers he cannot go on with his double life.Heinz, an aging pop singer spends his days singing atanniver sary celebrations for shopping malls and the like.And he can’t keep up the illusion anymore.

They are all heroes of an inner insecurity, who are just try-ing to hang in there …


Production 2007 Director Bastian Guenther Screenplay

Bastian Guenther Director of Photography Michael Kotschi

Editor Olaf Tischbier Music by Bernd Begemann, AndreasDoerne, Jens Hafemann Production Design Dorothee vonBodelschwingh Producers Joachim Ortmanns, Martin HeislerProduction Company Lichtblick Film/Cologne, in co-produc-tion with SWR/Baden-Baden, ARTE/Strasbourg Principal Cast

Charly Huebner, Wolfram Koch, Walter Kreye, Manfred Zapatka,Susanne-Marie Wrage Casting Kathrin Bessert Length 106 minFormat 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version GermanSubtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SRFestival Screenings Berlin 2007 (Perspectives GermanCinema) With backing from Filmstiftung NRW

Bastian Guenther was born in 1974 in Hachenburg and stu-died English, Social Sciences and Sports at Cologne University. Hethen worked as a trainee on several film productions and as a free-lancer at the public broadcaster WDR/Phoenix in Cologne.Followed by working as an assistant director for MarinMartschewski and Christian Petzold, he enrolled at the GermanAcademy of Film & Television Berlin (dffb). His graduation filmEnde einer Strecke won the First Steps Award in 2006. His otherfilms include: Kuscheln in Vingst (documentary, 2000),Corinna, Corinna (short, 2001), Punkt Null (video, 2002),Acapulco (short, 2003), Bleib zuhause im Sommer (docu-mentary, 2003), and Autopilots (Autopiloten, 2007).

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2 · 2 0 0 7 4 5

World Sales (please contact)Lichtblick Film- & Fernsehproduktion GmbH · Yvonne Gottschalk

Apostelnstrasse 11 · 50667 Cologne/Germany

phone +49-2 21-9 25 75 20 · fax +49-2 21-9 25 75 29

email: [email protected] · www.lichtblick-film.de

Autopiloten AUTOPILOTS

Mysterious find. A naked woman disappears during theongoing film shootings. Presumably the film belongs to theestate of the American film artist Jack Goldstein.

Genre Art, Drama, Experimental, Fantasy, Thriller Category

Semi Fictional Documentary Year of Production 2006Director Romeo Gruenfelder Producer Romeo GruenfelderProduction Company felderfilm/Hamburg, in co-productionwith Peter Stockhaus Film/Hamburg Length 4 min, 90 mFormat 35 mm, color, 1:1.37 Original Version GermanDubbed Version English Subtitled Version English Sound

Technology Mono Festival Screenings Stuttgart Filmwinter2006, Bamberg 2006, Rotterdam 2006, Navarra 2006, Nice 2006,IndieLisboa 2006, European Media Arts Festival Osnabrueck 2006,Interval 2006, VideoEx Zurich 2006, Hamburg 2006, Corta! Porto2006, Impakt Festival Utrecht 2006, Transilvania Cluj Napoca 2006,Sao Paulo 2006, Milan 2006, PureScreen Manchester 2006,BunterHund Munich 2006, Shortfilm Slam Hamburg 2006,

Contravision Berlin 2006, Winterthur 2006, Exground Wiesbaden2006, Leipzig 2006, Backup Weimar 2006, Lausanne Underground2006, Short Cuts Cologne 2006, Video_Dumbo New York 2006,One Take Zagreb 2006, Zwergwerk Oldenburg 2006, Wuerzburg2007, Augsburg 2007, Cine de reel Paris 2007 Awards 2nd Jury

Award Zurich 2006, 2nd Jury Award Bamberg 2006, Special Mention

Porto 2006 With backing from FilmFoerderung Hamburg,FO’KO Hamburg

Romeo Gruenfelder was born in 1968 and studied VisualCommunication, Philosophy and Classical Music at the HamburgHochschule fuer bildende Kuenste from 1995-2001. In 2001, hefounded felderfilm (www.felderfilm.de). His films include: Jimmy

Jenseits (1993), Sorgenbrecher (1995), Himmel ueber

Freiburg (1995), Der blonde Engel (1996), Shahrzadeh

Scampolo (1996), ohne Titel (2000), Borderline Pilots

(2002), Rallye 35 mm (2004), 4 kurzeDialoge (2005), and[desi’re:] – The Goldstein Reels (2006).

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World Sales (please contact) felderfilm · Romeo Gruenfelder

Marthastrasse 31 · 20259 Hamburg/Germany

phone/fax +49-40-3 89 28 68

email: [email protected] · www.felderfilm.de

[desi’re:] – The Goldstein Reels

A film about the discovery of poetry and love in a systemof oppression and discrimination.

The director Christian Liffers travels with his team to Cubato search for evidence. Part of his luggage are poems andprose texts of the Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas. Texts,which describe the desire for love, sexual freedom and theproud and unbending attitude in the fight against discri-mination. Are these desires and attitudes still to be foundin Cuba? And which desires, clichés, and projections ofCuba attract the producer and many more people? Poemsand prose texts are the reference points for the protago-nists and their personal stories of present-day Cuba, whichare always the center of attention. Six men with differentbackgrounds and of different ages describe their life,afflict ions, desires, longings and joys in Cuba. They havesome things in common: homosexuality (with the ex -ception of Isabel, the transsexual) and the daily socialexclusion on the part of the Cuban “Machismo-society”and the Cuban government. However they differ heavilyconcerning their social status and their opinions of thetopic.

The author made two journeys of investigation to Havana,where he won the confidence of the protagonists, so thatfor the first time people spoke openly in front of acamera about their homosexuality and life in Cuba.

Genre Education, Gay & Lesbian, Literature Category

Documentary Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director

Christian Liffers Screenplay Christian Liffers Director of

Photography Mirko Schernickau Editor Todd P. MercuriMusic by Michael Espinosa Rodríguez, Los Transes Producer

Christian Liffers Production Company Christian Liffers/Wiesbaden Length 84 min Format DV Cam, color, 16:9Original Version Spanish Subtitled Versions English,German Voice Over German Sound Technology StereoFestival Screenings Miami 2007 (In Competition), San DiegoLatino Film Festival 2007, Montevideo 2007 (In Competition),European Independent Film Festival Paris 2007, London Lesbian andGay Festival 2007, Santa Cruz 2007 (In Competition), Las AmericasLatino Film Festival 2007 (In Competition), Nicosia 2007 (InCompetition), Festival de Cine Pobre 2007, Denver XicanIndieFilmfest 2007 (In Competition), Da Sodoma a Hollywood Turin2007 (In Competition), MediaWave Gyoer 2007 (In Competition),NOPOP Aarhus 2007 (In Competition), Hollanda Latin AmericanFilm Festival 2007 (In Competition), ECO Rhodos 2007 (InCompetition), Inside Out Toronto 2007

Christian Liffers studied Theater Direction in Hamburg andworked for several years in German theaters and as an assistantdirector for Werner Schroeter. Active as a writer, director and pro-ducer, he has been working as a journalist for the last 10 years andfor the German broadcaster ZDF. In addition to numerous theaterworks, his films include the documentaries: Suicide

Commando, Diary of a Suicide (2001) and Dos Patrias,

Cuba y la noche (2006).

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World Sales (please contact) Christian Liffers

Seerobenstrasse 30 · 65195 Wiesbaden/Germany

phone +49-1 71-8 30 23 36

email: [email protected] · www.dospatrias.com

Dos Patrias Cuba y la noche TWO HOMELANDS CUBA AND THE NIGHT

If things were up to General Donovan, then the MilitarySecret Service of the United States would take care of real-ly important things, of which there are plenty in thisAutumn of 1942. Let the Waffen-SS search for Atlantisand dance around Germanic Druid Stones – who believesin the occult of “Wunderwaffen” or “miracle weapons”anyway? At least no straightforward American patriot,only pathetic wimps like William Blazkowicz, the only per-son at the OSS who wears glasses. But then … can youdare risk to ignore explicit warnings? Secretly shot films?Evidence?

What is really happening in Kottlitz Castle? Who killedSmokey Savallas? What kind of research is the “Ahnenerbeder SS” involved in? Who stole Count Dracula’s bonesfrom a crypt in Wallachia? And where’s the connectionbetween a fanatic SS General, underground laboratoriesfull of German scientists, and a huge pit filled with moltengold?

