GFQ - German Films€¦ · director Nora Fingscheidt transcends a psycho logical study and crafts...

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NEW GERMAN FILMS AT THE BERLINALESHOOTING STAR Emma Drogunova

DIRECTORS Katrin Gebbe & Bastian GüntherPRODUCERS Grown Up Films

THE BERLINALE ISSUE

GFQGERMAN F IL MS Q UARTERLY

GFQ 1-2019 CONTENTS

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I N T H I S I S S U EBERLINALE

DER GOLDENE HANDSCHUHTHE GOLDEN GLOVE Fatih Akin ..................................................... 4

ICH WAR ZUHAUSE, ABER …I WAS AT HOME, BUT… Angela Schanelec ...................................... 5

SYSTEMSPRENGERSYSTEM CRASHER Nora Fingscheidt .............................................. 6

UMBRA Florian Fischer, Johannes Krell ........................................ 7

ALL MY LOVING Edward Berger ....................................................... 8

O BEAUTIFUL NIGHT Xaver Böhm ................................................... 9

ARMED LULLABY Yana Ugrekhelidze ............................................ 10

BERLIN BOUNCER David Dietl ......................................................... 11

DUST Udita Bhargava ...................................................................... 12

DIE EINZELTEILE DER LIEBETHE COMPONENTS OF LOVE Miriam Bliese ................................. 13

DIE GRUBE THE PIT Hristiana Raykova .......................................... 14

DAS INNERE LEUCHTEN THE INNER Stefan Sick .......................... 15

OFF SEASON Henning Beckhoff .................................................... 16

BRECHT Heinrich Breloer ................................................................ 17

PORTRAITS

REALIZING HER DREAMA portrait of actress Emma Drogunova ........................................ 18

DOING HER OWN THINGA portrait of director Katrin Gebbe ................................................. 20

CURIOSITY AND CHALLENGEA portrait of director Bastian Günther ............................................ 22

SETTING HIGH STANDARDSA portrait of production company Grown Up Films ........................ 24

NEWS & NOTES ................................................................................ 26

�� NEW FEATURES

1000 KÖNIGE 1000 KINGS Bidzina Kanchaveli .............................. 31

ALFONS ZITTERBACKE – DAS CHAOS IST ZURÜCKALFONS ZITTERBACKE – THE RETURN OF CHAOS Mark Schlichter ............................................................................... 32

ALL EYES ON YOU Felix Maxim Eller ............................................. 33

BECAUSE WE DREAMT OF FLYING Lillian Loveday Erlinger ....... 34

EXTREME NUMBER Irina Arms ..................................................... 35

FÜNF DINGE, DIE ICH NICHT VERSTEHETHINGS I DON’T GET Henning Beckhoff ....................................... 36

IMMENHOF – DAS ABENTEUER EINES SOMMERSIMMENHOF – THE ADVENTURE OF A SUMMERSharon von Wietersheim .................................................................. 37

DER JUNGE MUSS AN DIE FRISCHE LUFTTHAT BOY NEEDS FRESH AIR Caroline Link .................................. 38

KALTE FÜSSE COLD FEET Wolfgang Groos ................................... 39

KIDNAPPING STELLA Thomas Sieben ............................................ 40

LYSIS Rick Ostermann ..................................................................... 41

SWEETHEARTS Karoline Herfurth ................................................. 42

UNHEIMLICH PERFEKTE FREUNDE DOUBLE TROUBLE – THE MAGICAL MIRROR Marcus H. Rosenmüller .......................... 43

DER VORNAME HOW ABOUT ADOLF? Sönke Wortmann ............... 44

�� NEW DOCUMENTARIES

GERMANIA Lion Bischoff .......................................................... 45

GRENZENLOS – GESCHICHTEN VON FREIHEIT & FREUNDSCHAFTBEYOND BORDERS – STORIES OF FREEDOM & FRIENDSHIP Johanna Bentz, Sandra Dajani, Madeleine Dallmeyer, Nazgol Emami, Khaled Nawal, Diana Menestrey, Camilo Colmenares ................... 45

ICH BIN ANASTASIA I AM ANASTASIA Thomas Ladenburger ....... 46

DER ILLEGALE FILMTHE ILLEGAL FILM Martin Baer, Claus Wischmann ...................... 46

IN SEARCH… Beryl Magoko .......................................................... 47

JOY IN IRAN Walter Steffen ............................................................ 47

PLAYLAND USA Benjamin Schindler ............................................. 48

SCALA ADIEU – VON WINDELN VERWEHTSCALA ADIEU Douglas Wolfsperger ............................................... 48

STRESS Florian Baron ................................................................... 49

UNSER STEIN OUR STONE Alessandro Soetje ................................ 49

UNZERTRENNLICH INSEPARABLE Frauke Lodders ...................... 50

�� NEW SHORTS

DIE BEERDIGUNGSTÄNZERINTHE FUNERAL DANCER Natalie MacMahon ................................. 51

JAMIL Michele Gentile .................................................................... 51

�� UPCOMING FILMS

8 TAGE Stefan Ruzowitzky, Michael Krummenacher .................... 52

BODY OF TRUTH Evelyn Schels ....................................................... 52

DER CLUB DER SINGENDEN METZGER Uli Edel .......................... 52

DER FALL COLLINI Marco Kreuzpaintner ...................................... 53

HANNES Hans Steinbichler ............................................................ 53

DAS HAUS Tatjana Kononenko, Matilda Mester ............................. 53

HAVEN – ABOVE SKY Tim Fehlbaum ............................................ 54

NÖ Dietrich Brüggemann .............................................................. 54

RETTET DAS FEUER Jasco Viefhues ............................................. 54

SPIDES Rainer Matsutani ................................................................ 55

DAS VORSPIEL Ina Weisse ............................................................ 55

DIE WOLF-GÄNG Tim Trageser ....................................................... 55

Shareholders & Supporters ............................................................ 57

Film Exporters ................................................................................. 58

Imprint .............................................................................................. 59

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Hamburg-St. Pauli in the 1970s: Atfirst glance, Fritz “Fiete” Honkais a pitiful loser. The man with thebroken face carouses through his

nights in the neighborhood dive, the “GoldenGlove”, chasing after lonely women. None ofthe regulars suspect that the apparentlyharmless Fiete is actually a monster.

Fatih Akin’s horror film THE GOLDEN GLOVEis based on a true story and the novel of thesame name by Heinz Strunk. It tells the storyof Fritz Honka, a man who murdered numer -ous women, and his favorite bar, the “GoldenGlove”, where schmaltzy German songs movethe boozy bar hounds to tears and drinking isa reflex against pain and longing.

FATIH AKIN is an internationally successfulfilmmaker. He won the Golden Bear for HEADON in 2004 and at that time he had alreadycompleted film school, two short films, onedocumentary about his parents’ migrationfrom Turkey to Hamburg, and three featurefilms. He then achieved international success

with the drama THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (2007)for which he won the prize for Best Screen-play at the Festival de Cannes. The film alsoreceived the European Film Award and theGerman Film Award. For his following film,SOUL KITCHEN (2009), he was honored withthe Special Prize of the Jury at the VeniceFilm Festival. With his production companycorazón international, founded in 2004, he hasproduced several films alongside his ownproductions, including the internationallysuccessful films CHIKO, TAKVA and MIN DÎT.He has been directing his films exclusively forhis production company bombero interna -tional since 2012. THE CUT was the com-pany’s first production and premiered in 2014in Venice. In 2017 his film IN THE FADE withDiane Kruger and Denis Moschitto in theleading roles premiered in Cannes in Com -petition, where Diane Kruger won the awardfor Best Actress. The film also won theGolden Globe for Best Foreign LanguageFilm. A selection of his films includes: SHORTSHARP SHOCK (1998), IN JULY (2000), HEAD-ON (2004), CROSSING THE BRIDGE – THE

SOUND OF ISTANBUL (2006), THE EDGE OFHEAVEN (2007), NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU(episode, 2008), SOUL KITCHEN (2009),POLLUTING PARADISE (2012), THE CUT(2014), IN THE FADE (2017), and THE GOLDENGLOVE (2019).

GENRE Horror CATEGORY Feature YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Fatih AkinSCREENPLAY Fatih Akin CINEMATOGRAPHYRainer Klausmann CAST Jonas Dassler PRO-DUCERS Nurhan Şekerci-Porst, Fatih Akin,Herman Weigel CO-PRODUCERS Willi Geike,Jérôme Seydoux, Sophie Seydoux, ArdavanSafaee PRODUCTION COMPANY bomberointer national, in co-production with WarnerBros. Film Productions Germany, PathéRUNTIME 115 min LANGUAGE GermanFESTIVALS Berlinale 2019 (In Competition)

SALES The Match Factory [email protected]

© bombero int./Warner Bros. Ent./Gordon Timpen

DER GOLDENE HANDSCHUHTHE GOLDEN GLOVE

BERLINALE GFQ 1-2019

�INCOMPETITION

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GFQ 1-2019 BERLINALE

Phillip lives with his mother and hiseight-year-old sister in middle-class conditions. The film beginswhen he returns home after a week

in which he disappeared without a trace. Themother and his teachers can only guess whathe was looking for, being at the mercy ofnature or an approach to death, triggered bythe death of his father. The first weeks afterhis return are narrated, in which the normal -ity of daily life, which stumbles back intoaction, stands in stark contrast to the prox -imity of death to which Phillip has gone. Hismother fails at the necessity of accepting thather son is leading a life of his own which shecan only influence to a limited extent. Aftershe believed that she at least no longer hadto worry about his physical integrity, Phillipgoes to the hospital with blood poisoning. Themother loses her nerves between renewedconcern for the child, fears of failure and feel -ings of guilt. But the children do not turnaway. The structure of the family disinte -grates in order to form itself anew.

ANGELA SCHANELEC was born in 1962. Shestudied Acting at the College of Music andPerforming Arts in Frankfurt am Main from1982-1984, and worked at the Thalia Theaterin Hamburg, Berlin’s Schaubühne and theSchauspielhaus in Bochum from 1984-1991.She studied at the German Film & TelevisionAcademy in Berlin from 1990-1995, gradu -ating with MY SISTER’S GOOD FORTUNE,winner of the German Critics’ Prize 1996. Herother films include: SCHÖNE GELBE FARBE(1991), WEIT ENTFERNT (1991), PRAG, MÄRZ92 (1992), I STAYED IN BERLIN ALL SUMMER(1993), PLACES IN CITIES (1998, Cannes UnCertain Regard), PASSING SUMMER (2001,Berlinale Forum), MARSEILLE (2004, CannesUn Certain Regard 2005), AFTERNOON (2007),ORLY (2010, Berlinale Forum), THE BRIDGESOF SARAJEVO: PRINCIP TEXTE (2014, CannesSpecial Screenings), THE DREAMED PATH(2016, Locarno In Competition), and I WASAT HOME, BUT... (2019, Berlinale In Com -petition).

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR AngelaSchanelec SCREENPLAY Angela SchanelecCINEMATOGRAPHY Ivan Markovic CASTMaren Eggert, Franz Rogowski, LilithStangenberg, Jakob Lasalle, Clara Möller,Alan Williams, Jirka Zett, Dane Komljen PRO-DUCER Angela Schanelec PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Nachmittagfilm Angela Schanelec,in co-production with Dart Film RUNTIME106 min LANGUAGE German FESTIVALSBerlinale 2019 (In Competition)

SALES Deutsche Kinemathekfilmverleih@deutsche-kinemathek.dewww.deutsche-kinemathek.de

© Nachmittagfilm

ICH WAR ZUHAUSE,ABER …I WAS AT HOME, BUT…

�INCOMPETITION

On her wild quest for love, 9-year-old Benni’s untamed energydrives everyone around her todespair.

She is small, but dangerous. Wherever Benniends up, she is immediately expelled. Thewild 9-year-old girl has already become whatchild protection services call a “systemcrash er”. And she is certainly not looking tochange her ways. Because Benni has onesingle goal: to be back at home with hermommy! But Bianca is scared of her owndaughter. Mrs. Bafané from child protectionservices is trying her best to find a permanentplacement for Benni. She hires the angermanage ment trainer Micha as Benni’s schoolescort and suddenly there is a seed of hope.Will Micha be able to succeed where allothers despaired?

While being acutely authentic, first-timedirector Nora Fingscheidt transcends apsycho logical study and crafts vibrant,visceral and emotional cinema, whichevokes unforgettable performances.

NORA FINGSCHEIDT was born in Braun-schweig in 1983 and spent her childhood inGermany and Argentina. From 2003 onwardsshe supported the development of the self-organized film school filmArche in Berlin.At the same time, she completed her trainingas an acting coach with Sigrid Andersson.From 2008-2017, she studied Fiction Di -recting at the Film Academy Baden-Würt-temberg. Her graduation film, the full-lengthdocumentary WITHOUT THIS WORLD about aconservative Mennonite colony in Argentina,won the Max Ophüls Prize and First StepsAward in 2017. Her fiction debut SYSTEMCRASHER has already won several awards atscript level. It also won the “Works in Pro-gress” section at Les Arcs Film Festival.

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature YEAROF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR NoraFingscheidt SCREENPLAY Nora FingscheidtCINEMATOGRAPHY Yunus Roy Imer CASTHelena Zengel, Albrecht Schuch, GabrielaMaria Schmeide, Lisa Hagmeister, MelanieStraub, Victoria Trauttmansdorff, MaryamZaree, Tedros Teclebrhan PRODUCERSPeter Hartwig, Jonas Weydemann, Jakob D.Weydemann CO-PRODUCER Frauke Kolb -müller PRODUCTION COMPANIES KineoFilmproduktion, Weydemann Bros., in co-production with Oma Inge Film, ZDF Daskleine Fernsehspiel RUNTIME 118 minLANGUAGE German FESTIVALS Berlinale2019 (In Competition)

SALES Beta Cinema [email protected]

© Kineo Film/Weydemann Bros./Yunus Roy Imer

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SYSTEMSPRENGER


SYSTEM CRASHER

�INCOMPETITION

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Ashimmering light, the rustle of theleaves, round spots of light in theshade of a tree. The sun reflectson the water. It is an element and

counterpart. Can nature observe itself? Acinematic reflection on the presence andabsence of things.