Questions, questions … and of all people WilliamBlazkowicz is being smuggled into the Austrian Alps tofind answers. But no one could ever imagine in the wildestof dreams what Blazkowicz is going to unearth at KottlitzCastle …

Genre Comedy, Horror, Trash Category Short Year of

Production 2007 Director Lasse Nolte Screenplay LasseNolte Director of Photography David Emmenlauer Editor

Lasse Nolte Music by Tuomas Kantelinen Production Design

Tobias Maier, Oliver Hoese Producers Martin Blankemeyer,Cornel Schaefer, Robin Schaefer, Christl Catanzaro, DamienDonnelly, Mike Dehghan, Daniel Nadj Production Company

Muenchner Filmwerkstatt/Munich, in co-production with CreativeGap Filmproduktion/Munich, Hochschule fuer Fernsehen und FilmMuenchen (HFF/M)/Munich Principal Cast Daniel Krauss,Goetz Burger, Hendrik Martz, Walter Stapper, Kim Baermann,Oliver Kalkofe Special Effects Sascha Kolmikow Length 46min, 1,330 m Format HD Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.78Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound

Technology Surround

Lasse Nolte was born 1980 in Goettingen and is currentlystudy ing Directing at the Munich Academy of Television & Film. Aselection of his films includes: Der Sensenmann (1996), Ein

Fehler (2001), Massaker (2002), Nachtfahrt (2002), Chris

und Henning (2002), Ein besonderer Abend (2003), animage film for the company Knorr-Bremse (2005), and The

Golden Nazi Vampire of Absam Part II – The Secret

of Kottlitz Castle (Der Goldene Nazivampir von

Absam 2 – Das Geheimnis von Schloss Kottlitz, 2007).

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2 · 2 0 0 7 4 8

World Sales (please contact) Muenchner Filmwerkstatt e.V. · Martin Blankemeyer

Postfach 860 525 · 81632 Munich/Germany

phone +49-89-20 33 37 12 · fax +49-7 21-1 51 37 76 29

email: [email protected] · www.muenchner-filmwerkstatt.de

Der Goldene Nazivampir von Absam 2 – Das Geheimnis von Schloss Kottlitz

THE GOLDEN NAZI VAMPIRE OF ABSAM PART II – THE SECRET OF KOTTLITZ CASTLE

Melanie Straub lives aimlessly into the day, or moreaccurate ly: into a Saturday. She’s alone at home, surround -ed by the emptiness of her new life.

Genre Fiction Category Short Year of Production 2007Director Nicolas Wackerbarth Screenplay NicolasWackerbarth Director of Photography ReinholdVorschneider Editor Janina Herrhofer Music by Anton Webern-Passacaglia Production Design Eric Segoll Producers

Hartmut Bitomsky, Jost Hering Executive Producers OliverFleischmann, Ursula Mueller Production Company DeutscheFilm- und Fernsehakademie (dffb)/Berlin, in co-production with JostHering Filme/Berlin Principal Cast Cristin Koenig, JoannaCzerwìnska, Abel vom Acker Casting Ulrike Mueller Length 20min, 560 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version

German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology

Dolby SR Festival Screenings Cannes 2007 (Cinéfondation),Oberhausen 2007 (In Competition) With backing from

Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA)

Nicolas Wackerbarth was born in 1973 in Munich and studiedActing at the Bavarian Theater Academy, followed by acting en -gagements at theaters in Frankfurt and Cologne. Since 2000, he hasbeen studying at the German Academy of Film & Television Berlin(dffb) and is an editor of the film magazine Revolver. A selection ofhis films includes: Brat (short, 2000), Lovesick (short, 2003),Anfaenger! (TV, 2004), Westernstadt (documentary, 2005),and Half Hours (Halbe Stunden, short, 2007).

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World Sales (please contact) Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin GmbH (dffb) · Jana Wolff

Potsdamer Strasse 2 · 10785 Berlin/Germany

phone +49-30-25 75 91 52 · fax +49-30-25 75 91 62

email: [email protected] · www.dffb.de

Halbe Stunden HALF HOURS

Edmond, a man in his late 60s, visits a mysterious“maison”, a kind of a brothel specialized for customersbeyond their 80s. In this “establishment” it is possible forthese old men to spend time in bed with beautiful,sleeping girls the whole night through. The girls won’tawake, they are drugged; the older men feel warm andcomfortable, embracing the youth and the beauty of theseyoung women.

More and more, Edmond surrenders to this unconsciousseduction, juvenile virginity and unpredictable sensuality.In confrontation to his age, bedazzled by the breath, scentand innocent warmth of the young women, he glides intoassociations and memories of his past life. Bizarremoments become the inspiration and urge to simply fadeaway next to a girl.

But one day, Edmond observes the Madame supervising acorpse being packed in a bag, thrown into a car and secretlytaken away. Nevertheless, Edmond returns more andmore often to “The House of the Sleeping Beauties”, con-sidering questions of morality and limits. Where realitydoesn’t seem to exist, it doesn’t take long until it sends –with fatal complications – the dreams of the old men toan end.

Genre Drama, Literature Category Feature Film Cinema Year

of Production 2006 Director Vadim Glowna Screenplay

Vadim Glowna Director of Photography Ciro CappellariEditor Charlie Lézin Music by Nick Glowna, Siggi MuellerProduction Design Peter Weber Producers RaymondTarabay, Vadim Glowna Production Company AtossaFilm/Berlin Principal Cast Vadim Glowna, Angela Winkler,Maximilian Schell, Birol Uenel Casting Julia Dierks Special

Effects Sven Hanten Length 103 min, 2,824 m Format 35 mm,color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Versions

English, French Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festival

Screenings Belgrade 2007 With backing from FilmstiftungNRW German Distributor Atossa Film/Berlin

Vadim Glowna was born 1941 and grew up in Hamburg. Theversatile actor, director and author began his career in 1961 whenGustaf Gruendgens took him on at the Hamburger Schauspielhaus.Glowna went on to become one of Germany’s most popularactors, and also appeared in international productions like SamPeckinpah’s epos Cross of Iron and Claude Chabrol’s Quiet Days in

Clichy. In 2000 he was named Best Actor of the Year by the GermanFilm Critics’ Association for his appearance in Oskar Roehler’saward-winning film No Place to Go. Glowna is also a very successfuldirector, having directed more than 30 television films and eightfeature films. In 1981 he won several awards for the filmDesperado City including the Caméra d’Or in Cannes. Two of hisother films, Nothing Left to Lose (1983) and Raising to the

Bait (1992), were in the official competition at Berlin and receivedHonorable Mentions. In 1989 Glowna was member of the jury at theBerlinale.

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World Sales (please contact) Atossa Film Produktion GmbH · Raymond Tarabay

Wielandstrasse 46 · 10625 Berlin/Germany

phone +49-30-3 12 14 72 · fax +49-30-3 13 79 33

email: [email protected] · www.dashausderschlafendenschoenen.de

Das Haus der schlafenden SchoenenHOUSE OF THE SLEEPING BEAUTIES

Marie accidentally discovers that her husband and thefather of her two children is leading a double life. He hastwo of everything: two wives, two homes and twofamilies. As soon as night falls, Marie leaves her home andsecretly follows her husband to a masked ball. She is look -ing for consolation, for explanations. After daybreak, shewill know whether she can face this new reality and returnto her children …

Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Pro -

duction 2007 Director Nicolette Krebitz Screenplay

Nicolette Krebitz Director of Photography Bella HalbenEditor Sara Schilde Music by Fetisch & Me, Whitest Boy AliveProduction Design Christel Rehm, Sylvester KoziolekProducer Tom Tykwer Production Company X FilmeCreative Pool/Berlin, in co-production with NDR/Hamburg

Principal Cast Nina Hoss, Devid Striesow, Marc Hosemann,Franziska Petri, Monica Bleibtreu, Otto Sander, Angelika Taschen,Guenther Maria Halmer Casting Molitoris Casting/HamburgLength 83 min, 2,270 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original

Version German Subtitled Versions English, French Sound

Technology Dolby SRD Awards Best Screenplay NordischeFilmtage Luebeck 2007 With backing from FilmFoerderungHamburg, MSH Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard Berlin-Branden -burg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) German Distributor XVerleih/Berlin

Nicolette Krebitz is an award-winning actress, writer anddirector. Her films as a director include: Jeans (2001), Mon

Chérie (2001), and The Heart is a Dark Forest (Das

Herz ist ein dunkler Wald, 2007).

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2 · 2 0 0 7 5 1

World Sales (please contact) X Filme Creative Pool GmbH

Kurfuerstenstrasse 57 · 10785 Berlin/Germany

phone +49-30-23 08 33 11 · fax +49-30-23 08 33 22

email: [email protected] · www.x-filme.de

Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald THE HEART IS A DARK FOREST

A village on the edge of the Lower Zambesi NationalPark. The children hate wild animals because they destroyharvests and kill people. But there are actually many ani-mals which the children have never seen. We accompanya few children on their first trip into the nearby but un -known wilderness.

Meanwhile Wildlife Police Officers try to track downpoach ers in the national park. Shots are echoing throughthe bush.

Genre Education, Nature Category Documentary TV Year of

Production 2007 Directors Marcus Lenz, Ingo RudloffScreenplay Marcus Lenz Director of Photog raphy MarcusLenz Editors Marcus Lenz, Ingo Rudloff Music by Oliver HeussProducer Ingo Rudloff Production Company irrlicht-film/Berlin Length 52 min Format DigiBeta, color, 16:9Original Version German Dubbed Version English Sound

Techno logy Dolby

Marcus Lenz was born in the Ruhr Basin in 1969. After com -pleting his studies in Essen, he worked as a communications de -signer before discovering his love for storytelling. In 1995 he beganstudies at the German Film & Television Academy in Berlin andfounded the production company irrlicht-film in 2001 together withIngo Rudloff. He also works as an animal film director and directorof photography. Among other films, he shot Das Wunder von

Kaufbeuren (by Gerald Maas and Tine Kugler), as well as thePortuguese features Esquece tudo o que te disse and Respirar (byAntonio Ferreira) and won the award for Best Cinematography at theFestival Ibérico de Cine in Badajoz/Spain in 2001. His films as adirector include: immer und immer (short, 1997), alles ist

nie (short, 1998), Der gelbe Fluss – Leben und Sterben

in Hongkong (documentary, 2000), Deutsche Angst (2001),Close (2004), 24 UTC – Die Welt um Mitternacht (docu-mentary, 2006), and (together with Ingo Rudloff ) Phantoms of

the Night – Lynxes in Europe (2003), Snakes Nearby –

The Hunt for Species (2005), and School Trip Into

Poachers’ Territory (2007).

Ingo Rudloff was born in 1969 in Bochum and studiedPsychology with high honors at the Ruhr University Bochum, wherehe also instructed after his graduation. His other films include:Evacuation (1994), Rungholt – Hommage to Mechthild

von Leusch (1995), and Oskar Sala – The Former Future

of Sound (2000).

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World Sales

HS Media Consult · Heide Schramm

Wasenstrasse 29 · 72135 Dettenhausen/Germany

phone +49-71 57-62 00 08 · fax +49-71 57-62 00 09

email: [email protected] · www.hsmedia-consult.de

Klassenfahrt in das Revier der WildererSCHOOL TRIP INTO POACHERS’ TERRITORY

Two Lebanese women, who have lived in Germany for 15years and organized public art performances in Berlinduring the Israel-Lebanon war, travel to Lebanon to betterunderstand the impact of the war in their country. At siteswhich represent the past and present times, they tell abouttheir own experiences in Lebanon, meet friends andstrang ers, and offer an insight into the current situation inLebanon – between hope and hopelessness.

Genre History Category Documentary TV Year of

Production 2007 Director Uwe-S. Tautenhahn Director of

Photography Uwe-S. Tautenhahn Editors Uwe-S. Tautenhahn,Michael Schehl Music by Frank Makaroon Producer Uwe-S.Tautenhahn Production Company Tpoint Film/Berlin, in co-production with Gaffer & Grip Filmproduktion/Berlin, Raouche-Film/Beirut With Houda Peatz, Chaza Charafeddine Length 60min Format HDV, color, 16:9 Original Version

German/Arabic Subtitled Version English Voice Over

English Sound Technology Stereo

Uwe-S. Tautenhahn was born in 1962 in Zwickau. In 1988, hebegan working as a cameraman and documentary filmmaker. Hisfilms include: Outing (short, 1996), The Fall (short, 2003), andLebanon – Resisting Lunacy (Libanon – Standhalten

im Wahnsinn, 2007).

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World Sales (please contact) Tpoint Film · Uwe-S. Tautenhahn

Schoenhauser Allee 151 · 10435 Berlin/Germany

phone +49-30-42 01 74 70 · fax +49-30-6 71 26 32


Libanon – Standhalten im WahnsinnLEBANON – RESISTING LUNACY

When Jara meets Arie, her father’s boyhood friend, she isimmediately drawn to his unflinching and assured pre -sence. It is not long before she forsakes her well-meaninghusband for the powerful, mysterious older man, whoseems to represent something totally new and exciting inher life. In short: will, strength and the key to her family’smysterious past. They fall into a heated affair that soondrifts towards the destructive as Jara realizes the things inArie that attract and repel her with equal intensity at thesame time. The story does not only deal with getting herfeelings and love under control, in addition it describes theway of finding her own personality in consideration of herdifficult family background.

The novel Lovelife is cerebral, seductive, provocative, andprofound and was 25 weeks in the European Top 10 listof bestselling books. Lovelife has been declared a trueliterary celebration … one of the most inspired novels everwritten in Israeli literature.

Genre Drama, Literature Category Feature Film Cinema Year

of Production 2007 Director Maria Schrader Screenplay

Maria Schrader, Laila Stieler, based on a novel by Zeruya ShalevDirector of Photography Benedict Neuenfels Editor AntjeZynga Music by Niki Reiser Production Design Christian M.Goldbeck Producers Stefan Arndt, Marek RozenbaumProduction Company X Filme Creative Pool/Berlin, in co-pro-duction with Transfax Film/Tel Aviv Principal Cast Netta Garti,Rade Sherbedgia, Tovah Feldshuh, Stephen Singer Casting EstherKling, Avy Kaufman Special Effects Pini Klavir Length 104 min,2,846 m Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version EnglishDubbed Version German Sound Technology Dolby SRDWith backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Film foerderungs anstalt(FFA), Medien board Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM, Israel Film FundGerman Distributor X Verleih/Berlin

Maria Schrader was born in 1965 in Hanover. In 1999, she wasnamed as one of the European Film Promotion’s “Shooting Stars”.Primarily active as an actress, she has worked with some ofGermany’s most successful directors, in films including Aimée &

Jaguar (Max Faerbrboeck), Bin ich schoen? (Doris Doerrie), Emil und

die Detektive (Franziska Buch), Meschugge, Vaeter, and Stille Nacht

(Dani Levy), Rosenstrasse (Margarethe von Trotta), and Schneeland

(Hans W. Geissendoerfer). Together with director Dani Levy, shealso co-directed Meschugge and Stille Nacht.

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2 · 2 0 0 7 5 4

World Sales (please contact) X Filme Creative Pool GmbH

Kurfuerstenstrasse 57 · 10785 Berlin/Germany

phone +49-30-23 08 33 11 · fax +49-30-23 08 33 22

email: [email protected] · www.x-filme.de

Liebesleben LOVELIFE

Sam is a rapper, so are his best friends. Around a soccerfield in Hamburg in the shadow of three skyscrapers theylive their lives and love their music. When one of hisfriends starts an affair with Sam’s girlfriend Lisa, angrysilence starts, till the ‘mikrofan’ takes the word up …

Mikrofan is a milieu film about hip hop music, friendship,love, morals, drugs, dealing, betraying and about talkingand not talking.

Genre Drama, Music Category Feature Film Cinema Year of

Production 2007 Director Matthias Staehle Screenplay

Matthias Staehle Director of Photography Sven O. HillEditor Tobias Peper Music by Starssindamarsch Production

Design Anke Spaeth Producer Matthias Staehle Production

Company Meerfilm/Hamburg Principal Cast Philipp Babing,Julia Ehlers, David Stegemann, Johannes Schaefer, Renato Schuch,Nadine Nollau, Rebecca Lina Casting Matthias Staehle Length

80 min, 2,200 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original

Version German Subtitled Versions English, French Sound

Technology Dolby SR With backing from HfbK Hamburg,Mbf, Studio Hamburg, Kodak, VCC, Das Werk, Konken Tonstudios

Matthias Staehle was born in 1975 and studied VisualCommunication in Film at the Academy of Fine Arts Hamburg.After his studies, he worked as a freelance director and foundedthe production company meerfilm and the audiovisual label music-fiction (www.musicfiction.de). A selection of his films as a writerand director include: the shorts Leaving (1999), Johnny’s Ark

(2001), 4 O’Clock (2002), 50 Euro (2003), Window to

Chile (2004), Advent, Advent (2004), Desertion (2005)and the feature Mikrofan (2007).

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World Sales (please contact) Meerfilm · Matthias Staehle

Scheplerstrasse 1 · 22767 Hamburg/Germany

phone +49-1 72-7 15 49 42

email: [email protected] · www.meerfilm.com

Mikrofan

Once upon a time there lived a man up in the silverymoon. He was so lonely that he hadn’t laughed for a hun-dred years. His greatest wish was to visit us humans, justonce in his life. One night his dream was fulfilled and hemanaged to voyage down to earth on a buzzling comet.But nobody understood the poor creature. Nobody –except one …

A dreamlike adventure into the imagination of a child,based on Tomi Ungerer’s classic picture-book TheMoonman.

Genre Children and Youth, Family Category Short Year of

Production 2006 Director Fritz Boehm Screenplay FritzBoehm Director of Photography Michael Praun Editors

Horst Reiter, Fritz Boehm Music by Martina EisenreichProduction Design Susanne Prieschl, Monika NuechternProducers Sven Nuri, Fritz Boehm, Christoph StrunckProduction Company Toccata Film/Munich, in co-productionwith Hochschule fuer Fernsehen und Film Muenchen (HFF/M)/Munich, BR/Munich, Alexander Dierbach & Hannah Maag/Munich

Principal Cast Michael Tregor, Jana Andjelkovic, Ralf Richter,Piet Klocke, Stefan Rutz Casting Stefany Pohlmann Special

Effects Dirk Lange Length 29 min, 831 m Format 35 mm,color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version

English Sound Technology Dolby Digital 5.1 Festival

Screenings Sprockets Toronto 2007, Golden SparrowGera/Erfurt 2007, Sehsuechte 2007, Munich 2007, Hearts of Gold2007 With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, BKM,Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Foerderverein der HFF/Munich

Fritz Boehm was born in 1980 in Berlin and spent part of hischildhood in the US. He shot his first film, A Fratricide, based onthe short novel by Franz Kafka, in Prague in 2001. During his studiesat the Munich Academy of Television & Film, he founded the pro-duction company Toccata Film together with fellow students SvenNuri and Christoph Strunck. Together they have produced morethan 15 short films and are currently preparing their first feature.Moonman (Mondmann, 2006) is Boehm's graduate film as aproducer and director.