The film UMBRA deals with rare and commonoptical phenomena that occur in nature.These phenomena evoke familiar imagessuch as shadows or reflections on a watersurface, but also unusual ones like the“Brocken spectre” or the pinhole effect dur -ing a solar eclipse. These ancient and naturalprojec tions can be considered as pre-culturaland independent of any apparatus. Theyoccurred even before mankind and are unitedby their intangible, ephemeral presence. Intheir immateriality and fragility, they are pre-cursors of the cinematic image.

UMBRA develops a visual dialogue betweenphenomenon and apparatus, archetype andimage, self and self-perception.

FLORIAN FISCHER was born in 1981 andstudied Communication Design and ImageSciences. His films include: STILL LIFE(2014), KALTES TAL (2016), NO SEX PLEASE(2017), and UMBRA (2019).

JOHANNES KRELL was born in 1982 andstudied Cinematography and Media Arts. Hisfilms include: the shorts ROOM ONE (2009),STATION (2010), A CLOUD OF UNKNOWING(2011), STILL LIFE (2014), KALTES TAL (2016),and UMBRA (2019).

GENRE Experimental, Nature CATEGORYShort YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIREC-TORS Florian Fischer, Johannes KrellSCREENPLAY Florian Fischer, JohannesKrell CINEMATOGRAPHY Florian Fischer,Johannes Krell PRODUCERS Ray PeterMaletzki, Stephan Helmut Beier PRODUC-TION COMPANY RosenPictures Filmproduk-tion, in co-production with Kunsthochschulefür Medien Köln and Johannes Krell RUN-TIME 20 min LANGUAGE English FESTIVALSBerlinale 2019 (Berlinale Shorts)

SALES RosenPictures [email protected]

Kunsthochschule für Medien Kö[email protected]

© RosenPictures Filmproduktion

UMBRA


�BERLINALESHORTS

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For the siblings Stefan (41), Julia (44)and Tobias (34) life is seeminglyalright. Working as a pilot, Stefanhas a big apartment, a fast car and

many women. However, the disappearance ofhis daughter Vicky, the result of a formeraffair, triggers the longing for a more sub-stantial form of love. Julia and her husbandChristian are spending a long weekend in Italyto give their relationship a boost. But when adog gets hurt in the street, she immediatelyshifts her attention to the little animal andobsesses over its well-being. Tobias, father ofthree kids and married to a successful busi-nesswoman, is finally trying to get his univer-sity degree, when his siblings send him totheir hometown to take care of their sickfather. Once there he realizes his parentscannot live alone anymore, and he is con -fronted with his own dilemma: will he con -tinue to give himself up for other people’sneeds? All three have reached a point in theirlives where something has to change, beforethe rest of their lives begin. Among chaos,

mistakes and insecurities they are trying tofind their own piece of happiness.

EDWARD BERGER, born 1970 in Germany,graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of theArts and directed his debut GOMEZ in 1997.He won the German Grimme Award for AGOOD SUMMER (2012). His film JACK (2014)premiered in competition at the Berlinale andwon the German Film Award in Silver for BestFilm. It also won Best Director and Best Filmat the German Director’s Guild Awards. HisTV series DEUTSCHLAND ’83 (2015) pre -miered at the Berlinale and was the firstGerman TV show to be released in the US. Itwon the award for Best International DramaSeries at Séries Mania, the InternationalEmmy and the Peabody Award. In 2017 hewas named one of Ten Europeans to Watch byVariety. Recently he directed Showtime’sPATRICK MELROSE (2018) starring BenedictCumberbatch, which was nominated for fiveEmmy Awards and for a Golden Globe.

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR EdwardBerger SCREENPLAY Edward Berger, NeleMueller-Stöfen CINEMATOGRAPHY JensHarant CAST Lars Eidinger, Nele Mueller-Stöfen, Hans Löw PRODUCERS Jan Krüger,Jörg Trentmann, Raimond Goebel PRO -DUCTION COMPANY Port au Prince Film &Kultur Produktion, in co-production withPandora Film Produktion, WDR RUNTIME118 min LANGUAGE German FESTIVALSBerlinale 2019 (Panorama)


© Jens Harant/Port au Prince Pictures

ALL MY LOVING


�PANORAMA

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Although Juri is young, he lives inconstant fear of dying. Nightlypanic attacks for him are routine– but one night he meets a dark

figure who claims to be Death incarnate. Sobegins a bizarro-Faustian trip togetherthrough the night, during which Juri meetsNina and falls in love with her. But comedawn, one of them must die.

XAVER BÖHM is a freelance animator,illustrator and filmmaker. He studied VisualCommunication at the London College ofCommunication and the University of the ArtsBerlin Weißensee. His award-winninggraduation film ROADTRIP (2014) wasscreened at over 100 international filmfestivals and was also nominated for theGerman Short Film Award. His work as afreelance animator and director includeprojects for clients such as the New YorkTimes and the British National Society for thePrevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)and music videos for diverse artists. Xaverlives and works in Berlin. His other films areDOWN DOWN DOWN (short, 2018) and hisfeature debut O BEAUTIFUL NIGHT (2019).

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Xaver BöhmSCREENPLAY Xaver Böhm, Ariana BerndlCINEMATOGRAPHY Jieun Yi CAST NoahSaavedra, Marko Mandić, Vanessa LoiblPRODUCERS Janine Jackowski, JonasDornbach, Maren Ade PRODUCTION COM-PANY Komplizen Film, in co-production withZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel, ARTE RUNTIME89 min LANGUAGE German FESTIVALSBerlinale 2019 (Panorama)


© Komplizen Film/Jieun Yi

O BEAUTIFUL NIGHT


�PANORAMA

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The film shows four routes of flightthat were taken by four childrenin order to escape the ethnicalmassacre. One had to push through

the crowd to get to the last ship, another oneto get to the last train, and a third to the lastplane, which explodes after takeoff. Thefourth child, who missed all three possibili-ties to leave his hometown, walks togetherwith his family and thousands of other re f -ugees over the snow-covered mountains. Thefilm is based on the real stories of people whoescaped the Sukhumi Massacre in 1993during the Abkhazian-Georgian war.

YANA UGREKHELIDZE studied at the Aca-demy of Media Arts Cologne. In addition tonumerous installations, her films include:LA BRIQUE (2011), SUMMER STORY (2017),ARMED LULLABY (2018), THE CASE NR.79087 (2019), and WITH NIKITA THROUGHTHE RABBIT HOLE (2019).

GENRE Animation, Drama CATEGORY ShortYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTORYana Ugrekhelidze SCREENPLAY YanaUgrekhelidze CINEMATOGRAPHY YanaUgrekhelidze ANIMATION Yana UgrekhelidzePRODUCER Yana Ugrekhelidze PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Kunsthochschule für Medien KölnRUNTIME 8 min LANGUAGE no dialogueFESTIVALS Berlinale 2019 (Generation)

SALES Kunsthochschule für Medien Kö[email protected]

© Yana Ugrekhelidze

ARMED LULLABY


�BERLINALEGENERATION

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BERLIN BOUNCER tells the story ofBerlin, from a divided city to a partymetropolis, through the eyes of itsmost legendary club bouncers.

Frank came to Berlin in the late 1980’s tostudy, while Smiley Baldwin was still guardingthe Wall as an American GI. Behind the Walllived Sven, a young punk and photographer.When the Wall came down in 1989 and Berlinbecame a reunited city with a dazzling,transitory nightlife in illegal clubs thatpopped up everywhere in the city, traditionaljobs and structured daily lives were soon for-gotten. Since then, the nightlife has cast aspell over them and Sven Marquardt, FrankKünster and Smiley Baldwin became threeof the most famous bouncers in the city,handling the door policies of Berlin’s noto-rious electro clubs. To this day, they are stillthe ones to decide on the joy of hundreds ofpeople every weekend. Meanwhile, their per-sonal lives have suffered due to excessivelifestyles. Now, at the age of 50, the bigquestions of life come knocking at their doorsand ask the men to finally grow up.

David Dietl has built a trustful relationshipwith the three protagonists, opening a windowinto their lives. Exploring their past, theirways of living in this pulsating city, finding away to grow up and taking over responsibilityas well as sharing their memories of Berlin’scultural development during the last de -cades. BERLIN BOUNCER is a film aboutBerlin’s historic and current club culture,about the city’s vibe and about reachingadulthood at the age of 50.

DAVID DIETL studied at the German Film andTelevision Academy Berlin. His films include:AUF NUMMER SICHER (TV, 2007), KING OFGERMANY (2013), ELLA’S BABY (TV, 2017),RATE YOUR DATE (2018), and BERLINBOUNCER (2019).

GENRE Biopic, History, Music CATEGORYDocumentary YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR David Dietl CINEMATOGRAPHYEric Ferranti, Raphael Beinder PRODUCERMartin Heisler PRODUCTION COMPANY FlareFilm RUNTIME 87 min LANGUAGE German,English FESTIVALS Berlinale 2019 (Perspek-tive Deutsches Kino)

SALES Flare Film [email protected]

© Flare Film

BERLIN BOUNCER


�PERSPEKTIVE DEUTSCHES KINO

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When David sets out to tracethe final journey of his girl-friend Mumtaz, little doeshe know what awaits him. A

photographer by profession, Mumtaz died inthe heartlands of central India, leaving behindno more than a single photograph for him. Heseeks out Dr. Sharda, a cynical old man whocould help him reach the place, buried in theinteriors of the country, where Mumtaz lastwas. When he is turned away harshly by thedoctor, David falls deeper into his void ofmemories, until an unexpected turn of eventsreunites him with the latter. They set off on ajourney, a journey which opens David's eyesto the true identity of the doctor and takeshim back to that reality which Mumtaz hasbeen documenting – the war that reigns in theheart of India. Dr. Sharda is revealed to be thecommander of a camp training young boys incombat against an exploitative and violentstate. However, when one of the boys in hiscamp deserts, the boys' collective anger turnsagainst their own comrade Krishna, thedeserter’s brother. Krishna is brutalized.

Mumtaz’s photo captures this horrific in -cident. Fleeing the violence ridden surround -ings of the camp, Radha, a young girl, reachesthe city. Years after, working as a surrogatemother, she is still seeking a sense of be -longing in a world where survival comes ata heavy price. Moving seamlessly betweena landscape of memories, dreams andglimpses of the future, and referring to theleft wing insurgency that has affected largeparts of India, in particular central India,DUST creates a multilayered portrait ofpeople caught up in an inhumane conflict.

UDITA BHARGAVA was born in 1982 andstudies at the Film University BabelsbergKONRAD WOLF. Her films include MIND-SPACE (short doc, 2011), PITCH BUILDSA BALL AND DESTROYS IT (short, 2012),IMRAAN C/O CARROM CLUB (short doc,2014), and her feature debut DUST (2019).

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature YEAROF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR UditaBhargava SCREENPLAY Udita BhargavaCINEMATOGRAPHY Philipp Meise CASTMorten Holst, Vinay Pathak, Kalyanee Mulay,Golu Abu Bakr, Amrita Bagchi PRODUCERTitus Kreyenberg CO-PRODUCERS JörgSchulze, Philipp Kreuzer PRODUCTION COM-PANY unafilm, in co-production with Film -universität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, mazepictures RUNTIME 80 min LANGUAGE Hindi,English FESTIVALS Berlinale 2019 (Perspek-tive Deutsches Kino)

SALES unafilm [email protected]

© unafilm/Philipp Meise/Filmuniversität Babelsberg

DUST



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When Sophie and Georg meetand start to fall in love, she ispregnant from her ex-boy-friend who has left her. Georg

naturally grows into the role of a father to thenewborn child Jakob. Meanwhile, the com -posed family has to deal with the usual issuesof modern parenthood: Who is allowed towork, who takes care of the kid? How muchfreedom is possible, how much sacrifice mustbe made? And is there room for passion in themidst of all this? A few years later, Georg andSophie are separated. Jakob is six years oldand his parents are desperately fighting overhis custody. Until Sophie’s new boyfriendstarts to mediate between the frontlines.

In fragmented scenes which all take placein front of the same apartment building inBerlin, the film draws the elliptical portrait ofa modern patchwork family. The charactersshare their sorrows and longings betweenwalls, pillars and on parking lots. Home is nolonger a safe haven, but a windy inter mediatespace. A laconic look at the everyday irration -alities of love.

MIRIAM BLIESE was born in 1978. Shestudied Literature and Philosophy at the FUBerlin and Directing at the German Film andTele vision Academy Berlin (DFFB). Her filmsinclude: the shorts TANGO (2011), MY ANGEL(2013), AT THE DOOR (2013), and her featuredebut THE COMPONENTS OF LOVE (2019).

GENRE Tragicomedy CATEGORY FeatureYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORMiriam Bliese SCREENPLAY Miriam BlieseCINEMATOGRAPHY Markus Koob CAST BirteSchnöink, Ole Lagerpusch, Andreas Döhler,Justus Fischer PRODUCER Clemens KöstlinCO-PRODUCER Miriam Bliese PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Deutsche Film- und Fernseh -akademie Berlin (DFFB), in co-productionwith RBB RUNTIME 97 min LANGUAGEGerman FESTIVALS Berlinale 2019 (Perspek-tive Deutsches Kino)

SALES Patra Spanou Film Marketing & [email protected]

© Markus Koob

DIE EINZELTEILE DER LIEBETHE COMPONENTS OF LOVE



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It’s winter, 5 degrees and the water’ssteam ing. People sit in the hot water,lean ing against the edge of the pool. Be-hind them the sea, an endless expanse.