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World Sales (please contact) Toccata Film

Bayerisches Filmzentrum · Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany

phone +49-89-64 98 17 18 · fax +49-89-64 98 13 18

email: [email protected] · www.toccata-film.com

Mondmann MOONMAN

Everybody knows Elvis Presley served Uncle Sam in WestGermany, but have you ever heard of the five AmericanG.I.s who stayed on after their military discharge andform ed one of the wildest and most influential rock bandsof the 60s? Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to thestage the first avant-garde band, The Monks.

Combining rare archival footage of the band’s amazingperformances on live TV with contemporary interviewswith band members, eye witnesses and music com -mentators, this documentary traces the evolution of acombo determined to expand the frontiers of popularmusic. What emerges is a vital and illuminating picture ofGerman-American cross-cultural experience, and a tributeto genuine rock and roll pioneers.

“A loving and penetrating documentary film.” (HollywoodReporter)

“An overdue history lesson.” (Rolling Stone)

“The filmmakers do a vivid job etching the creatively fervidtimes, with an editing style whose dynamism echoes that ofMonk music.” (Variety)

“Like Fechner’s film about the Comedian Harmonists, this docu-mentary combines beautifully the private with the political. The

Monks were the essence of the 60s art world.” (BertholdSeliger)

Genre Art, Culture, History, Music Category DocumentaryCinema Year of Production 2006 Directors Dietmar Post,Lucía Palacios Editors Dieter Jaufmann, Karl-W. HuelsenbeckSoundtrack “silver monk time” featuring The Fall, Faust, JonSpencer, Alan Vega, Psychic TV, Mouse on Mars, Alec Empire, Int.Noise Conspiracy, The Gossip, the original Monks and othersMovie Poster Daniel Richter Producers Dietmar Post, LucíaPalacios Production Company play loud! productions/Berlin,in co-production with ZDF & 3sat/Mainz, HR/Frankfurt Principal

Cast The Monks, Charles Wilp, Jochen Irmler, Jon Spencer,Genesis P. Orridge, Peter Zaremba, Byron Coley, Jimmy Bowien,Gerd Henjes, Wolfgang Gluszczewski Length 100 min Format

DigiBeta, color, 4:3 Original Version English/GermanSubtitled Version English Sound Technology StereoFestival Screenings Los Angeles 2006, Leeds 2006, Munich2006, Chicago 2006, Minneapolis 2006, Frankfurt 2006, Kassel2006, Oslo 2006, Gijon 2006, Goeteborg 2007, Copenhagen 2007,Wuerzburg 2007 Awards Audience Pick Leeds 2006, Best

Documentary Wuerzburg 2007, Audience Award Berlin & Beyond SanFrancisco 2007 With backing from Filmfoerderung Hessen,Filmstiftung NRW, Filmbuero NW, Chicago Underground FilmFund, Anthology Film Archives, Cine Impuls

Dietmar Post was born in 1962. As a director and producer, hehas been working on short films and documentaries, such as Bowl

of Oatmeal (1996), Cloven Hoofed (1998) and Reverend

Billy (2002). Together with Spanish-born Lucía Palacios hedirected his second feature-length documentary Monks – The

Trans atlantic Feedback (2006). They are currently planning anew film together entitled Franco’s Settlers.

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2 · 2 0 0 7 5 7

World Sales (please contact)play loud! productions · Dietmar Post

Gubener Strasse 23 · 10243 Berlin/Germany

phone +49-30-29 77 93 15 · fax +49-30-29 77 93 16

email: [email protected] · www.playloud.org

Monks – The Transatlantic Feedback

He’s back … meaner and more dangerous than ever …The Vexxer … Scotland Yard’s funniest nightmare!

Thick fog is once again covering night-time London. Darkshadows fall on the city like a freshly ironed shroud.Sounds exactly like Edgar Wallace! But honestly, he alsohad nothing to do with this installment of the Skeleton-faced killer.

Three years ago, Chief Inspector Evan Longer and hispartner, Very Long, fought the evil gangster for the firsttime, but ever since he’s re turn ed, Scotland Yard is inshock. The Vexxer has published a death-list and VeryLong is on it!

The most important thing is to protect the poor and hel-pless victims, especially the beautiful Victoria Dickham,daughter of Lord Dickham and the secret love-interest ofEvan Longer. While the Chief Inspector is in seventh heav -en, the Vexxer starts working his list …

Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of

Production 2007 Directors Cyrill Boss, Philipp StennertScreenplay Oliver Kalkofe, Oliver Welke, Bastian PastewkaDirector of Photography Jochen Staeblein Editor StefanEssl Music by Helmut Zerlett, Christoph Zirngiebl Pro duction

Design Matthias Muesse Producer Christian Becker Pro -

duction Company Rat Pack Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-pro-duction with German Filmproduction GFP/Berlin, B.A. Produktion/Munich Principal Cast Oliver Kalkofe, Bastian Pastewka, JoachimFuchsberger, Christiane Paul, Sonja Kirchberger, Judy Winter,Christoph Maria Herbst, Hella von Sinnen, Christian Tramitz, OliverWelke, Chris Howland, Wolfgang Voelz, Lars Rudolph, ThomasHeinze, Martin Semmelrogge Special Effects Gregor EcksteinLength 94 min, 2,571 m Format 35 mm, color/b&w, csOriginal Version German Subtitled Version English Sound

Technology Dolby Digital With backing from

FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Bayerischer BankenFonds BBF,Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) German Distributor ConstantinFilm Verleih/Munich

Cyrill Boss’s films include: Richtung All gaeu (2003),Maerchenstunde: Rapunzel oder Mord ist ihr Hobby

(TV, 2006), Maerchen stunde: Zwerg Nase – 4 Faeuste

fuer ein Zauberkraut (TV, 2006), and The Vexxer (Neues

vom Wixxer, 2007).

Philipp Stennert’s films include: Dark (1998), Shadowman

(short, 2001), Agujero (2004), Maerchenstunde: Rapunzel

oder Mord ist ihr Hobby (TV, 2006), Maerchen stunde:

Zwerg Nase – 4 Faeuste fuer ein Zauberkraut (TV,2006), and The Vexxer (Neues vom Wixxer, 2007).

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World Sales

Atlas International Film GmbH · Stefan Menz, Dieter Menz, Philipp Menz

Candidplatz 11 · 81543 Munich/Germany

phone +49-89-2 10 97 50 · fax +49-89-22 43 32

email: [email protected] · www.atlasfilm.com

Neues vom Wixxer THE VEXXER

The highrise estate Osdorfer Born in west Hamburg isregarded as something of a social hot spot. Although mostof the boys from Osdorf weren’t even born in Germany,they feel strongly attached to their neighborhood andproudly display their ghetto identity. However, the boyshave their doubts – they are aware that it is a strangeworld they live in, where a criminal counts more thansomeone who goes to school. The film follows these boys,in their search for answers to the difficult questions ofeveryday life – why do they commit crimes? Which otherways can they see for themselves? Do they have dreams?In what way do they feel responsible? It is the ambiguitybetween the boys’ refreshingly honest reflections and thegangster clichés they copy that lets their charm unfold.

To gain respect, certain codes have to be adhered to.Alican and Siar, the film’s protagonists, know the rules ofthe Osdorf streets. They worked hard for their reputation,and they see hardly any alternative to the lives they livethere.

Some of the boys from the group take part in the project“Prisoners Help Juveniles”. They are deeply impressedafter a visit with inmates of the Fuhlsbuettel correctionalfacility, “Santa Fu”. They identify with the felons: the meet -

ing becomes a reflective experience. However, the filmleaves open what consequences this visit may have andwhat the boys’ future may bring.

Genre Society, Youth & Immigration Category DocumentaryCinema Year of Production 2007 Director Maja ClassenScreenplay Maja Classen Directors of Photography

Johannes Neumann, Christoph Lemmen Editor Thomas KrauseMusic by Nicolas Hoeppner, CC Attack, Adrenalin featuringDanny Producer Max Springer Production Company

Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf ’/Potsdam-Babelsberg Length 77 min Format DigiBeta, color, 16:9Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound

Technology Dolby Surround Festival Screenings Berlin2007 (Perspectives German Cinema)

Maja Classen was born in 1974 in Hamburg. Before her studiesat the ’Konrad Wolf ’ Academy of Film & Television from 2000-2006, she worked as an assistant director and completed a trainingcourse in editing and production in San Francisco and studiedAmerican Studies, Psychology and German Literature in Hamburg.Her films include: the shorts Nightshot (1999), The Juggler

(2000), Alles soll in Erfuellung gehen (2001), Heimat

(2003), Tancu (2004), and the documentary features Don’t

Forget to Go Home (Feiern, 2006), and Osdorf (2007).