What at first glance looks like a beautifulspa by the sea, the people of Varna call it “thepit”. A cinematic portrait of the Bulgarian pre-sent and the investigation of a microcosmthat stands for an entire society. The regularvisitors of the basin are our protagonists: thetaxi driver Dimtscho, who finds love at the pitat the age of 61. The retired musician Alexan-der, who wants to rent his rooms to touristsand tells us about his time as a womanizer.Genadi, who takes care of the pit like a lovingcaretaker and who lives his dream of a pettingzoo. And Bobi, who is homeless and whowalks the streets at night near the pit. Indivi-dual biographies, touching personal stories,interpersonal conflicts and exciting dis -cussions combine to form a diverse picture.World views and political convictions meet inthe pit and tell of social change and stag -nation on the edge of Europe.

HRISTIANA RAYKOVA was born in 1985 inVarna/Bulgaria. After studying PoliticalScience and working as a cinematographerand video editor, she studied Directing at theFilm University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF.Her films include: BABA DIMITRA (short doc,2012), SEMSSUI (short, 2012), DER EINZIGWAHRE WEINACHTSMANN (short doc, 2013),H – DER HERMANNSWEG KOMPLETT UNDAM STÜCK (short doc, 2014), KÖNIGE (doc,2014), and THE PIT (doc, 2018).

GENRE Society CATEGORY DocumentaryYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTORHristiana Raykova CINEMATOGRAPHYJohannes Greisle PRODUCER Genia KrassnigPRODUCTION COMPANY FilmuniversitätBabelsberg KONRAD WOLF RUNTIME 73 minLANGUAGE Bulgarian, Russian, German,Roma FESTIVALS Berlinale 2019 (PerspektiveDeutsches Kino)

SALES Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD [email protected]

© Johannes Greisle/Filmuniversität Babelsberg

DIE GRUBETHE PIT



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Dementia, a diagnosis that changeseverything for those who areaffect ed and for their relatives.Accepting the disease can seem

just as difficult as finding an appropriateapproach. But perhaps it is much more aboutcompassion than about understanding? Inan observational way, THE INNER LIGHTex plores the everyday lives of people withdementia and focuses mainly on positivesituations and encounters.

Free of past and future, there is a possibilityto live in the moment. The film dedicates it-self to these kinds of moments. Alongside itsprotagonists, we discover the slowness, thestruggle and the beauty of the rituals of theireveryday lives. Without commenting, the filmshows pure emotions of sadness, cheer -fulness and thoughtfulness.

THE INNER LIGHT builds strong emotionalties with the protagonists and attempts tomake their view on the world tangible, butdoes not avoid conflicts and the seriousness

of the illness. The film offers a poetic inter-pretation of this special state of being andaims at reducing fears in dealing with peoplewith dementia and at accepting each person’shumanity.

STEFAN SICK was born in 1981. He studiedCinematography at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. His graduation film CLOSINGTIME, directed by Nicole Vögele, premiered inLocarno in 2018 and won the Premio specialedella giuria Ciné+ in the section Cineastidel presente. During his studies, he wasmainly responsible for the cinematography ofcreative documentary films and was re p -resented with his works at prestigious filmfestivals all over the world. He was awardedwith the prize for the Best Cinematographyfor NEBEL (which premiered at the Berlinalein 2014) at the Sehsüchte InternationalStudent Film Festival. Active as a freelancecinematographer and filmmaker, THE INNERLIGHT is his debut as a director.

GENRE Society, Human Interest CATEGORYObservational Documentary YEAR OF PRO-DUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Stefan Sick CINE-MATOGRAPHY Stefan Sick PRODUCERS UllaLehmann, Andrea Roggon PRODUCTIONCOMPANY AMA FILM, in co-production withSWR RUNTIME 95 min LANGUAGE GermanFESTIVALS Berlinale 2019 (PerspektiveDeutsches Kino)

SALES AMA FILM [email protected]

© AMA FILM/Stefan Sick

DAS INNERE LEUCHTENTHE INNER LIGHT



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Judith (40) is taken by her boyfriendGregor (41) on a wellness holiday inSicily to get some rest and relaxationand recover from work. But the hotel

in the off season seems deserted and offerslittle to do apart from a tennis court andempty beach chairs. Distraction. Since thecouple’s relationship is going through a crisisand Judith is not in the mood for a vacation,the calls from her father’s company are awelcome change to escape the tutelage byher boyfriend. It’s the last few months beforethe birth of their child and Judith does notsee why the pregnancy should cramp her life-style. But Gregor’s expectations for the futurefamily and the pressures by Judith’s job in-crease her urge for freedom. The last days inthe resort become a power struggle aboutreconciling family, professional success andself-determination. A letter about the futureshould determine how things continue, butJudith develops her own plans. She runsaway. In Palermo she meets various women– and the patron saint of the city: through

Saint Rosalia, she recognizes a part of herselfthat she has long misjudged.

HENNING BECKHOFF was born in 1991 andstudied Film Directing at the Film UniversityBabelsberg KONRAD WOLF. Also active as afreelance director, writer and producer, hisfilms include: FAHRT ZU HÖLLE (short, 2017),VOGELFREI (short, 2017), THINGS I DON’TGET (2018), and OFF SEASON (2019).

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature YEAROF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR HenningBeckhoff SCREENPLAY Bastian Köpf, PaulaCvjetkovic, Henning Beckhoff CINEMATOG -RAPHY Sabine Panossian CAST FranziskaPetri, Godehard Giese, Patrizia D’Antona,Isabella Torre, Peter Lohmeyer PRODUCERValeria Venturelli PRODUCTION COMPANYFilmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLFRUNTIME 43 min LANGUAGE German FESTI-VALS Berlinale 2019 (Perspektive DeutschesKino)


© Sarah Beckhoff/Filmuniversität Babelsberg

OFF SEASON



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“Iwill show the world how it really is,”the pupil Eugen Berthold FriedrichBrecht told a friend, and he said: “I’llcome right after Goethe.” It was an

early mission, and it looked like pure mega-lomania. The film traces the paths and wrongways in which the gifted sickly, shy and at thesame time cheeky boy finally, despite themost turbulent times, became the most influ-ential playwright of the German language inthe world – almost as much hated as admiredon his way. Brecht’s love and friendship rela-tionships, the competing ones, the temporaryones, the lifelong ones, are closely linked tothis unique career.

Over a period of 40 years, Heinrich Breloertells the story of the life of the mostfrequently played German playwright of the20th century, a life so moved by art, womenand contemporary history. By the end of the1970s, Heinrich Breloer had already ap-proached the figure of Brecht with a televisiondocumentary and had many conversationswith contemporary witnesses. Numerous

interviews with Brecht’s employees andcompanions from recent years were added tothe current film. Together with documentarymaterial from the archives and intensiveresearch, they complete the documentaryfiction.

HEINRICH BRELOER was born in 1942. Activeas a writer and director, a selection of hishighly-acclaimed films includes: DAS BEILVON WANDSBEK (1982), WEHNER – THEUNTOLD STORY (1993), TODESSPIEL (1997),the Emmy award-winning DIE MANNS – EINJAHRHUNDERTROMAN (2001), SPEER ANDHITLER (2005), BUDDENBROOKS (2008), andBRECHT (2019).

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Mini-Series YEAROF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR HeinrichBreloer SCREENPLAY Heinrich BreloerCINEMATOGRAPHY Gernot Roll CASTBurghart Klaußner, Tom Schilling, AdeleNeuhauser, Trine Dyrholm, Lou Strenger,Mala Emde, Ernst Stotzner, Franz Hartwig,Friederike Becht, Leonie Benesch, MariaDragus, Laura de Boer PRODUCERS CorinnaEich, Jan S. Kaiser PRODUCTION COM -PANIES Bavaria Fiction, Bavaria Filmpro -duktion Köln, SATEL Film, in cooperation withMIA Film, in co-production with WDR, BR,SWR, NDR, ARTE RUNTIME 2 x 90 minORIGINAL VERSION German FESTIVALSBerlinale 2019 (Berlinale Special)

SALES Bavaria Media [email protected]

© WDR/Nik Konietzny

BRECHT


�BERLINALE SPECIAL

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REALIZING HERDREAM

A PORTRAIT OF ACTRESS EMMA DROGUNOVA

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GFQ 1-2019 ACTRESS PORTRAIT

When the excitingnews arrived thatshe would be fêtedas one of the Euro-

pean Shoot ing Stars at the Berlinale2019, initially Emma Drogunova’sfeelings ran away with her. “Whenmy agent rang up, I was sitting in acar on my way back to the hotel oneevening after a long day’s shootingin Cologne. The news bowled meover so completely that I let outa great shriek of pleasure.” At adistance of some weeks now, she isforced to smile a bit over her emo -tional reaction. “The poor driver gota nasty shock!”

Certainly the 23-year-old Berlinermakes no attempt to hide just howmuch this prize means to her. Forsome time now, she has been follow -ing very carefully who is honored withthe title of Shooting Star – and so shecan guess roughly what awaits herduring the busy program days of theBerlinale. “It’s certainly very specialto follow in the footsteps of peoplelike Franz Rogowski, Jella Haase,Louis Hofmann or Anna-MariaMühe, all of whom I admire greatly,”Drogunova says with delight. She isthe youngest of the ten actors whowill receive the award this year.“And after all, it’s not just about theGerman market but the whole ofEurope. It’s totally crazy that I will be rep - resenting Germany there.”

She just wants to let things happen, remain -ing as relaxed as possible and looking for-ward to it all, but she intends to prepare alittle in the weeks before the event, none -theless: “I want to watch as many English-language series as I can, so that I get myselfattuned to the language and I can talk toeveryone. And I want to watch all the films forwhich the other Shooting Stars are receivingthe award. Because getting to know them andgaining insights into work in other countriesis the best thing about the whole business asfar as I’m concerned.”

For Drogunova, who was born in Tjumen/Siberia in 1995 and moved to Germanywith her parents at the age of two, the award– which she is receiving not least for herrole as the dancer Anezka in the Austrian-German film version of the bestseller THETOBACCONIST directed by Nikolaus Leytner– represents the high point of her careerto date, a career that has not progressedpurely by chance but without specific plans,certainly. Because, as she explains laughing,it is not unusual for children of Russianfamilies to be put on the stage quite early on,so she already gathered her first experiencein children’s theater as a young girl. She didnot feel particularly at ease there, however.

or the TV production TOTER WINKEL,which was even nominated for theInternational Emmy last year. Nowonder she can’t devote much timeat present to the course in Russianand French at Berlin’s HumboldtUniversity, in which she has been en-rolled for several semesters now:“But anyway, I’m not doing it so that Ihave a B.A. in my pocket one day. I’msimply doing it for myself, so that Ican work on those two languageswhenever I find the time.”

Drogunova speaks French fluently, aswell as German and Russian, be-cause she attended a French schoolin Berlin for many years. One of hergreatest dreams is to make pro -fessional use of this collection oflanguages in the future, and theShooting Star Award could be a firststep towards realizing this dream.She is particularly drawn to the filmworld in France – and would like tospend a longer period working inParis, perhaps.

But first and foremost, her interest isnot directed towards one country butto the cinema in general. For asmuch as she may have let herselfdrift in terms of professional plansinitially, her passion for the cinemahas definitely been kindled in themean time. Drogunova sums this up –

“My love of the cinema grew greater andgreater, the more I acted myself” – after tell -ing me about a friend of hers who is studyingdirection; she herself recently cast the actorsfor his graduation film, which meant weeks ofwork. “Quite apart from my own projects, I’mreally interested in what new developmentsthere are, in exciting work by colleagueswho are establishing themselves, and in whatdirector works in which particular style. Fora few years now, for example, one compulsorydate for me has been the Filmfestival MaxOphüls Preis in Saarbrücken, as there’s noth -ing I love more than watching as many filmsas possible at a festival.” She assures me thatnone of this will change in the future, either.Al though she can assume that during the2019 Berlinale at least, she is unlikely to havemuch time to watch films.

Patrick Heidmann

But when a few friends appeared in adver -tising spots, she also made the effort to joinan agency for child actors. “It started fromthere, in a very relaxed way,” she recalls. “Bythe time I finally made my first short film, Ihad definitely developed a taste for it.”

Key experiences were not only a brief appear -ance in the successful two-part TV dramaHOTEL ADLON – A FAMILY SAGA, but above allher work on the short film NICHT DENBODEN BERÜHREN. “I enjoyed acting, evenat many castings where I was unsuccessful inthe end. But here I played my first leadingrole, and that meant a lot to me,” Drogunovarecounts. “And above all, I got to know direc-tor Mia Spengler, who has become my mentorsince then – something like a big sister to me.I have learned a huge amount from her,things about myself as well.”

Not least, it was Spengler – with whom shelater made the cinema film BACK FOR GOOD– who advised her to pursue her acting afterschool graduation as well. Nevertheless,Drogunova flirted briefly with the idea oftrain ing as a dancer; because it left her in -sufficient time for filming, though, she aban-doned her dance course after a while. Evenwithout much planning, one role began tofollow another, including in much-acclaimedepisodes of TATORT, cinema films such as AJAR FULL OF LIFE and THE FINAL JOURNEY,

THE TOBACCONIST (© GLORY FILM/EPO-FILM/Petro Domenigg FILMSTILLS.AT)

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DOING HER OWN THING

A PORTRAIT OF DIRECTOR KATRIN GEBBE

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Katrin Gebbe seems com-pletely relaxed during ourinterview at a café inHamburg-Altona. That is

not only astonishing because out-side the Christmas rush is in fullswing already, with people busydrinking mulled wine and franticallyshopping for gifts. Above all, itseems surprising because Gebbeis actually under considerable pres-sure working to complete her newfilm PELICAN BLOOD, and you mightexpect her to be suffering fromextreme cutting-room stress. Butthings often happen a little differ-ently around the 35-year-old direc-tor, making her stand out among hercolleagues.