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2 · 2 0 0 7 5 9

World Sales (please contact) Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf’ · Cristina Marx

Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 11 · 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany

phone +49-3 31-6 20 25 64 · fax +49-3 31-6 20 25 69

email: [email protected] · www.hff-potsdam.de

Osdorf

Paul has lived all over the world, but he hasn’t really seenmuch of it. His father is a diplomat. But since Paul’smother died, his father has become rather introverted andis not really interested in much. At the moment, the fami-ly, which also includes Paul’s little sister, lives in Mongolia.

One day Paul breaks out of his pampered home. What heis really after is his father’s attention, and what he gets is agreat adventure. Paul befriends Bataar, who has also runaway from his difficult nomad existence.

Together, the two observe a gang of thieves and while onthe chase after them not only do they get to know the en -tire country but also get into a heap of trouble. Then sur-prisingly they manage to outwit the gang and finally getthe recognition they so dearly crave.

With Bataar, Paul discovers a foreign culture, the vastnessof the steppe, and the freedom that allows him to leave hisdisappointments behind.

Genre Children and Youth, Family, Road Movie Category

Feature Film Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director

Caterina Klusemann Screenplay Caterina KlusemannDirectors of Photography Batmunkh Purevdorj, GonchigBatnyagt Editor Anja Lueke Music by Claas Willeke, MatthiasRaue Producers Caterina Klusemann, Elke Ried Production

Companies Zieglerfilm Koeln/Cologne, Caterina KlusemannFilmproduktion/Berlin Principal Cast Vashik Piños, AjnaiErdenee, Josh Evans, David O’Connor, Myagmar RentzenkhandLength 70 min Format DV, color Original Version English/Mongolian Dubbed Version German Sound Techno logy

Mono

Caterina Klusemann was born in 1973 in Lucca/Italy andgrew up in Venezuela, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. She studiedBiochemistry from 1991-1995 in Basel, followed by studies in FilmDirection at Columbia University from 1996-2001. Her films in -clude: H&G (short, 2000), Matrilineal (short, 2001), Ima

(2001), For Our Man (short, 2002), and Paul and Bataar

(2006).

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2 · 2 0 0 7 6 0

World Sales (please contact) Zieglerfilm Koeln GmbH

Breite Strasse 100 / Auf dem Berlich 1 · 50667 Cologne/Germany

phone +49-2 21-2 72 72 60 · fax +49-2 21-27 27 26 26

email: [email protected] · www.zieglerfilmkoeln.de

Paul und Bataar PAUL AND BATAAR

Vienna’s Prater is an amusement park and a desire ma -chine. No mechanical invention, no novel idea or sen -sational innovation could escape incorporation into thePrater. The diverse story-telling in Ulrike Ottinger’s filmPrater transforms this place of sensations into a moderncinema of attractions. The Prater’s history from the be -ginning to the present is told by its protagonists and thosewho have documented it, including contemporary cine-matic images of the Prater, interviews with carnies, com-mentary by Austrians and visitors from abroad, filmquotes, and photogr aphic and written documentarymaterials. The meaning of the Prater, its status as a placeof technological innovation, and its role as a culturalmedium are reflected in texts by Elfriede Jelinek, Josef vonSternberg, Erich Kaestner and Elias Canetti, as well as inmusic devoted to this amusement venue throughout thecourse of its history.

Genre Culture Category Documentary Cinema Year of

Production 2007 Director Ulrike Ottinger Assistant

Director Hanne Lassl Screenplay Maria Turek Director of

Photography Ulrike Ottinger Editor Bettina Blickwede Music

by Klaus Kellermann Producer Ulrike Ottinger Production

Company Ulrike Ottinger Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co-pro -duction with Kurt Mayer Film/Vienna, WDR/Cologne Length

104 min, 3,009 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original

Version German Subtitled Version English Sound

Technology Dolby Digital Surround Festival Screenings

Berlin 2007 (Forum), Mar del Plata 2007 With backing from

ORF, Filmfonds Wien

Ulrike Ottinger was born in Konstanz in 1942 and studied Artin Munich from 1959-1961. She has been living in Berlin since 1973and is a member of the Academy of Arts and the European FilmAcademy in Berlin. Active as a writer, director and camerawoman,her films include: Laokoon & Sons (Laokoon & Soehne,1973), Madame X – An Absolute Ruler (Madame X –

eine absolute Herrscherin, 1977), Ticket of No Return

(Bildnis einer Trinkerin, 1979), Freak Orlando (1980),Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press (Dorian

Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse, 1984), China.

The Arts – The People (China. Die Kuenste, der

Alltag, 1985), Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia (1989), Taiga

(1992), Exil Shanghai (1997), Southeast Passage

(Suedost Passage, 2002), Twelve Chairs (Zwoelf

Stuehle, 2004), and Prater (2007) among others. Sc

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2 · 2 0 0 7 6 1

World Sales

Media Luna Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG · Ida Martins

Hochstadenstrasse 1-3 · 50674 Cologne/Germany

phone +49-2 21-8 01 49 80 · fax +49-2 21-80 14 98 21

email: [email protected] · www.medialuna-entertainment.de

Prater

Prussian Gangstars is a slice of life view of three youthsin small-town Brandenburg. The idyllic setting and themodest prosperity of the community mask the problemswith which the young people have to contend. Nico is aschool drop-out, dreaming of a hip-hop career. Tino, in aneffort to satisfy the expectations of his mother, strugglesto gain his lower school certificate. Oli wants to open aclub, but his girlfriend dreams of leaving their hum-drumprovincial life behind them. The difficulties seem routineenough. Nonetheless, an unfathomable void develops be -tween their youthful values and those of their parents.Only their friendship gives them a degree of security.Together they are the “Prussian Gangstars”.

Genre Coming-of-Age, Drama Category Feature Film CinemaYear of Production 2007 Directors Irma-Kinga Stelmach,Bartosz Werner Screenplay Irma-Kinga Stelmach, BartoszWerner Directors of Photography Andreas Bergmann, BenPohl Editor Marc Hofmeister Music by Benjamin Krbetschek,Preussisch Gangstar, Kolonne Ost Producer Philip PrattProduction Company Fortuna Film/Berlin, in co-productionwith Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf ’/Potsdam-Babelsberg Principal Cast Mario Knofe, Robert Ohde, BenjaminSuccow Length 88 min Format HDV Blow-up 35 mm, color,1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English

Sound Technology Stereo Festival Screenings OphuelsFestival Saarbruecken 2007, Filmkunst Fest Schwerin 2007, FilmfestCottbus 2007 Awards Best Original Score Saarbruecken 2007With backing from MSH Schleswig-Holstein, FilmbueroBremen

Irma-Kinga Stelmach was born in 1975 in Boleslawiec/Poland and has been living in Germany since 1989. After taking adiploma in Fine Arts in Berlin, she studied at the Central SaintMartins College of Art & Design in London and at UIC Chicago. Shehas been studying Directing at the ’Konrad Wolf ’ Academy of Film& Television since 2002. Her films include: Kurowski Shop

(2001), Happy Christmas (Frohe Weihnachten, 2002),Jubilate (2004), hold.me.loose (halt.mich.los, 2005),afterhour (2006), and Prussian Gangstars (Preussisch

Gangstar, 2007).

Bartosz Werner was born in 1979 in Bielsko Biala/Poland andhas been living in Germany since 1986. He studied at the ’KonradWolf ’ Academy of Film & Television from 2000-2006. His filmsinclude: Seven Seconds (Sieben Sekunden, 2001), Mr.

Hollywood Star (2002), New Worlds (Neue Welten,2003), Sweet Lullabies (2004), Highway (Autobahn,2005), Kinzels Backyard (Kinzels Hinterhof, 2006), andPrussian Gangstars (Preussisch Gangstar, 2007).

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World Sales (please contact) Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf’ · Cristina Marx

Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 11 · 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany

phone +49-3 31-6 20 25 64 · fax +49-3 31-6 20 25 69

email: [email protected] · www.hff-potsdam.de

Preussisch Gangstar PRUSSIAN GANGSTARS

On the 17th of June 1986 a man is dragged out of a lakein East Berlin. He turns out to be the US American singerand actor Dean Reed, a highly mysterious legend ofglobal pop culture during Cold War times.

After leaving his hometown in Colorado at a young age inorder to take acting classes in Hollywood, Reed soon isproduced by Capitol Records and successfully launched inSouth America. In Chile he experiences his political initia-tion and transforms to a contradictive freedom fighterafter the Pinochet Coup in 1973. He devotes himself tothe promotion of Socialism. His beliefs make him travel tosupport Arafat – this time with a Kalashnikov in additionto his guitar. Always trying to use his artistic talents to in -fluence global politics, he gains the aura of a US Americanactivist. Rockstar, Cowboy, Socialist – Reed becomes theultimate superstar of the Eastern Bloc. Moreover, he wantsto become Senator of Colorado and calls Reagan a “stateterrorist”. This directs his life to a point of no return.