It is six years ago now that Gebbemade a name almost overnight, notonly within the German film scenebut on the international stage aswell. That was when the Berlinalerejected her debut film NOTHINGBAD CAN HAPPEN; however, thisemerged as a blessing for the direc-tor, who was born in Ibbenbüren inNorth Rhine-Westphalia but choosesto live in Hamburg. For ultimately,she was able to enjoy the film’s worldpremiere a few months later in thesection Un Certain Regard at theFestival de Cannes. The film industrycould hardly cover its amazement: a Germandirector whose name was largely unknown,even to insiders, presenting a debut film onthe Croisette, and in addition this film – withits radical, disturbing story about the world ofJesus Freaks – did not fit into any categorythat we tend to associate with Germancinema? No one was expecting that. Least ofall Gebbe herself, of course, who had com -pleted a post-graduate course in Direction atHamburg Media School after studying Art atthe Academy of Visual Arts in Enschede.

The making of NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPENwas a long and difficult process, whereby sheand producer Verena Gräfe-Höft met withconstant opposition from the usual fundinginstitutions when the latter encountered theremarkable story and the makers’ similarlyunusual narrative approach. To add to theirdifficulties there was the fact that, in Gebbe’sown words, she did not belong “to any of thecliques in the German film world. At the most,you could say I belong to a generation ofGerman filmmakers who are attemptingsomething a bit new and different,” the go-it-alone director explains. “Those who don’t fitinto existing groups like the Berlin School orthe more conventional narrative cinema, butconsciously take risks and follow a path thatis totally their own.” She does not see herselfas being alone in the wilderness in this role.“But naturally we don’t meet every few weeksand moan about our lot, either.”

you lose sight of your second cinemafilm.”

Instead, she preferred to keep the ex-periences gathered in Cannes andother festivals in the back of hermind – and direct her eyes towardsthe horizon beyond the Germanborders. At the latest, it was a grantfor the Villa Aurora in Los Angelesthat triggered Gebbe’s desire to workinternationally as well: she was soenthused by the “excitement at tryingsomething new and the energy” thatshe encountered among Americanproducers there. And even in the finalstages of pregnancy she refused toturn down an offer from Tim League,who had introduced NOTHING BADCAN HAPPEN to US cinemas withDrafthouse Films, to contribute ashort film to his world-wide horroranthology THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL,which was premiered at the SXSWfestival.

PELICAN BLOOD – although backunder the aegis of Gräfe-Höft’s com-pany Junafilm – is again the outcomeof networking that consciously ex-tends beyond Gebbe’s own personalsphere and the confines of Germany.Her invitation to the Torino Film Lab,with its workshops distributed over afull year, not only brought welcome

input from industry consultants from all overthe world, but also earned her film worldsales as well as a German distributor evenbefore the start of shooting. The story – fea-turing a top-class cast including Nina Hossas a horse trainer who is fighting desperatelyfor her adopted daughter – was made for themost part in Bulgaria, involving the local filmcompany Miramar Film, whose producer MilaVoinikova had been invited to participate inthe EFP’s Producers on the Move in Cannesalongside Gräfe-Höft in 2017.

This time, as far as German funding and sup-port are concerned it has been much easierthan it was for NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN,Gebbe tells me as we are saying good-bye.But she quickly adds: “I still can’t claim thateveryone cried out hurrah, though.” However,she is not going to let herself worry aboutthat, or stray from her intended path as a re-sult. On the contrary: the prospect of finishingwork on PELICAN BLOOD in time for a poten-tial Cannes premiere immediately conjures abroad smile of anticipation to her face.

Patrick Heidmann

JUNAFILM PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH ZDF – DAS KLEINE FERNSEHSPIEL / K ATHARINA DUFFNER CASTING SIMONE BÄR

FILM EDITOR HEIKE GNIDA MUSICIANS PETER FOLK, JOHANNES LEHNIGER COSTUME DESIGNER ANNA WÜBBER MAKE- UP ARTIST LALE YILMAZ

PRODUCTION DESIGNER IRIS TRESCHER DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY MORITZ SCHULTHEISS PRODUCED BY VERENA GR ÄFE - HÖFT

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY K ATRIN GEBBE

JULIUS FELDMEIER

SASCHA ALEX ANDER GERSAK

ANNIK A KUHL

SWANTJE KOHLHOF

N O T H I N G B A D C A N H A P P E NA F I L M B Y

K AT R I N G E B B E

For a year after the Cannes premiere Gebbetravelled around the world and presentedNOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN – which laterreceived the German Film Critics’ Prize andwas nominated for the German Film Award –at festivals in Karlovy Vary, Zurich and Göte-borg, for example. “I enjoyed reaping thereward for my work so much, particularly be-cause the production of the film had been sodifficult,” she notes, and likes to remember inparticular the screening at the Fantastic Festin Austin, Texas. “It wasn’t about the criticsthere, or intellectual movie buffs; in the main,they were genre and horror fans. When ElijahWood came rushing up to me after thescreen ing, at first I couldn’t believe it was mehe wanted to speak to. But in fact he justwant ed to say how enthusiastic he was aboutthe film. It’s very special to get to know peoplewho think the same way, people like him, atsuch festivals.”

However, this did nothing to change her posi-tion as an outsider in her home country. Initi-ally, she rejected the customary opportunitiesto make TV crime dramas offered to up-and-coming directors, before finally bringing her-self to try one episode of TATORT at least. Itwasn’t exactly an ecstatic experience, accord -ing to Gebbe, but that also had a positiveaspect: “It was perhaps a good thing that myTV career wasn’t a huge success from theword go, as people can quickly start to feel toocomfortable in that field. And then suddenly

DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT GFQ 1-2019

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The problem faced by headhunterClemens in Bastian Günther’s filmHOUSTON emerges only gradually.Contracted to make an offer to a

shielded CEO at a conference in Houston, thefirst hints of the protagonist’s fatal flaw

arrive off-screen, overheard like a rumor:ice cubes clinking against a highball in hisumpteenth drink. Then reality settles inclose-up, in sunken eyes and pallor – we arewitnessing a “headhunter” losing his ownhead. The truth of the character’s isolation

finally manifests itself in every movementand image on-screen as his contact to theworld outside the anonymous, glazed hotelcomplex, and finally even to himself, ceasescompletely.

CURIOSITYAND CHALLENGE

A PORTRAIT OF DIRECTOR BASTIAN GÜNTHER

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HOUSTON, which was the second featurelength film by this 44-year-old director fromthe Westerwald, follows a lonely man at thetop of his career on a perilous downwardspiral. Alongside this character study, thestory’s setting and visual approach providea critical analysis of our international busi-ness world with English as its operatinglanguage, with its clever headhunter tricksand traps and with its high-stakes pressureexperienced by all involved. Günther com -pleted his studies in Direction at the GermanFilm and Television Academy Berlin with hisaward-winning short film END OF A TRIP in2005. However, the first ideas for HOUSTONcame from his second home: the reserveddirector has lived for several years with hisAmerican wife and their son alternately inTexas and Berlin.

Günther is in post-production on what is nowhis fourth feature film. Once again, it is set inTexas, this time with an exclusively Americancast. “It is true that there is a vast gap be -tween rich and poor all over the world,”admits Günther. But this story is inspired bya so-called “touch the car” contest that tookplace in East Texas. In this competition, puton as a promotional event for a car dealer-ship, people stand around a car and touch itwith one hand for days on end until the lastone touching the vehicle wins it. “The extremepoverty in the Deep South (US) predestinesthe region for this kind of story. Having suchlimited options can lead to desperation –and people who will clutch at that sort ofopportunity,” explains the filmmaker.

Once again, the story of these characters willnot follow customary narrative structures.Günther has shaped the story into threeparts, each one with a different time andperspective – and visual approach. “I’minterested in new or unusual structures,”Günther says. “Of course there’s curiosity and

an interest in challenging the viewers. Buteven if it means breaking from the safeenvironment of a classical narrative arc, it’sthe story that always determines thestructure.”

His aesthetically arresting early works are de-fined by long, poetic takes – in addition toHOUSTON and END OF A TRIP, these includethe road movie AUTOPILOTS and the hybriddocu-feature film CALIFORNIA CITY. None ofthem follow narrative conventions. “Maybetheir narrative approach is more European,”says Günther, even if both HOUSTON andCALIFORNIA CITY take place in the US. In anycase, “Film doesn’t stop at a national border.It would be nice,” says the director, “if youcould throw these cinematic classifications –German or American, or indeed the genreconcept – right out the window.”

Günther understands well that the domi-nance of blockbusters in both the US andEurope – where arthouse is regarded as nichecinema despite successes such as TONIERDMANN or LA GRANDE BELLEZZA –means that his films, along with all indies,may take meandering paths to find theiraudience. Films like Günther’s in whichcharacterization and pace deviate from themainstream, that incorporate setting symbio-tically into the hero’s inner development, arerare among productions based around theconvention of a hero on a heroic trip. In 2015for the German TV crime series TATORT,Günther was bold enough to conceive of acunning, circular film-within-a-film structurewith the “real” police inspector and his “real”actor, whereby the characters are repeatedlyrevealed as film characters themselves. Theplayful film created a sensation in the mediaand controversy around the “rules” for thistraditional German show which has been onthe air for almost 50 years.

Günther’s films revolve around characterswhose choices reflect larger social conflictsand systems, worlds both within and beyondour control. His recently completed “touch thecar” drama paints an ambivalent picture ofAmerican success. In it, poor people areclearly exploited for the purpose of entertain-ment. He posits that some viewers won’t bewild about a German making a film that iscritical of their country. Many of the actors,however, found that the competition reflectsthe situation in their homeland. “In the US, aseverywhere, artists are sensitive and oftenpolitically progressive,” says Günther.“They’re open to such stories.”

In terms of language, working with nativeEnglish speakers wasn’t a problem for theGerman director. Even the lead actress CarriePreston, who played the outspoken Southernbelle Arlene Bellefleur in Alan Ball’s parableabout homophobia TRUE BLOOD and won anEmmy for her role on THE GOOD WIFE, wasimpressed by the scripted dialogue. The newfilm’s lead actor Joe Cole, well-known fromPEAKY BLINDERS and A PRAYER BEFOREDAWN, retooled his British accent to becomeTexan with the help of a dialect coach. Colestayed in the role during the breaks inshooting, Günther recalls – Method Acting,in other words. So his method for this inter-national production was as typically Americanas the small Southern town where it is set.

Jenni Zylka

PRODUCERS’ PORTRAIT GFQ 1-2019

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SETTINGHIGH STANDARDSA PORTRAIT OFPRODUCTION COMPANYGROWN UP FILMS

“The film PAULA was the reasonthat I decided to set up the newlabel of Grown Up Films in2012,” recalls producer Ingelore

König who had already been heading upErfurt-based Kinderfilm since 2000. “I hadbeen developing a biopic about the feministartist Paula Modersohn-Becker since 2008and we had reached the stage where we hada convincing screenplay by Stefan Kolditzand Stephan Suschke that was being drama-turgically supervised by Cooky Ziesche, andwe were now beginning to look for a directorand partners for the financing. It madesense to have a separate label becausewhen you have been running a company witha name like Kinderfilm, everyone assumesthat you only produce children’s films,”König explains.

“We had a whole list of names for the label,but we felt most comfortable with Grown UpFilms,” she continues. “I liked the fact thatthe name was open to several interpre -tations: Kinderfilm has come of age, thestories that it will now tell are more grownup, and it will grow beyond itself.”

König, who was born in the former GDR andstudied Philosophy at Berlin’s HumboldtUniversity, first learned about PaulaModersohn-Becker after reading a bio -graphy. “I was fascinated that she was soradical and courageous, that she was alwaystesting and transcending her limits, and thatshe had this resolution never ever wantingto be mediocre.”

“She wanted to achieve something in her lifeand set herself very high standards. Sheonce said that she would like to have paintedat least three good paintings in her life andshe wanted to become a mother. That sen-tence has everything that motivates modernyoung women: they want love, happiness, afamily and self-realization – Paula was somodern in the way she went through life andeven though she is a historical figure, she isvery much of the here and now.”

“Stefan Kolditz and his co-author StephanSuschke knew so much about Paula and herhusband Otto [Modersohn] because they hadbeen studying the lives of the artist coupleand conducting intensive research ever since

1988,” she continues. “However, this screen-play was never made into a film. After aseries of unsuccessful attempts at arrivingat a script, I was very fortunate in findingboth of them through the dramaturge andscreenwriter Laila Stieler and developing anew interpretation with them.”

“Christian Schwochow proved to be exactlythe right person to direct the film,” Königrecalls. “He told me on the phone that hecould exactly empathize with what Paula’sstory is all about. Christian had himselfwant ed to become a painter, but felt at somepoint that he would never achieve anythingmore than mediocrity. That personal con-nection immediately won me over to him. Iwas equally impressed by the way he saw allof the characters in the screenplay with avery modern approach and from a contem-porary perspective, and the resulting filmwith the remarkable Carla Juri in the titlerole only confirms this.”

“It was also thanks to Christian that ourco-production with Claudia Steffen andChristoph Friedel of Pandora came about.

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Their standing meant that the film could befinanced and realized in this quality.” PAULAhad its premiere on the Piazza Grande of the2016 edition of the Locarno Film Festival andwent on to win the Bavarian Film Award inthe category of Best Cinematography as wellas Lolas for Best Production Design andBest Costume Design at the 2017 GermanFilm Awards.

Strong women have also been at the centerof Grown Up Films’ second feature projectENDZEIT – EVER AFTER by Swedish-bornCarolina Hellsgård, which celebrated itsworld premiere in Toronto’s Discovery side -bar. Based on the successful graphic novel byOlivia Vieweg who also wrote the screenplay,the action in ENDZEIT – EVER AFTER is settwo years after zombies have overrun theEarth, when the German towns of Weimarand Jena are prob ably the only remainingplaces of human civilization thanks to a pro -tective fence.

The film follows two very different youngwomen, who for better or for worse have tojoin forces in the fight against the undeadwhen they find themselves out in the opencountryside without any kind of protection.Their journey leads them to the apocalypsewhere a stunningly beautiful nature hasstarted gaining the upper hand in theabsence of any humans.