Dean Reed embodies qualities of mutual exclusiveness,thereby likewise irritating devotees and enemies with hismanifold persona. He acts in 18 movies, records 13albums and performs in more than 32 countries. Reedends up being a distraught rebel. His desire for peace and

justice collides with his yearning for love and affection. Heremains an icon and his ideals remind us of those policiesthat presently regain a strong contemporary quality.

Genre Biopic, History, Music Category Documentary CinemaYear of Production 2007 Director Leopold Gruen Screen -

play Leopold Gruen Director of Photography Thomas JanzeEditor Dirk Uhlig Music by Monomango Producer ThomasJanze Production Company Totho cmp/Berlin With IsabelAllende Bussi, Celino Bleiweiss, Peter Boyles, Egon Krenz, MarenZeidler, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Wiebke Reed, Guenter ReischLength 90 min, 2,466 m Format DigiBeta, color, 16:9 Blow-up

35 mm, color, 16:9 Original Version German/English/SpanishSubtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SRFestival Screenings Berlin 2007 (Panorama) With backing

from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, DEFA Foundation, SONYDeutschland German Distributor Neue Visionen Filmver -leih/Berlin

Leopold Gruen was born in 1968 in Dresden. He studied MediaPedagogy and worked as a teacher from 1990-1996, followed bystudies in Media Consultancy and Sociology from 1998-2001. Since2001, he has been working as a freelance documentary director andmedia consultant and began working on The Red Elvis (Der

Rote Elvis) in 2002.

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2 · 2 0 0 7 6 3

World Sales

ARRI Media Worldsales · Antonio Exacoustos

Tuerkenstrasse 89 · 80799 Munich/Germany

phone +49-89-38 09 12 88 · fax +49-89-38 09 16 19

email: [email protected] · www.arri-mediaworldsales.de

Der Rote Elvis THE RED ELVIS

Not all men are idiots – some are complete idiots.

Simon Peters, a passionless telephone salesman, is downon his luck, has no girlfriend and is about to turn thirty. Hisgirlfriend left him a year ago and a new situation is no -where in sight. Neither the Cologne nightlife scene nor theattempts by his Croatian cleaning lady to hook him upwith someone offer any sort of hope of sexual fulfillment.But one day, behind the window of the All AmericanCoffee Company he sees the woman of his dreams:Marcia P. Garcia, a South American expert in the art offrothing milk. She has a sensational smile and an equallysensa tional body. Simon is certain – she’s the one. Thewoman of his life. The mother of his bilingual children. Justone lit tle thing stands in the way of a romantic wedding:Simon still has to approach her first.

Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of

Production 2007 Director Tobi Baumann Screenplay

Tommy Jaud Director of Photography Jo Heim Editor

Martin Wolf Music by Stephan & Cecil Remmler Production

Design Josef Sanktjohanser Producers Christoph Mueller, SvenBurgemeister Production Company Senator Film Produktion/

Berlin, in co-production with Europool/Munich, in cooperation withPictorion Pictures/Huerth, Goldkind Film/Munich Principal

Cast Oliver Pocher, Oliver Fleischer, Tanja Wenzel, Anke Engelke,Ellenie Salvo González, Tomas Sinclair Spencer, Herbert FeuersteinCasting Emrah Ertem Length 102 min, 2,783 m Format 35mm, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version

English Sound Technology Dolby Digital With backing

from Filmstiftung NRW, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA),Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM German Distri butor

Senator Film Verleih/Berlin

Tobi Baumann was born in 1974 in Koblenz. He began hiscomedy career as a writer for the RTL Nachtshow and Die Harald

Schmidt Show and has been directing and winning awards for suchtelevision comedy shows as Die Wochenshow, Lady -

kracher, and Ohne Worte. A “self-made man” in the Germancomedy scene, Der Wixxer (2004) was his feature debut, follow -ed by the TV series LiebesLeben and Ladyland, and hissecond feature Complete Idiot (Vollidiot, 2007).


2 · 2 0 0 7 6 4

World Sales



phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29


Vollidiot COMPLETE IDIOT

Scen

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Com

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(ph

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© S

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Love sure is a tough nut to crack, and Sprotte, Frieda,Melanie, Wilma and Trude can tell you a thing or twoabout it. All the "wild chicks" are struggling with it.Melanie is deeply hurt since Willi has left her for anothergirl, Nana, who’s two years older than him. Frieda has acomplicated weekend relationship with Maik, whom shemet at riding camp. Trude dreams of fellow student Ricky’ssmoldering gaze. And Sprotte is still seeing Fred. In fact,everything would be great between them if it weren’t forSprotte’s jealousy. The wild chicks’ leader also has anotherproblem to cope with: her mother Sybille is planning tomarry Thorben when Sprotte’s father sudden ly turns upafter twelve years and sets Sybille’s heart all aflutter … Butthe most difficult relation of all has to be Wilma’s. Love, asthe chicks come to realize, doesn’t always have to do withboys. In spite of all the emotional turmoil, the cliquemanages to stick together – which is just what you’dexpect from these wild chicks!

Genre Family Entertainment Category Feature Film CinemaYear of Production 2007 Director Vivian NaefeScreenplay Marie Graf, Uschi Reich, Vivian Naefe Director of

Photography Peter Doettling (bvk) Editor HansjoergWeissbrich (bfs) Music by Annette Focks Production Design

Annette Ingerl Producers Uschi Reich, Peter Zenk Co-

Producers Gabriele Heuser, Susanne van Lessen Production

Company Bavaria Filmverleih- & Produktion/Munich, in co-pro-

duction with Lunaris Film/Munich, Constantin Film Production/Munich, ZDF/Mainz Principal Cast Michelle von Treuberg, PaulaRiemann, Jette Hering, Lucie Hollmann, Zsá Zsá Inci Buerkle, SveaBein, Veronica Ferres, Thomas Kretschmann, Oliver Stokowski,Jessica Schwarz, Doris Schade, Benno Fuermann Casting

Jacqueline Rietz, Maria Schwarz, An Dorthe Braker Length 108min, 2,970 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version

German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology

Dolby SR With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, FilmFern -sehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungs anstalt (FFA), BayerischerBankenFonds BBF German Distri butor Constantin FilmVerleih/Munich

Vivian Naefe studied at the Academy of Television & Film inMunich from 1978-1982. Her other films include: Schwarzer

Bube (1984), Ticket nach Rom (1985), Der Boss aus dem

Westen (1987), Pizza-Express (1988), Mauritius-Los

(1989), Fuer immer jung (1990), Mit allen Mitteln (akaMeine Tochter gehoert mir, 1991), Todesreigen (TV,1992), Toedliches Netz (TV, 1993), Mann sucht Frau (TV,1994), Zaubergirl (TV, 1994), Ich liebe den Mann meiner

Tochter (TV, 1995), Blutiger Asphalt (TV, 1995), Lautlose

Jagd (TV, 1996), 2 Maenner, 2 Frauen, 4 Probleme (1997),Rache fuer mein totes Kind (TV, 1998), Einer geht noch

(TV, 2000), Kleine Diebe (TV, 2000), Frauen luegen besser

(TV, 2000), Bobby (TV, 2001), Die Schoenheit von

Bitterfeld (TV, 2002), So schnell Du kannst (TV, 2002),Wellen (TV, 2004), and Die Wilden Huehner (2005).

Scen

e fr

om “

Wild

Chi

cks

in L

ove”

(ph

oto

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Con

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2 · 2 0 0 7 6 5

World Sales



phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20


Die Wilden Huehner und die Liebe WILD CHICKS IN LOVE

VGF INFORMATION

REMUNERATION IN GERMANYFOR

PRIVATE COPYING – RENTAL OF VIDEOGRAMS – CABLE RETRANSMISSION

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

Since 1982 VGF collects video levy monies due to German and foreign film producers under Art. 54 of the German CopyrightAct (for blank cassettes and VCR’s) and distributes them to the respective rightsowners. The German

Collecting Societies Act obliges VGF to make sure that all authors/rightsowners and owners of neighbouring rights of motion pictures, including foreign rightsowners who enjoy national treatment under the international copyright

conventions, receive an equitable share of the monies collected for all rightsowners of programs broadcasted by German TV-Stations. Since it is virtually impossible for the individual rightsowners to control the use of the property and to make claims individually, Art. 54 provides that the respective rights must be administered collectively and

claims can be made through a collecting society only.

VGF now administers a great number of film rights of important film and TV producers from USA, Great Britain, Germany and other countries who have joined VGF as members. Since VGF’s activities come under the supervision of

the German Patent Office, it is safeguarded that a fair devision of monies among all rightsowners concerned takes place and that producers receive an equitable share of the video levy revenues in Germany.

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

Art. 54 German Copyright Act – Video Levy

Art. 54 of the German Copyright Act provides a remuneration for private copying of TV programs. As the rightowner cannot prevent private copying, manufacturers and importers of blank cassettes and VCR’s are charged with a levy.

The claim can be made by a collecting society only (Art. 54 Sec. 6.1 German Copyright Act). VGF as a trustee administers the rights for film and TV producers and distributes the respective amounts to the rightsowners.

Licensing of television rights does not imply transfer of the above mentioned right.

Art. 27 German Copyright Act – Rental Levy

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

that claims can be made by collecting societies only.

Art. 20 b German Copyright Act – Cable Retransmission Fee

Rightowners whose programs are broadcast by German TV stations and retransmitted via cable are also entitled to a remuneration for such cable retransmission. VGF is also active in collecting this fee. Administration of the above

mentioned fees by VGF incurrs no costs for the rightsowners. If your company is interested in collecting these remu nerations,please contact VGF for more detailed information.

VGF Verwertungsgesellschaft für Nutzungsrechte an Filmwerken mbH

Neue Schönhauser Straße 10, D-10178 BerlinPhone: 0049-30-2 79 07 39-46 Fax: 0049-30-2 79 07 39 48

[email protected]

Beichstraße 8, D-80802 MünchenPhone: 0049-89-39 14 25 Fax: 0049-89-3 40 12 91

g e r m a n f i l m s q u a r t e r l y s h a r e h o l d e r s & s u p p o r t e r s

2 · 2 0 0 7 6 7

SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORTERS

GERMAN FILMS

Arbeitsgemeinschaft

Neuer Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten e.V.

Association of New Feature Film Producers

Muenchner Freiheit 20, 80802 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-2 71 74 30, fax +49-89-2 71 97 28 email: [email protected], www.ag-spielfilm.de

Filmfoerderungsanstalt

German Federal Film Board

Grosse Praesidentenstrasse 9, 10178 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-27 57 70, fax +49-30-27 57 71 11email: [email protected], www.ffa.de

Verband Deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE)

Association of German Film Exporters

Tegernseer Landstrasse 75, 81539 Munich/Germanyphone +49- 89-6 42 49 70, fax +49-89-6 92 09 10email: [email protected], www.vdfe.de

Verband Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten e.V.

Association of German Feature Film Producers

Beichstrasse 8, 80802 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-39 11 23, fax +49-89-33 74 32

Bundesverband Deutscher Fernsehproduzenten e.V.

Association of German Television Producers

Brienner Strasse 26, 80333 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-28 62 83 85, fax +49-89-28 62 82 47 email: [email protected], www.tv-produzenten.de

Deutsche Kinemathek

Museum fuer Film und Fernsehen

Potsdamer Strasse 2, 10785 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-30-30 09 03-0, fax +49-30-30 09 03-13email: [email protected], www.deutsche-kinemathek.de

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm e.V.

German Documentary Association

Schweizer Strasse 6, 60594 Frankfurt am Main/Germanyphone +49-69-62 37 00, fax +49-61 42-96 64 24 email: [email protected], www.agdok.de

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kurzfilm e.V.

German Short Film Association

Kamenzer Strasse 60, 01099 Dresden/Germanyphone +49-3 51-4 04 55 75, fax +49-3 51-4 04 55 76email: [email protected], www.ag-kurzfilm.de

Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung

fuer Kultur und Medien

Referat K 35, Europahaus, Stresemannstrasse 94,10963 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-18 88-6 81 49 29, fax +49-18 88-68 15 49 29email: [email protected]

FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH

Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Medien

in Bayern

Sonnenstrasse 21, 80331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-54 46 02-0, fax +49-89-54 46 02 21 email: [email protected], www.fff-bayern.de

FilmFoerderung Hamburg GmbH

Friedensallee 14–16, 22765 Hamburg/Germanyphone +49-40-39 83 70, fax +49-40-3 98 37 10email: [email protected], www.ffhh.de

Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH

Kaistrasse 14, 40221 Duesseldorf/Germanyphone +49-2 11-93 05 00, fax +49-2 11-93 05 05email: [email protected], www.filmstiftung.de

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH

August-Bebel-Strasse 26-53, 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germanyphone +49-3 31-74 38 70, fax +49-3 31-7 43 87 99email: [email protected], www.medienboard.de

Medien- und Filmgesellschaft

Baden-Wuerttemberg mbH

Breitscheidstrasse 4, 70174 Stuttgart/Germanyphone +49-7 11-90 71 54 00, fax +49-7 11-90 71 54 50email: [email protected], www.mfg.de/film

Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung GmbH

Hainstrasse 17-19, 04109 Leipzig/Germanyphone +49-3 41-26 98 70, fax +49-3 41-2 69 87 65email: [email protected], www.mdm-online.de

MSH Gesellschaft zur Foerderung audiovisueller

Werke in Schleswig-Holstein mbH

Schildstrasse 12, 23552 Luebeck/Germanyphone +49-4 51-7 19 77, fax +49-4 51-7 19 78email: [email protected], www.m-s-h.org

nordmedia – Die Mediengesellschaft

Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH

Expo Plaza 1, 30539 Hanover/Germanyphone +49-5 11-1 23 45 60, fax +49-5 11-12 34 56 29email: [email protected], www.nordmedia.de

g e r m a n f i l m s q u a r t e r l y a s s o c i a t i o n o f g e r m a n f i l m e x p o r t e r s

2 · 2 0 0 7 6 9

ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS

Action Concept Film- &Stuntproduktion GmbHplease contact Wolfgang Wilke

An der Hasenkaule 1-750354 Huerth/Germanyphone +49-22 33-50 81 00fax +49-22 33-50 81 80email: [email protected]

ARRI Media Worldsalesplease contact Antonio Exacoustos

Tuerkenstrasse 8980799 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-38 09 12 88fax +49-89-38 09 16 19email: [email protected]

Atlas International Film GmbHplease contact

Stefan Menz, Dieter Menz, Philipp Menz

Candidplatz 1181543 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-21 09 75-0fax +49-89-22 43 32email: [email protected]

ATRIX Films GmbHplease contact Beatrix Wesle,

Solveig Langeland

Aggensteinstrasse 13a81545 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-64 28 26 11fax +49-89-64 95 73 49email: [email protected]

Bavaria Film InternationalDept. of Bavaria Media GmbHplease contact Thorsten Schaumann

Bavariafilmplatz 882031 Geiselgasteig/Germanyphone +49-89-64 99 26 86fax +49-89-64 99 37 20email: [email protected]

Beta CinemaDept. of Beta Film GmbHplease contact Andreas Rothbauer

Gruenwalder Weg 28d82041 Oberhaching/Germanyphone +49-89-67 34 69 80fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88email: [email protected]

cine aktuell Filmgesellschaft mbHplease contact Ralf Faust, Axel Schaarschmidt

Werdenfelsstrasse 8181377 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-7 41 34 30fax +49-89-74 13 43 16email: [email protected]

Cine-International FilmvertriebGmbH & Co. KGplease contact Lilli Tyc-Holm, Susanne Groh

Leopoldstrasse 1880802 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-39 10 25fax +49-89-33 10 89email: [email protected]

EEAP Eastern European Acquisition Pool GmbH please contact Alexander van Duelmen

Alexanderstrasse 710178 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-30-25 76 23 30fax +49-30-25 76 23 59email: [email protected]

Exportfilm Bischoff & Co. GmbHplease contact Jochem Strate,

Philip Evenkamp

Isabellastrasse 20, 80798 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-2 72 93 60fax +49-89-27 29 36 36email: [email protected]

german united distributors Programmvertrieb GmbHplease contact Silke Spahr

Breite Strasse 48-5050667 Cologne/Germanyphone +49-2 21-92 06 90fax +49-2 21-9 20 69 69 email: [email protected]

Kinowelt International GmbHFutura Film Weltvertriebim Filmverlag der Autoren GmbHplease contact Stelios Ziannis, Anja Uecker

Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 1004107 Leipzig/Germanyphone +49-3 41-35 59 60fax +49-3 41-35 59 64 19email: [email protected],[email protected]

Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE) · please contact Lothar Wedel

Tegernseer Landstrasse 75 · 81539 Munich/Germany

phone +49-89-6 42 49 70 · fax +49-89-6 92 09 10 · email: [email protected] · www.vdfe.de

Media Luna Entertainment GmbH & Co.KGplease contact Ida Martins

Hochstadenstrasse 1-350674 Cologne/Germanyphone +49-2 21-8 01 49 80fax +49-2 21-80 14 98 21email: [email protected]

Progress Film-Verleih GmbHplease contact Christel Jansen

Immanuelkirchstrasse 14b10405 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-30-24 00 32 25fax +49-30-24 00 32 22email: [email protected]

Road Sales GmbH Mediadistributionplease contact VDFE

c/o Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e. V. Tegernseer Landstrasse 7581539 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-6 42 49 70fax +49-89-6 92 09 10email: [email protected] · www.vdfe.de

SOLA Media GmbHplease contact Solveig Langeland

Osumstrasse 17, 70599 Stuttgart/Germanyphone +49-7 11-4 79 36 66fax +49-7 11-4 79 26 58email: [email protected]