As König points out, “our producer ClaudiaSchröter brought the screenplay which hadbeen awarded the Tankred Dorst Prize in2015 from the Münchner Filmwerkstatt. Sheknew that I am a big genre fan. Olivia’s debutwas an exhilarating display of visual fire-works in the middle of the Thuringian coun-tryside. And then it turned out that thetalented young artist lives just 25 kilometersaway from us in Weimar. And so ENDZEIT –EVER AFTER is a perfect fit for our company.

Our location is our USP,” König explains mis -chievously, “and this also includes support ingthe up-and-coming generation from Cen tralGermany.” One of these young profes sionalsis Claudia Schröter, who grew up in the Erz-gebirge Mountains and studied at the Uni -versity of Television and Film in Munich.

“ENDZEIT – EVER AFTER is, in many re-spects, an experiment. It is extremely diffi-cult for German genre in the market. For themost part, the narrative style is dominatedby men. And that’s something we wanted todo differently because Olivia’s screenplaymade it possible: showing three magnificentfemale lead characters whose conversationswere, for once, not about men. And we want -ed to give a chance to an up-and-comingdirector. I have been involved in the ProQuotecampaign for more gender equality in thefilm industry and looking to give more weightto women in the various crafts as far as thestories being told are concerned,” she ex-plains. “The market tends to want to com-partmentalize people, but I am for diversity,so why should a female director like CarolinaHellsgård not make a zombie film?” And soall of the key creative positions are takenby women: the three lead actresses GroSwantje Kohlhof, Maja Lehrer and TrineDyrholm, the director, screenwriter, cinema-tographer, casting director, production de -signer, make-up, costume designer, scorecomposer, editor and producer.

“We didn’t really know what to expect whenthe film premiered in Toronto,” König conti-nues. “We were fascinated by the giantqueues outside of the cinema which was al-ways full. The audiences reacted in differentways, but I was pleased that people under-stood the film’s philosophical content. Thatwas really important for us because I didn’twant to have us presenting a dystopia with -out a philosophical basis.” Following theworld premiere in Toronto, ENDZEIT – EVERAFTER had its German premiere at the Film-festival Max Ophüls Preis in Saarbrückenand an invitation to the Göteborg Inter -national Film Festival in Sweden in January.

Looking to its future projects now in deve-lopment, the company appears to be holdingtrue to its focus on strong women as protag -onists, which began with PAULA and conti-nued this year with ENDZEIT – EVER AFTER.One project that König has been pursuingsince 2008 will introduce cinemagoers to theeventful life of one of Germany’s best-knownmodern dancers and teachers, Gret Palucca,(1902-1993) who was a pupil of the famouschoreographer Mary Wigman in the early1920s before founding her own dance schoolin Dresden in 1925.

“There is hardly anything about her privatelife available,” König says. “That’s quite dif-ferent from Paula Modersohn-Becker whowrote lots of letters.” Scarlett Kleint – who

is also working for Kinderfilm on an adapta-tion of Antje Babendererde’s bestsellingyouth novel Libellensommer as a co-produc-tion with Canada’s Red Cedar Films – is nowonboard to write the screenplay.

At the same time, König doesn’t want to re-strict herself to working on particular filmgenres. That may have something to do withher personal background growing up in theformer GDR. “Once my parents gave me thepresent of a book club membership and Iwas an avid reader,” she recalls. “I was a bigfan of science fiction and also read storiestaken from real life. Perhaps that influencedme to the point where I now don’t want to tiemyself down to specific genres.”

Similarly, Grown Up Films won’t be workingexclusively for the theatrical market: “We al-ready tried our hand at a web series,” Könignotes, “and, of course, we have a lot of ex -perience of working with television on TVmovies based on classic fairytales which wehave made at Kinderfilm.”

“The label of Grown Up Films also sees usshowing a commitment to the young audi-ences that are no longer children, buthaven’t yet arrived in the world of adults.EINE SAUBLÖDE IDEE is a story for youngpeople that the writing team of AnjaKömmerling and Thomas Brinx have deve l -oped with us based on a true event of threeA-level students from Munich who walk fromMunich to Berlin after a stupid drunkennight through the Bavarian and Saxoncountry side.” Brinx and Kömmerling havecollaborated with König on more than adozen films and series for children: “Wehave grown along with each other, we trusteach other and try out more and more newthings – just what it means becoming grownup…”

Martin Blaney

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NEWS & NOTES GFQ 1-2019

1NEWS & NOTES

The FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMScampaign enters its fourth edition this yearand will once again focus on outstandingacting talents. Six of the most prominentGerman screen stars working today, MariaDragus, Christian Friedel, Luise Heyer, JonasNay, Jördis Triebel and Fahri Yardim willrepresent the German film and televisionindustry’s latest accomplishments anddynamic voices, through upcoming activitiesat the Berlinale, including a Panel event inassociation with Variety at the Drama SeriesDays. The FACE TO FACE WITH GERMANFILMS campaign celebrates current trendsin the German entertainment industry, pro-moting German content to internationalaudiences and fostering an awareness ofmodern German storytelling and styles.

The initiative launched in 2016 with sixGerman actresses headlining the campaign

– including the multi award-winning SandraHüller (TONI ERDMANN) and Paula Beer ofthe internationally acclaimed FRANTZ andthe Golden Globe and Oscar®-nominatedNEVER LOOK AWAY. In 2017, the secondphase of the initiative launched during theFestival de Cannes and featured six ofGermany’s most exciting actors, includingestablished names such as AlexanderFehling (THREE PEAKS, HOMELAND) andTom Schilling (WOMAN IN GOLD, OH BOY,NEVER LOOK AWAY), as well as new facessuch as Louis Hofmann (DARK & the Oscar®-nominated LAND OF MINE). 2018 saw sixaward-winning German directors headingthe campaign’s 3rd phase, all of whom havegarnered a great deal of internationalrecognition for their varied works to date:Emily Atef, whose feature film 3 DAYS INQUIBERON was in Competition at theBerlinale 2018; Lars Kraume, whose THE

SILENT REVOLUTION (featuring one of the2017 ‘Faces’ Ronald Zehrfeld and this year’s‘Face’ Jördis Triebel) screened as a BerlinaleSpecial Gala at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival;Anca Miruna Lazarescu, whose latest featureHAPPINESS SUCKS opened the 2018 HofInter national Film Festival; Burhan Qurbani,whose highly-anticipated BERLIN ALEX -ANDERPLATZ is already creating a lot ofbuzz; and David Wnendt, whose THE SUNLITNIGHT premiered this year at Sundance.

This year’s actors and actresses will continueto celebrate trends in German filmmaking, aswell as being representative of the currentinternational appetite for German story -telling in internationally renowned series.They are undoubtedly at the heart of theindustry’s most recent national and inter -national successes, across both mediums.

1FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS 2019

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GFQ 1-2019 NEWS & NOTES

VFX from Baden-Württemberg: JIM BUTTON AND LUKE THE ENGINE DRIVER (courtesy of MFG)

2FILM- UND MEDIENSTIFTUNG NRWPARTNERING THE DRAMA SERIESDAYS FOR THE FIFTH TIME

The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is onceagain the official main partner for the fifthedition of the Drama Series Days. The plat-form for high-quality serial productions atthe European Film Market as part of theBerlinale will offer an extensive screeningand event program at the Zoo-Palast from 11to 13 February, covering all aspects of inter-national serial events. EFM director MatthijsWouter Knol and Petra Müller, managingdirector of the Film- und MedienstiftungNRW, will open the Drama Series Days on themorning of 11 February.

The Drama Series Days are an initiative of theindustry platforms European Film Market,Berlinale Co-Production Market andBerlinale Talents. The EFM is one of the mostimportant platforms for international tradein film rights and audiovisual content. In theparallel program Berlinale Series, audienceshave the opportunity to experience seriespremieres on the red carpet and the bigscreen.

3BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG IS GERMANY’S TOP LOCATION FOR VISUAL EFFECTS AND ANIMATION –AND IT IS STILL GROWING.

Through the Animation Media Cluster RegionStuttgart (AMCRS), the MFG Medien- andFilmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg pro-motes and enhances the transfer ofknow-how and technology in the region. TheAMCRS creates synergies and strengthensinterdisciplinary cooperation. It currentlycomprises 23 Baden-Württemberg-basedcompanies and institutions, which in turndraw on the services of countless micro-enter prises and local freelancers. Up to 500artists may be employed, depending on de-mand.

In addition to the cluster; MFG has contri -buted significantly to this boom at the Baden-Württemberg location through the line pro-ducer funding. With its granting regulations,MFG enables Baden-Württemberg to benefitfrom the direct support of line producers.Applications may be submitted not only byproducers, but also by service-producers,animation studios or VFX studios. Further-more, the funding can be combined withadditional federal subsidies, e.g. the DFFF orthe German Motion Picture Fund.

Over the past five years, MFG has supported67 projects overall with a total investment ofaround 23.5 million euros in the field ofVFX/Animation – and this trend is rising.

4KEEPING FILMS ALIVE: FUNDINGFOR THE DIGITIZATION OF NATIONAL FILM HERITAGE SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED

Since January 2019, the Federal Government,the federal states and the German FederalFilm Board (FFA) have been working togetherto preserve national film heritage. The fund -ing program, which is financed equally bythe Federal Government Commissioner forCulture and the Media (BKM), the FFA andthe federal states, provides up to 10 millioneuros annually for the digitization of cinemafilms. Funding is provided in three areas:exploitation, curation and conservationalnecessity.

After the cinema digitization completed in2014, which was also jointly financed by theFFA, the Federal Government and the federalstates, this is another decisive cultural policycooperation between the three partners tostrengthen and preserve film culture inGermany. Details on the funding can be foundat www.ffa.de.

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JETS international co-production pitch (© WEP FILMS)MDM anniversary celebration (© Uwe Frauendorf)

5MITTELDEUTSCHE MEDIEN -FÖRDERUNG CELEBRATES ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY

The Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM)celebrated its 20th anniversary in Leipzig on28 November 2018 with numerous represen-tatives of the Central German and nationalmedia industry. Managing Director ClaasDanielsen drew a positive balance at the re-ception: “Thanks to the great commitment ofour shareholders, the industry and the MDMemployees, we have succeeded in implemen-ting the vision of an efficient media industryin Central Germany, bringing stories fromthe region to the world and making the localmedia landscape the setting for outstandinginternational productions.”

During an internal industry screening, theguests – including the prime ministers ofSaxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia – werealso able to gain a first impression of the filmand media projects that have been producedin recent months with the support of MDM.

6JETS AT THE 69TH BERLINALE

Each year at the Berlinale, JETS (JuniorEnter tainment Talent Slate) invites youngfilmmakers to an international co-productionpitch. The initiative brings together youngtalents with German, Canadian, Irish,Finnish, Norwegian, British and US pro -ducers, sales agents, financing and distri -bution companies for their debut, second andthird feature films. On the JETS event day, theselected teams pitch their projects andselect three of the other teams as potentialco-production partners. The internationaljury nominates the six to ten most suitablefilm projects for production development andfinancing. JETS is organized by WEP Produc-tions and WEP UK Productions. The initiativeis supported by Nordmedia, HessenFilm,Tele film Canada, Screen Ireland, FilmInvestand The Finnish Film Foundation.

7GERMAN WOMEN BEHIND THE CAMERA AT MOMA NEW YORK

Within the framework of a carte-blanchecooperation with the film department of TheMuseum of Modern Art in New York, GermanFilms will present 11 feature films shot byGerman women cinematographers from 1-12 March 2019. The personal selection wasmade by German Films’ managing directorMariette Rissenbeek to honor the creativework of Sonja Rom, Daniela Knapp, BellaHalben, Leah Striker, Sophie Maintigneux,Ulrike Ottinger, Jakobine Motz and JudithKaufmann, who will all travel to New York topresent their work. The series will open withTHE POLL DIARIES by Chris Kraus, and

follow with 13 MINUTES by Oliver Hirsch -biegel, ADAM & EVELYN by Andreas Gold-stein, EMMA’S BLISS by Sven Taddicken,ENDZEIT – EVER AFTER by CarolinaHellsgård, EXIT MARRAKECH by CarolineLink, IF NOT US, WHO by Andres Veiel, THECHAMBERMAID LYNN by Ingo Haeb, THEEDUKATORS by Hans Weingartner, THIS ISLOVE by Matthias Glasner, and UNDERSNOW by Ulrike Ottinger.

Rajendra Roy (Chief Curator Film Depart-ment MoMA) on this very special series:“In 2020, Mariette Rissenbeek will becomethe first woman to lead the Berlin FilmFestival (as Executive Director, with newlyappointed Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian),as well as the first to lead one of the top threeEuropean festivals (including Cannes andVenice). This is a milestone that took sixty-nine years to achieve, and it is cause for over-due celebra tion. Known to lovers of Germancinema through her leadership of the filmpromotion agency German Films, she beganher career in production. MoMA is pleased tooffer this opportunity for New York cinephilesto get to know this ground-breaking figureand applaud her staunch support for womenthroughout the industry. Here, she selects 11films all shot by German women cinematog -raphers. Rissenbeek states: “It was very ex-citing but at the same time quite challengingwhen MoMA offered me a carte-blanche topresent a number of recent German films.For me personally, the female view on societyand its topics has always played a crucialrole. From its very beginnings, cinema tellsits stories in pictures and they are the centerof cinematographic art. So it seemed not onlynatural, but rather mandatory to work withexactly that point of view: pictures made bywomen, women behind the camera.”

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GFQ 1-2019 NEWS & NOTES

8CLERMONT-FERRAND – A HOME FOR GERMAN SHORTS

Over the past 15 years, the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festivalhas developed into a well-established plat-form for the presentation of German shortfilms. Not only were the German Short FilmAssociation (AG Kurzfilm) and German Filmson hand with market screenings and a boothat the festival’s film market, but there werealso ten German shorts and co-productionscompeting for the Grand Prix in the Inter -national and Lab Competition during the41th edition of the festival: AM CU CE byHannah Weissenborn, ARE YOU LISTENINGMOTHER? by Tuna Kaptan (TR/DE), LAKEOF HAPPINESS by Aliaksei Paluyan (BY/DE),LAST DAYS OF THE MAN OF TOMORROWby Fadi Baki (LB/DE), LIEBE – ODERERINNERUNG AN JUDITH R. by Oliver AdamKusio, and TRACING ADDAI by EstherNiemeier were shown in the InternationalCompetition. FEST by Nikita Diakur, QUIET bySonja Rohleder, SCREEN by Matthias Müllerand Christoph Girardet, as well as SHOOTINGSTARS by Magdalena Jaroszewicz (DE/PL)were selected for the Lab Competition.Another ten German short films and co-pro-ductions were shown in the various specialprograms of the festival.

At the German market stand, representativesof international short film festivals andorganizations picked up the latest edition ofthe popular catalogue GERMAN SHORTFILMS and its accompanying preview DVDs.Addi tionally, three programs were presentedby the AG Kurzfilm: The 14th edition of the“Soirée Allemande”, a French-German co -operation of AG Kurzfilm, German Films, theInternational Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand, the Goethe-Institute Lyon and theKurzFilmAgentur Hamburg, celebrated itspremiere at the festival on 4 February. Thefourth edition of the program EMERGINGARTISTS – Contemporary Experimental Film

and Video Art from Germany was presentedas a market screening. This program of AGKurzfilm and German Films was curated byrepresentatives of member institutions of theAG Kurzfilm. In January, the program had itsofficial premiere during the Stuttgart FilmWinter. It is now available for booking byinternational festivals, galleries and Goethe-Institutes. A further nine outstandingGerman short films were presented in themarket screening “Matinée Allemande –Coup de foudre – Le court métrage alle-mand”.

9GERMAN SHORTS IN ROTTERDAM & BERLIN

Numerous German short films and co-pro-ductions are presented in the competitionsections of the International Film FestivalRotterdam (23 January – 3 February) andBerlinale (7 – 17 February) – two of the firstmajor film festivals in 2019. For the AmmodoTiger Short Competition in Rotterdam,FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT by Nina Fischerand Maroan el Sani (DE/IT) and MAMANMAMAN MAMAN by Lucia Margarita Bauerwere selected. In the non-competitive sectionBright Future Short COWTRAP by Callum Hill(DE/GB), FOREST ON LOCATION by PersijnBroersen and Margit Lukács (NL/DE/PL), andWALLED UNWALLED by Lawrence Abu Ham-dan were shown. SOUVENIR by Miriam Gos-sing and Lina Sieckmann premiered in thesection Voices Short.

Six German short films were selected for theBerlinale Shorts section: UMBRA by FlorianFischer and Johannes Krell, CAN’T YOU SEETHEM? – REPEAT. by Clarissa Thieme(DE/BA), BLUE BOY by Manuel Abramovich(AR/DE), FLEXIBLE BODIES by Louis Fried, ITHAS TO BE LIVED ONCE AND DREAMED

TWICE by Rainer Kohlberger (AT/DE), andWELT AN BOARD by Eva Könnemann. Forthe 17th time, the German Short Film Asso-ciation will be representing German shortfilmmakers and their films at the mostimportant film market in Germany.

As a part of the German Films booth at theEFM, the association provides a meetingpoint as well as useful information and con-tacts to industry professionals, such as film-makers, producers, distributors and festivalrepresentatives. The latest edition of theshort film catalogue GERMAN SHORT FILMSwill be also be available as well as the highlysought-after festival calendar for 2019, theindispensible assistance for everybody in theinternational short film circus.

10KINO! GERMANY NOW!

KINO! GERMANY NOW! is German Films’new promotional platform launching thisyear on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram forGerman film content in the United Stateswith the goal of introducing German film cul-ture and creative film talent to US audiences.KINO! GERMANY NOW! social media cove-rage provides relevant information on filmexhibition, special events, film festivals andcoverage on streaming platforms all over theUS related to German films, series, TV andfurther digital content by keeping followersinformed of the latest German film releasesand screenings in the United States.

AM CU CE (© Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg)

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14 FEATURES11 DOCUMENTARIES2 SHORT FILMS12 UPCOMING FILMS

39 more new German productions

are presented on the following 25 pages.

Please visit our website www.german-films.de

for more information on German features,

documentaries and shorts.

NEW FILMS GFQ 1-2019

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1000 people live encaged in an immensespace and can only be distinguishedfrom one another by their different socialpositions, as in a beehive.

The inhabitants’ only goal is to produce light.But only one of them has this ability. For thishe is admired and exploited, until he makes afatal decision.

BIDZINA KANCHAVELI studied Film Criticismand Directing in Tbilisi/Georgia and stagedhis first theater play at the Tbilisi Operaand Ballet State Theater. He then directednumerous other plays and the shorts NOVICENO. 21 (1999) and 7 1/2 WOMEN (2005). 1000KINGS is his first feature film.

GENRE Animation, Experimental, Fantasy,Science Fiction YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Bidzina Kanchaveli SCREENPLAYBidzina Kanchaveli CINEMATOGRAPHYPatrick Popow CAST Effi Rabsilber, HelmaFries PRODUCER Pierre Durst PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Thirsty Goldfish RUNTIME 92 minLANGUAGE no dialogue

SALES Thirsty Goldfish [email protected]

© Thirsty Goldfish

1000 KÖNIGE1000 KINGS

GFQ 1-2019 NEW FEATURES

32

What would Alfons Zitterbackegive to be a great athlete, asuper student and an astro-naut, just like Alexander

Gerst. But that isn’t what his world looks like.The 11-year-old stumbles from one mishapto the next. Everyone seems to gang up onhim. Unfair teachers, vicious classmates anda very strict father generally make life mise-rable for him – when out of the clear blue anaircraft competition offers the opportunity toparticipate in an astronaut camp and Alfonssees his chance: At last he can show theworld what a brilliant inventor he is – parti-cularly Emilia, the new girl in class. The onlytrouble is that Alfons’ rival, Nico, also decidesto take part in the competition and challengeshim to a dual: Are you chicken or what? In hisdilemma, Alfons drags his best friend Benni,into the affair, and now there’s no way out:They have to win the competition. But how?

ALFONS ZITTERBACKE is an action-packedcomedy about friendship, outer space, fathersand sons and the best plans for buildingrockets.

MARK SCHLICHTER was born in 1962.Initially he studied Acting and worked as anactor in several feature film and theater pro-ductions. After working as a unit and pro -duction manager on various feature filmproductions he studied Directing at the Ger-man Film and Television Academy (DFFB) inBerlin. In addition to numerous theater pro-ductions and short films, his award-winningfeature films as a director include: EX (1995),DER AUSBRUCH (1997), SCHIMANSKI –MUTTERTAG (1997), DER ELEFANT INMEINEM BETT (1999), COWGIRL (2004),TATORT – STRAHLENDE ZUKUNFT (2007),ZORN – VOM LIEBEN UND STERBEN (2015),and ALFONS ZITTERBACKE – THE RETURNOF CHAOS (2019).

GENRE Family Entertainment YEAR OF PRO-DUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Mark SchlichterSCREENPLAY Anja Flade-Kruse, MarkSchlichter, John Chambers CINEMATOG -RAPHY Christof Wahl CAST Tilman Döbler,Alexandra Maria Lara, Devid Striesow,Leopold Ferdinand Schill, Lisa Moell, RonAntony Renzenbrink, Katharina Thalbach,Wolfgang Stumph, Bürger Lars Dietrich, OlafSchubert, Thorsten Merten, StephanieStumph, Louis Held, Laila Meinecke, RosaMeinecke, Tobias Krell, Helmut Roßmann,Alexander Gerst PRODUCERS Nicole Keller-hals, Uwe Schott, Stefan Arndt CO-PRO -DUCER Mark Schlichter PRODUCTIONCOMPANY X Filme Creative Pool, in co-pro-duction with MDR, ARD RUNTIME 90 minLANGUAGE German


© X Filme Creative Pool

ALFONS ZITTERBACKE– DAS CHAOS IST ZURÜCKALFONS ZITTERBACKE – THE RETURN OF CHAOS

NEW FEATURES GFQ 1-2019

33


When the silent loner Marcoencounters beautiful Elena ata bar, his whole world seemsto change. Fascinated, he

follows her through the night, but as morningrises he neither knows her full name nor if hewill ever see her again. Months later on a coldHalloween night, she is still vanished withouta trace. Once again, he begins to comb thestreets for her, yet no one seems to haveheard anything about this mysterious girl.Chased by an uncanny man, he soon dis -covers the darkest secrets of the city. Duringhis escape, he runs into Mia – a girl with a bigmouth but no place to stay. Together theyinitiate their search for Elena but soon Miagets caught up by her own persecutors. Onlywhen the battle-skilled musician Gabrieljoins their group, odds are that the friendswill weather the night. Continuing theirjourney, they initiate a nightmarish raceagainst time until Marco starts to doubt hisown sanity...

FELIX MAXIM ELLER founded the productioncompany Lost Tape in 2016. His films include:MINIMAL (short, 2011), ZAHLEN BITTE!(short, 2013) as well as the features YOUNGAND WILD (2014) and ALL EYES ON YOU(2018).

GENRE Coming-of-Age Story, Fantasy, Thrill -er YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTORFelix Maxim Eller SCREENPLAY Felix MaximEller CINEMATOGRAPHY Daniel Ernst CASTJannis Küster, Clara Imort, André Decker,Elvis Clausen, Anna Sacher, Kim Schütt,Michael Marwitz PRODUCERS Felix MaximEller, Jan Scharfenberg CO-PRODUCERSMartin Kesper, Michael Tracz PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Lost Tape RUNTIME 87 minLANGUAGE German FESTIVALS Shanghai2018, New York Festival of Cinema 2018,Mary land IFF 2018, Berlin Independent FF2018

SALES Lost Tape [email protected]

© Lost Tape

ALL EYES ON YOU

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The story of Marx and Mercedesbegins in a sleepy Southern Italiantown. Marx is a young German try-ing to recuperate from his suicidal

depression along the rocky cliffs of Apulia. Heruns from his problems and straight into themysterious Russian beauty, Mercedes, who’smore than happy to create new ones for him.She’s a vivid, visceral young woman with adeep loathing for boredom. The unlikely pairfinds a strange fascination in one another anda game begins as each spins a story aboutwho they are, pushing the boundaries of truthand fiction, rewriting their own pasts accord -ing to their dreams. Reality begins to blur asthey play their game out in the world, spiral -ing out of control until Mercedes’ lover Deo,with unfortunately powerful connections tothe Mafia, ends up dead.

BECAUSE WE DREAMT OF FLYING takesnotes from classic couple crime films likeBONNIE & CLYDE, BREATHLESS and BAD-LANDS, but tells a story that is unmistakablymodern, whose characters suffer the woes of

privilege. Improvised on the basis of a treat-ment, the film is a poetic adventure, a crimefilm without justice, a love story without akiss, a documentary fairy tale.

LILLIAN LOVEDAY ERLINGER studied Docu-mentary Film and Directing at HarvardUniversity and at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Her films include: the shortsMANY PATHS (2006), LESPWA D’AYITI (2006),GRIEVANCE (2009), JESSIE’S TRACKS (2010),PUZZLE PIECE (2011), MIT HAUT UNDHAAREN (2012), DAS ALTE BÖSE WIR (2014),DIE STILLE (2016), and her feature debutBECAUSE WE DREAMT OF FLYING (2018).

GENRE Drama, Experimental, Love StoryYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTORLillian Loveday Erlinger SCREENPLAY LillianLoveday Erlinger CINEMATOGRAPHY LillianLoveday Erlinger CAST Lena Tronina, Louisvon Klipstein PRODUCER Estella Suplit PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg RUNTIME 88 min LANGUAGEEnglish, German, Italian, Russian

SALES Filmakademie Baden-Wü[email protected]

© Lillian Loveday Erlinger

BECAUSE WEDREAMT OF FLYING


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Based on a true story, EXTREMENUMBER is the story of a youngrefugee from Chechnya who comesto Germany in 2004 and is thrown

into prison in Berlin. He enlists the help of atranslator to escape. He then joins a terroristgroup in Berlin that gives him a very specialorder. Authentic war documentation is em-bedded in the film as the Chechen protago-nist’s flashbacks. This is real coverage of war,shot by a Chechen rebel from 1996-2000 inChechnya. Real and fictional levels of thestory blend together as a whole.

IRINA ARMS studied Film, Music and Phil -osophy in Moscow and Frankfurt. Active as afilmmaker, producer and journalist, her filmsinclude: WEISST DU, WAS ICH MIRWÜNSCHE (short, 2012), COME AND DIE/GEGENSTEINE (short, 2014), RITUALS (doc,2017), and EXTREME NUMBER (2018).

GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTOR Irina Arms SCREENPLAY IrinaArms CINEMATOGRAPHY Sven Jakob-Engel-mann CAST Lidia Krebs, Jan Amazigh Sid,Bernhard Schütz PRODUCER Irina ArmsPRODUCTION COMPANY ARMS Filmpro -duktion RUNTIME 81 min LANGUAGEGerman, Russian FESTIVALS SacramentoUnderground Film & Arts Festival 2018

SALES ARMS Filmproduktion [email protected]

© ARMS Filmproduktion

EXTREME NUMBER

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In a small town on the edge of the RuhrValley, a boy from a farm is looking for hisplace in the world. Torn between the cityand the country, between his best friend

and his older brother, between the presentand tradition, Johannes longs for recognitionand adventure.

HENNING BECKHOFF was born in 1991 andstudied Film Directing at the Film UniversityBabelsberg KONRAD WOLF. Also active as afreelance director, writer and producer, hisfilms include: FAHRT ZU HÖLLE (short, 2017),VOGELFREI (short, 2017), THINGS I DON’TGET (2018), and OFF SEASON (2019).