TELEPOOL GmbHplease contact Wolfram Skowronnek

Sonnenstrasse 21, 80331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-55 87 60fax +49-89-55 87 62 29email: [email protected] · www.telepool.de

Transit Film GmbHplease contact Loy W. Arnold, Mark Gruenthal

Dachauer Strasse 3580335 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-59 98 85-0fax +49-89-59 98 85-20email: [email protected],[email protected] www.transitfilm.de

uni media film gmbhplease contact Irene Vogt, Michael Waldleitner

Bavariafilmplatz 782031 Geiselgasteig/Germanyphone +49-89-59 58 46fax +49-89-54 50 70 52email: [email protected]

T H E B E S T S U P P O R T Y O U R V I S I O N C A N G E T

Walter Brus

Phone +49-(0)89-3809-1772

Fax +49-(0)89-3809-1773

www.arri.com

Angela Reedwisch

Phone +49-(0)89-3809-1574

Fax +49-(0)89-3809-1773

www.arri.com

Laboratory

Sound

Video Postproduction

Digital Intermediate

Visual Effects

CinemaGE

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@GE

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7GERMANFILMS

PREVIEWS2007

12 - 15 July 2007 in CologneContact Martin Scheuring at [email protected]

GERMAN FILMS: A PROFILE

German Films Service + Marketing is the national infor -mation and advisory center for the promotion of German films world -wide. It was established in 1954 under the name Export-Union ofGerman Cinema as the umbrella association for the Association ofGerman Feature Film Producers, since 1966 the Association of NewGerman Feature Film Producers and the Association of German FilmExporters, and operates today in the legal form of a limited com pany.In 2004, new shareholders came on board the Export-Union whichfrom then on continued operations under its present name: GermanFilms Service + Marketing GmbH.

Shareholders are the Association of German Feature FilmProducers, the Association of New German Feature Film Producers,the Association of German Film Exporters, the German Federal FilmBoard (FFA), the Association of German Television Producers, theStiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, the German DocumentaryAssociation, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Filmstiftung NRW re -presenting the eight main regional film funds, and the German ShortFilm Association.

Members of the advisory board are: Alfred Huermer (chairman),Peter Dinges, Antonio Exacoustos, Dr. Klaus Schaefer, Ulrike Schauz,and Michael Weber.

German Films itself has 14 members of staff: Christian Dorsch, managing directorMariette Rissenbeek, public relations/deputy managing directorPetra Bader, office managerKim Behrendt, PR assistantSandra Buchta, project coordinator/documentary filmMyriam Gauff, project coordinatorSimon Goehler, traineeChristine Harrasser, managing director’s assistant/project co ordinator Angela Hawkins, publications & website editor Barbie Heusinger, project coordinator/distribution supportNicole Kaufmann, project coordinator Michaela Kowal, accounts Martin Scheuring, project coordinator/short filmKonstanze Welz, project coordinator/television

In addition, German Films has 10 foreign representatives in ninecountries.

German Films’ budget of presently €5.4 million comes from filmexport levies, the office of the Federal Government Commissionerfor Culture and the Media, and the FFA. The eight main regional filmfunds (FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, FilmFoerderung Hamburg,Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, MSH Schleswig-Holstein, and Nordmedia) make a financial contribution – currentlyamounting to €360,000 – towards the work of German Films.

German Films is a founding member of the European Film Promotion,a network of 27 European film organizations (including Unifrance,Swiss Films, Austrian Film Commission, Holland Film, among others)with similar responsibilities to those of German Films. The organiza -tion, with its headquarters in Hamburg, aims to develop and realizejoint projects for the presentation of European films on an inter -national level.

German Films’ range of activities includes:

Close cooperation with major international film festivals, in -cluding Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Locarno, SanSebastian, Montreal, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, Nyon, Shanghai,Rotterdam, San Francisco, Sydney, Goeteborg, Warsaw,Thessaloniki, Rome, and Turin, among others

Organization of umbrella stands for German sales companiesand producers at international television and film markets(Berlin, Cannes, AFM Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Shanghai)

Staging of ”Festivals of German Films“ worldwide (Madrid,Paris, London, New York, Buenos Aires, Moscow, Copen hagen,Stockholm, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne)

Staging of the ”German Premieres“ industry screenings in NewYork, Los Angeles and Rome

Providing advice and information for representatives of theinternational press and buyers from the fields of cinema, video,and television

Providing advice and information for German filmmakers andpress on international festivals, conditions of participation, andGerman films being shown

Organization of the annual NEXT GENERATION short filmprogram, which presents a selection of shorts by students ofGerman film schools and is premiered every year at Cannes

Publication of informational literature about current Germanfilms and the German film industry (German Films Quarterly),as well as international market analy ses and special festivalbrochures

An Internet website (www.german-films.de) offering informa -tion about new German films, a film archive, as well as in -formation and links to German and international film festivalsand institutions

Organization of the selection procedure for the German entryfor the OSCAR for Best Foreign Language Film

Collaboration with Deutsche Welle’s DW-TV KINO programwhich features the latest German film releases and inter -national productions in Germany

Organization of the ”German Films Previews“ geared towardEuropean arthouse distributors and buyers of German films

Selective financial Distribution Support for the foreign releasesof German films

On behalf of the association Rendez-vous franco-allemands ducinéma, organization with Unifrance of the annual German-French film meeting

In association and cooperation with its shareholders, German Filmsworks to promote feature, documentary, television and short films.

g e r m a n f i l m s q u a r t e r l y g e r m a n f i l m s : a p r o f i l e

2 · 2 0 0 7 7 4

g e r m a n f i l m s q u a r t e r l y f o r e i g n r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s · i m p r i n t

2 · 2 0 0 7 7 5

FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES IMPRINT

ArgentinaGustav WilhelmiAyacucho 495, 2º ”3“C1026AAA Buenos Aires/Argentinaphone +54-11-49 52 15 37phone/fax +54-11-49 51 19 10email: [email protected]

ChinaAnke Redl CMM IntelligenceA 606, Tianhai Business PlazaNo. 107 Dongsi BeidajieDongcheng DistrictBeijing 100007/Chinaphone +86-10-64 07 05 62fax +86-10-64 07 05 64email: [email protected]

Eastern EuropeSimone BaumannL.E. Vision Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbHKoernerstrasse 5604107 Leipzig/Germanyphone +49-3 41-96 36 80fax +49-3 41-9 63 68 44email: [email protected]

FranceCristina Hoffman33, rue L. Gaillet94250 Gentilly/Francephone +33-1-40 4108 33fax +33-1-49 8644 18email: [email protected]

ItalyAlessia RatzenbergerAngeli Movie Service Piazza San Bernardo 108a00187 Rome/Italyphone +39-06-48 90 70 75fax +39-06-4 88 57 97email: [email protected]

JapanTomosuke SuzukiNippon Cine TV CorporationSuite 123, Gaien House2-2-39 Jingumae, Shibuya-Ku150-0001 Tokyo/Japanphone +81-3-34 05 09 16fax +81-3-34 79 08 69email: [email protected]

Spain Stefan SchmitzPza. del Cordón, 2 28005 Madrid/Spainphone +34-91-3 66 43 64fax +34-91-3 65 93 01email: [email protected]

United KingdomIris Ordonez37 Arnison RoadEast Molesey KT8 9JR/Great Britainphone +44-20-89 79 86 28email: [email protected]

USA/East Coast & CanadaOliver MahrdtHanns Wolters International Inc.211 E 43rd Street, #505New York, NY 10017/USAphone +1-2 12-7 14 01 00fax +1-2 12-6 43 14 12email: [email protected]

USA/West Coast Corina DanckwertsCapture Film International, LLC1726 N. Whitley AvenueLos Angeles, CA 90028/USAphone +1-3 23-9 62 67 10fax +1-3 23-9 62 67 22email: [email protected]

German Films Quarterly is published by:

German FilmsService + Marketing GmbHHerzog-Wilhelm-Strasse 1680331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-5 99 78 70fax +49-89-59 97 87 30email: [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 or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

Editor

Production Reports

Contributors for this issue

Translations

Design & Art Direction

Printing Office

Financed by

Cover Photo

Angela Hawkins

Martin Blaney, Simon Kingsley

Martin Blaney, Robert Gray, Simon Kingsley

Lucinda Rennison

www.werner-schauer.de

ESTA DRUCK GMBH, Obermuehlstrasse 90, 82398 Polling/Germany

the office of the Federal Government Commissionerfor Culture and the Media

Printed on ecological, unchlorinated paper.

Scene from “The Edge of Heaven” (photo © corazón international)

IN CANNES 2007GERMAN PAVILION · #125 · INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE

GERMAN FILMS · phone +33-(0)4-93 99 86 00 · fax +33-(0)4-93 99 86 21 · www.german-films.de

FOCUS GERMANY · phone +33-(0)4-93 99 85 54 · fax +33-(0)4-93 99 85 71 · www.focusgermany.de

Quarterly 2 · 2007 - German Films

Documents