GENRE Coming-of-Age Story, Drama YEAROF PRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTOR HenningBeckhoff SCREENPLAY Paula Cvjetkovic,Henning Beckhoff CINEMATOGRAPHY SabinePanossian CAST Jerome Hirthammer,Peter Lohmeyer, Henning Flüsloh, MicheleTiemann, Victoria Schulz, Anna BöttcherPRODUCERS Genia Krassnig, Diana Hellwig,Henning Beckhoff PRODUCTION COMPANYFilmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLFRUNTIME 71 min LANGUAGE GermanFESTIVALS Hof 2018, Poitiers 2018 AWARDSBest Costume Design & Best ProductionDesign, Honorable Mention German CinemaNew Talent Award Hof 2018, Audience AwardPoitiers


© Sarah Beckhoff/Filmuniversität Babelsberg

FÜNF DINGE, DIE ICHNICHT VERSTEHETHINGS I DON’T GET


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Summer is finally here! The Immen-hof sisters Lou, Charly, and Emmieare looking forward to a relaxedtime with their horses. There’s just

one catch – Immenhof is bankrupt. What’smore, the girls are under constant attackfrom the mean owner of their neighboringstud farm and his arrogant horse trainerRuna. Runa is having trouble to controlCagliostro, the new star racehorse, and sheaccuses Lou of being responsible for the hor-se’s difficult behavior. Lou only sees one wayout: she agrees to a risky deal, in which shenot only puts her favorite mare Holly on theline, but also risks the future of their entirestables. Will the three sisters be able to savetheir home?

SHARON VON WIETERSHEIM was born inFort Stewart/Georgia in the USA and trainedat Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio in New Yorkand with Ruth von Zerboni in Munich. She wasan assistant director under Kurt Meisel atMunich’s Residenztheater and as an actressshe has appeared in numerous series. Herdirectorial debut, THE NECKLACE, was nomi-nated for the German Film Award for BestShort Film in 1995, and was followed by thefeatures WORKAHOLIC (1996), SUPERSINGLE(1996), TIME SHARE (1999), HERZSTOLPERN(2000), DAS BISSCHEN HAUSHALT (2003),AUF DEN SPUREN DER VERGANGENHEIT(2004), DIE ZEIT, DIE MAN LEBEN NENNT(2006), AUF DER SUCHE NACH DEM G. (2009),and IMMENHOF – THE ADVENTURE OF ASUMMER (2019).

GENRE Family Entertainment YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Sharon vonWietersheim SCREENPLAY Sharon vonWietersheim CINEMATOGRAPHY FriedeClausz CAST Leia Holtwick, MoritzBäckerling, Heiner Lauterbach, Wotan WilkeMöhring, Laura Berlin, Valerie Huber, RafaelGareisen PRODUCERS Frank Meiling, Sharonvon Wietersheim PRODUCTION COMPANYRich and Famous Film, in co-production withTele München Gruppe RUNTIME 105 minLANGUAGE German


© Concorde Filmverleih

IMMENHOF – DAS ABENTEUER EINES SOMMERSIMMENHOF – THE ADVENTURE OF A SUMMER

38

Ruhr Valley, Germany, 1972. Hans-Peter is a pudgy nine-year-oldgrow ing up in the security of hisfamily and fun-loving relatives. At

first sight he might not be the most popularguy, but he has a talent for making otherslaugh, which he refines on a daily basis in hisgrandmother’s corner shop. However, darkshadows soon loom over the boy’s everydaylife as his once cheerful mum becomes moreand more depressed after an operation.Hans-Peter’s sad and hardworking fatherleaves him mostly in the care of his twograndmas, both of whom have big hearts andstrong personalities. Their love and caremake it possible for Hans-Peter to survivethe ensuing emotional turmoil and use hiscomedic talents to heal his own wounds whilealso making people laugh along with him.

CAROLINE LINK’s career as a director beganwith immediate success both at the nationaland international level when her first featurefilm BEYOND SILENCE (1996) was nominatedfor an Academy Award® as Best ForeignLanguage Film in 1997. After completing hersecond feature film, ANNALUISE AND ANTON(1999), a children’s movie based on the ErichKästner novel of the same name, she directedNOWHERE IN AFRICA (2001), which won theAcademy Award® for Best Foreign LanguageFilm in 2003. In 2013, she directed EXITMARRAKECH, which premiered as a SpecialPresentation at the Toronto IFF and won theGryphon Award for Best Film at the GiffoniIFF. THAT BOY NEEDS FRESH AIR (2018) isCaroline Link’s latest feature film as adirector.

GENRE Biopic, Comedy, Drama, LiteratureYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTORCaroline Link SCREENPLAY Ruth Toma CINE-MATOGRAPHY Judith Kaufmann CAST JuliusWeckauf, Luise Heyer, Sönke Möhring, DianaAmft, Joachim Król, Maren Kroymann, UrsulaWerner, Hedi Kriegeskotte PRO DUCERSHermann Florin, Nico Hofmann, SebastianWerninger, Tobias Timme PRODUCTIONCOMPANY UFA Fiction, in co-production withWarner Bros. Film Productions Germany,Gesellschaft für Feine Filme RUNTIME 95min LANGUAGE German

SALES Picture Tree International pti@picturetree-international.comwww.picturetree-international.com

© UFA Fiction

DER JUNGE MUSS ANDIE FRISCHE LUFTTHAT BOY NEEDS FRESH AIR


39


Through a curious mix-up, the pettycriminal Denis suddenly finds him-self in the position of a caretaker forthe stroke patient Raimund. All he

really wanted to do was break into Raimund’shouse in order to finally pay off his debts tosome disagreeable crooks. Instead, he nowsits captive in the rich businessman’s house,who, since his seizure has been confined to awheelchair. When Raimund’s granddaughterCharlotte shows up to check on him, it’sfinally too much for Denis. But escape is notan option as a mighty snowstorm is raging inthe region. And so he must continue to playthe role of the caretaker – very much to Rai-mund’s dismay, who is doing everything hecan to fend off the intruder. In contrast toCharlotte, Raimund has long since seenthrough Denis’ facade. A game of cat-and-mouse begins, in which the handicappedsenior and the clever young man put their re-sources to terrific use...

WOLFGANG GROOS was born in 1968. Hestudied Production at the German Film andTelevision Academy Berlin (DFFB), graduatingin 2003. He directed the short WENN ZWEISICH STREITEN (2004) and various TV showssuch as FREUNDE FÜR IMMER (2005),SWITCH RELOADED (2006) and RUDI – THERACING PIG (2007-2009). His award-winningfilms include: HANGTIME (2008), THECROCODILES – ALL FOR ONE (2011), WHENINGE IS DANCING (2013), VAMPIRE SISTERS(2012), VAMPIRE SISTERS 2 (2014), RICO,OSKAR AND THE BROKEN HEARTED (2015),ROBBY & TOBY’S FANTASTIC VOYAGER(2016), LILLY’S BEWITCHED CHRISTMAS(2017), and COLD FEET (2018).

GENRE Comedy YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTOR Wolfgang Groos SCREENPLAYChristof Ritter CINEMATOGRAPHY AndreasBerger CAST Heiner Lauterbach, Emilio Sa-kraya, Sonja Gerhardt, Aleksandar Jovanovic,Michael Ostrowski, Jasmin Gerat PRODU-CERS Uli Putz, Jakob Claussen CO-PRO -DUCERS Tommy Pridnig, Peter Wirthen-sohn PRODUCTION COMPANY Claussen+PutzFilmproduktion, in co-production withDeutsche Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion,Lotus-Film RUNTIME 97 min LANGUAGEGerman


© Sony Pictures Entertainment Deutschland/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion/Lotus-Film/Petro Domenigg

KALTE FÜSSECOLD FEET

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Two masked men kidnap a youngwoman in broad daylight in themiddle of a street. They bind andgag her and take her to an aban -

doned, soundproofed apartment. She isStella, a millionaire’s daughter. Her kid -nappers have worked out a detailed plan. ButStella is not going to play the perfect victim –she’s not giv ing in without a fight.

A gray van from a parking lot, a license platefrom a car dump, scissors, padlocks andropes from the hardware store – the coldlyefficient Vic and his younger accomplice Tomsystematically follow a very precise plan.In silence and concentration, they prepare aroom in an uninhabited housing block andturn it into a soundproof prison cell. It istailor-made for Stella, the bright daughter ofa millionaire. Everything goes just as plannedas they wait for her in the middle of a street,kidnap her and take her to her cell. In her pre-sence, they avoid talking and remain entirelymasked. Vic and Tom take pictures of theirhelpless victim, tied to a bed with handcuffs

and ropes. When Vic leaves to send them toStella’s father with their ransom demand,both Tom’s and Stella’s nerves are strained tothe bursting point. Tom checks on her every10 minutes, helps her drink and attends toher elementary needs. In this gruesome andaccurately planned crime, however, Stella isnot going to play the perfect victim and shecleverly will try to get as close to her maskedguardian as she can.

A highly atmospheric, merciless, modernthriller with a top-notch cast, starring Maxvon der Groeben (SUCK ME SHAKESPEER),Jella Haase (SUCK ME SHAKESPEER,BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ) and ClemensSchick (CASINO ROYALE, POINT BREAK) inthe lead roles. Thomas Sieben (DISTANCE)directs this tense power-play of greed andintrigue with outstanding visuals, keeping uson the edge of our seats until the very end.

THOMAS SIEBEN was born in 1976 andstudied Political Science, followed by Filmand Photography Studies at MassachusettsCollege of Art in Boston. His films include HITAND RUN (short, 2002), DISTANCE (2008),THE DAM (2013), and KIDNAPPING STELLA(2018).

GENRE Thriller CATEGORY Feature YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTOR ThomasSieben SCREENPLAY Thomas Sieben CINE-MATOGRAPHY Sten Mende CAST Max von derGroeben, Jella Haase, Clemens Schick PRO-DUCER Henning Ferber CO-PRODUCER Ste-fan Gärtner PRODUCTION COMPANY HenningFerber Filmproduktion, in co-production withSevenPictures Film, Film 1 RUNTIME 89 minLANGUAGE German

SALES Global Screen [email protected]

© Ferberfilm

KIDNAPPING STELLA


4 1


Two actors were left out in the wil-derness, each with a story of theirown given by the director, without ascript … but with three action cams

that are an integral part of the plot. We followtheir story as it unfolds for each characterand step into a breathtaking story of survival,guilt and hope!

RICK OSTERMANN gathered his first film ex-perience on set, working as a set manager,production manager and assistant director.His short film STILL premiered at the Film -festival Max Ophüls Preis in Saarbrücken in2009. His first feature film WOLFSKINDERpremiered during the Venice Film Festival inthe Orizzonti sidebar. In 2017 he returned toVenice, presenting his new feature KRIEG,once again in the sidebar Orizzonti. LYSIS ishis latest film.

GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTOR Rick Ostermann CAST OliverMasucci, Louis Hofmann PRODUCERS StefanSporbert, Rüdiger Heinze PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Zum Goldenen Lamm Filmproduk-tion RUNTIME 91 min LANGUAGE GermanFESTIVALS Black Nights Tallinn 2018, TertioMillennio 2018, Film festival Max Ophüls PreisSaarbrücken 2019

SALES ARRI Media [email protected]/international

© Zum Goldenen Lamm Filmproduktion

LYSIS

42

It’s double trouble when fate and an ill-executed diamond robbery throw Mel andLise together in a race and chase againsttime. Mel, a professional criminal and

single mum looking to pull off her greatestcoup, and her nerdy, easily panic-strickenhostage Lise are soon pursued by the relent-less detective Ingrid, who always gets herman, or woman, at any price. On the run, themismatched and constantly fighting pair hasto dispose of the loot in the face of a Berlinunderworld also determined to get its handson them and the precious stones. As the for-ces of law and disorder close in, Lise developsa liking for Mel, deciding she is going to helpher ’captor’. Mel is far less than enthusiastic,especially given Lise’s idea of support. Withno other choice, the odd couple soon be -comes a perfect tag team. But when Mel thenadds the good looking cop Harry to her col-lection of hostages and Lise immediately fallsfor him, the chaos becomes perfect – with ahappy ending looking to be an impossibly longway off.

KAROLINE HERFURTH was discovered in aBerlin schoolyard at age 15 and soon there-after found herself on the set of CRAZY (2001)next to Tom Schilling (NEVER LOOK AWAY,2018). Herfurth went on to graduate fromBerlin’s renowned Ernst Busch Academy ofDramatic Arts and soon launched her inter-national career as “The Plum Girl” in TomTykwer’s screen adaptation PERFUME: THESTORY OF A MURDERER (2006). She thenstarred next to Kate Winslet and RalphFiennes in THE READER (2008). She madeher directorial debut with the romantic com -edy TEXT FOR YOU (2016). SWEETHEARTSmarks her second outing as a feature filmdirector.

GENRE Comedy YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Karoline Herfurth SCREENPLAYMonika Fäßler CINEMATOGRAPHY DanielGottschalk CAST Karoline Herfurth, HannahHerzsprung, Frederick Lau, Anneke KimSarnau, Uwe Preuss, Katrin Sass, RonaldZehrfeld PRODUCERS Christopher Doll,Lothar Hellinger PRODUCTION COMPANYHellinger/Doll Filmproduktion, in co-pro -duction with Warner Bros. Film ProductionsGermany RUNTIME 105 min LANGUAGEGerman


© Reiner Bajo/Warner Bros.

SWEETHEARTS


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Frido is a fun-loving kid and just likemost kids his age, a little lazy inschool. One day during a town fairhe encounters a magical mirror.

With the mirror’s magic he is able to create adouble of himself – who is just perfect ateverything he is not. With the help of hisdouble who is very smart in school Fridostarts to give up more and more responsibilitynot only in school but also at home. At first itis a lot of fun and he tells his secret to his bestfriend Emil, but then all of his classmates findout and copy themselves. No one goes toschool anymore but the freaky doubles startto take over. Slowly but surely, the kids realizethat they miss their old lives and decide totake action by setting up a trap that will havethe doubles return into the mirror.

MARCUS H. ROSENMÜLLER was born in 1973in Tegernsee and studied at the University ofTelevision & Film in Munich. Also active intheater, a selection of his award-winningfilms includes: GRAVE DECISIONS (WERFRÜHER STIRBT IST LÄNGER TOT, 2006),HEAVYWEIGHTS (SCHWERE JUNGS, 2007),BEST TIMES (BESTE ZEIT, 2007), BESTEGEGEND (2008), RÄUBER KNEISSL (2008),LITTLE WHITE LIES (DIE PERLMUTTER-FARBE, 2009), SUMMER IN ORANGE(SOMMER IN ORANGE, 2011), SOMMER DERGAUKLER (2011), WER’S GLAUBT WIRDSELIG (2012), BESTE CHANCE (2014),BRENNA TUATS SCHO LANG (doc, 2015),TRAUTMANN (2018), and DOUBLE TROUBLE– THE MAGICAL MIRROR (2019).

GENRE Family Entertainment YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Marcus H.Rosenmüller SCREENPLAY Simone Höft,Nora Lämmermann CINEMA TOG RAPHYStefan Biebl CAST Luis Vorbach, JonaGaensslen, Margarita Broich PRO DUC ERSBenedikt Böllhoff, Max Frauenknecht CO-PRODUCERS Al Munteanu, Lars WiebePRODUCTION COMPANY VIAFILM, in co-pro -duction with MDR, KiKA, BR, WDR,SquareOne Entertainment, die film gmbhRUNTIME 92 min LANGUAGE German


© VIAFILM/Marc Reimann

UNHEIMLICH PERFEKTEFREUNDEDOUBLE TROUBLE – THE MAGICAL MIRROR


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It should have been a wonderful evening.Stephan and Elisabeth have invited familyand friends for dinner, but as soon asThomas announces that he and his preg-

nant girlfriend Anna are planning to nametheir unborn son Adolf, things get out of hand.Even family friend René is drawn into thefight, as secrets are revealed and truths aredragged to light, kicking and screaming. It’sa clash of egos, of wounded prides, and as theevening escalates and unforgiveable thingsare said on all sides, the argument about babynames turns into a feast of childhood trans-gressions and hidden passions, served up forall to enjoy.

Director Sönke Wortmann deftly helms thisincred ible, did-he-just-say-that story of afamily dinner gone awry, in which Germanguilt and angst over the Nazi past burst outinto the open willy-nilly. HOW ABOUT ADOLF?is an outstanding social satire in which wittydia logue and perfect timing keep the audi-ence on the edge of their seats. A breakout hitat the German box office.

SÖNKE WORTMANN ranks among the mostrespected and most successful directors inGermany. After his graduation movie DREI D(1988) was nominated for a Student Oscar®,his debut feature film MAYBE… MAYBENOT/THE TURBULENT MAN (1994) becameone of the most successful German films inthe 1990s. The touching post-war drama THEMIRACLE OF BERN (2003) took AudienceAwards in Locarno, San Francisco andAshland and was released in cinemas aroundthe world. The documentary DEUTSCHLAND.EIN SOMMERMÄRCHEN on the Soccer WorldCup 2006 is the most successful documentaryin German cinemas to date. His other highly-acclaimed films include ALONE AMONGWOMEN (1991), LITTLE SHARKS (1992), MR.BLUESMAN (1993), THE SUPERWIFE (1996),CAMPUS (1998), ST. PAULI NIGHT (1999), THEHOLLYWOOD SIGN (2000), POPE JOAN (2009),THE WEDDING TAPE (2012), WRECKED(2014), MS. MUELLER MUST GO (2014), andHOW ABOUT ADOLF? (2018).

GENRE Comedy YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTOR Sönke Wortmann SCREENPLAYClaudius Pläging CINEMATOGRAPHY Jo HeimCAST Florian David Fitz, Christoph MariaHerbst, Janina Uhse, Caroline Peters, Justusvon Dohnányi PRODUCERS Tom Spieß, MarcConrad, Martin Moszkowicz PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Constantin Film Produktion RUN-TIME 91 min LANGUAGE German


© Constantin Film/Tom Trambow

DER VORNAMEHOW ABOUT ADOLF?


GERMANIA explores young men ontheir search for identity in a timeof impermanence and constantchange. Amidst current populist

upheaval, “traditional values“ resurface whilea surge of participation in fraternities be -comes fashionable again. Today there aremore than 1,600 student associations inter-nationally with over 190,000 members of Ger-man-speaking origin. In observing scenes,the film approaches the members of CorpsGermania. For the members of the conser -vative fraternity, it is lived democracy and aschool for life. For outsiders, it is a claustro-phobic cosmos with strict rules, rigid hier -archy and strange rituals. But what does itmean to be a man, what are they searchingfor in the digital age, where does a politicalattitude come from? The filmmakers take alook behind the usual lines of argumentationand find out how the young men find theirbeari ngs in the tension between tradition andmodernity.

LION BISCHOF was born in 1988. Afterstudies in Philosophy, he studied Directing atthe University of Television and Film Munich.Active as a cameraman and director, his filmsinclude: SUPERVISION (2012), STATION:PATHOLOGIE (2013), HINTERWELTEN (2014),and GERMANIA (2018).

GENRE Culture, Educational, History YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTOR Lion BischofCINEMATOGRAPHY Dino Osmanovic PRO -DUCERS Johannes Schubert, Lion BischofPRODUCTION COMPANY Hochschule fürFernsehen und Film München RUNTIME 77min LANGUAGE German FESTIVALS Film -festival Max Ophüls Preis Saarbrücken 2018,Crossing Europe 2018, EDOC Encuentros del Otro Cine 2018, Sehsüchte 2018, DOK.fest

Munich 2018, Innsbruck 2018, Flahertiana2018, Kitzbühel 2018, This Human World 2018AWARDS Best Film Music in a DocumentarySaarbrücken 2018

SALES mindjazz pictures internationalalessandro@mindjazz-international.comwww.mindjazz-international.com

45

© mindjazz pictures

GFQ 1-2019 NEW DOCUMENTARIES

How do we go about making filmsfor children fleeing wars and cri-ses? What inspiration can cinemagive these children? Can films

relieve suffering or provide hope? Sevenyoung filmmakers from all over the worldcreated seven non-verbal short films, each ofwhich addresses in its own highly unique waythe needs of the refugee children. Each oneoffers a glimpse of a brighter future. Sevenfilms woven into an episode film, adding doc -umentary material from Lebanon, Jordan andGreece, which creates a near-poetic mel -ancholy that is repeatedly broken up by theenergy of children – beyond all borders.

BEYOND BORDERS is a feature lengthepisode film. The single short films (fiction,animation and documentary) can also beshown individually.

GENRE Episodic YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTORS Johanna Bentz, Sandra Dajani,Madeleine Dallmeyer, Nazgol Emami, KhaledNawal, Diana Menestrey, Camilo ColmenaresPRODUCER Birgit Schulz PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Bildersturm FilmproduktionRUNTIME 80 min

FESTIVALS DOK.fest Munich 2018, JakartaInt. Humanitarian & Culture Awards 2018,Tout Courts 2018, Busan 2018, Dresden 2018,Zlin 2018, Jeunesse Tout Courts 2018,Cortoons Gandia 2018, Linoleum Int. Ani -mation & Media Art Festival 2018, RespectHuman Rights FF 2018, Imaginaria 2018

AWARDS VFF Documentary Film ProductionPrize 2018

SALES NEW [email protected]

© Bildersturm Filmproduktion

BEYOND BORDERS – STORIES OF FREEDOM & FRIENDSHIP

46

NEW DOCUMENTARIES GFQ 1-2019

This is the story of Anastasia Biefang,lieutenant colonel in the Germanmilitary, who was assigned male atbirth. At the height of her career she

decides to finally come out as transgender.Much to her surprise, she does not face anynegative consequences in her career in themilitary. After her transition she becomes thefirst female commander in the history of theGerman military, leading a German armedforces’ battalion for cyber and informationdomain service. The film follows her male tofemale transition and observes her takingover duties as a commander. Anastasia is notthe only one transitioning – her battalionmust also face up to changes in their men -tality.

THOMAS LADENBURGER was born in 1975and studied at the San Francisco Art Institute,the Kassel Art Institute, and at the Universityof Arts (UdK) in Berlin. Active as a camera-man, instructor and documentary filmmaker,his films include: the shorts TRANCE UNDSCHLANGEN – DIE AISSAWA (2013), BOUIAOMAR – BÄNDIGER DER DÄMONEN (2013),DIE HALQA DER SHRIFA AICHA BENBAHA

(2013), and the feature documentaries FORMYSELF AND THE OTHERS (2004), AL HALQA– IN THE STORYTELLER'S CIRCLE (2010), andI AM ANASTASIA (2019).

GENRE Biopic, Society YEAR OF PRODUC-TION 2019 DIRECTOR Thomas LadenburgerCINEMATOGRAPHY Thomas Ladenburger, Elfi Mikesch, Ralph Netzer PRODUCTION

COMPANY Thomas Ladenburger Filmproduk-tion RUNTIME 52 min/95 min LANGUAGEGerman, English

SALES Thomas Ladenburger [email protected] www.thomas-ladenburger.com

© Thomas Ladenburger

I AM ANASTASIA

My Car. Your House. Our Street.Someone’s property. But whoowns the photo of your house?The color of my car? The image

of our street? Can one own a view? Whomakes money with all your images on Face-book or Whatsapp? Who will control theimage of the world once reality is completely“augmented”?

People are filming and taking pictures ofthemselves like never before. Since the inven-tion of the photograph, trillions of photos havebeen taken. But the easier it gets to “expose”everything and everyone, the more our self-evident freedom to portray the world is re-stricted by rules.

MARTIN BAER and CLAUS WISCHMANNare Berlin-based documentary filmmakers,active in the fields of cinematography, writingand directing. In addition to their own films,together they have directed KINSHASASYMPHONY (2010) and THE ILLEGAL FILM(2018).

GENRE Experimental YEAR OF PRODUCTION2018 DIRECTORS Martin Baer, Claus Wisch -mann CINEMATOGRAPHY Martin Baer,Sebastian Hattop, Marcus Winterbauer, BorisFromageot, Thomas Kutschker, MartinKoddenberg PRODUCER Claus WischmannPRODUCTION COMPANY Sounding ImagesRUNTIME 84 min LANGUAGE German,English FESTIVALS Hof 2018

SALES Sounding [email protected]

© Sounding Images

THE ILLEGAL FILM

47


As a young girl growing up in arural village in Kenya, Berylthought that all women in theworld have to be circumcised by

going through Female Genital Mutilation/Cut-ting (FGM/C) at a young age; therefore shewent through the ritual at a tender age as arite of passage. Little did she know about theeffects of FGM/C. Many years later she learnsabout a rather new reconstructive surgerythat promises to give back what was lostonce. In her author-driven documentary INSEARCH… she explores the emotional di-lemma by talking to other women who wentthrough similar experiences. Beryl is trying tofind out whether she should undergo this sur-gery, a journey into the unknown for a secondtime.

BERYL MAGOKO studied Mass Communica-tion and TV/Video Production in Uganda,followed by post-graduate studies at theAcademy of Media Arts Cologne. Sharpeningher passion for cinema through documentaryfilms, her debut film THE CUT (2012) wonseveral inter national awards. Her otherfilms include WATER FOR JANET ANDFELICITAS (2013), IN SEARCH… (2018), and

OTHER MOTHERS (2019, co-direction).

GENRE Human Rights, Women YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTOR Beryl MagokoCINEMATOGRAPHY Jule Katinka CramerPRODUCERS Beryl Magoko, Jule KatinkaCramer PRODUCTION COMPANY Kunsthoch-schule für Medien Köln (KHM) RUNTIME 90min LANGUAGE English, German, Swahili,

Kikuria FESTIVALS DOK Leipzig 2018, IDFA2018 AWARDS Audience Award (LeipzigerRing) 2018, Best Student Documentary IDFA2018

SALES Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln (KHM)[email protected]

© KHM/Magoko/Cramer

JOY IN IRAN accompanies the road-show of the artists Susie Wimmer,Andreas Schock and Moni Singlefrom “Clowns Without Borders” to

various Iranian aid organizations for orphansand street kids, hospitals, psychiatric clinicsand refugee camps. The film recounts notonly intense human encounters but also thealmost unbelievable story of the Iranian tourguide Reza Abedini. Travelling with theGerman artists, the smart guy from Tehranbecomes infected with the “clowns-virus” and– in the end – performs in front of his ownpeople as a new born clown. JOY IN IRAN is acinematic reflection about altruism and thehealing power of humor and joy – in Iran andelsewhere on our planet. The film sketches avery human portrait of this controversialcountry which is again in the focus of world-wide media coverage.

WALTER STEFFEN was born in 1955. Activeas a scriptwriter, producer and director, aselection of his films includes: BULLDOGS(2007), END OF THE LINE SEESHAUPT (2011),MUNICH IN INDIA (2013), BAVARIA VISTACLUB (2014), HAPPY WELCOME (2015), andJOY IN IRAN (2018), among others.

GENRE Road Movie, Human Interest YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTOR Walter SteffenCINEMATOGRAPHY Walter Steffen PRODU-CER Walter Steffen PRODUCTION COMPANYKonzept+Dialog.Medienproduktion RUNTIME90 min LANGUAGE German, EnglishFESTIVALS Fünf Seen FF 2018, BahiaIndepen dent Cinema Festival 2018, Iran Inter -

national Documentary FF 2018 AWARDS BestDocumentary Feature Bahia 2018

SALES Konzept+Dialog.Medienproduktionws@konzept-und-dialog.dewww.konzept-und-dialog.de

© Konzept+Dialog.Medien

48

Apoetic time travel fantasy throughthe imagined history of the UnitedStates as a modern fairyland,along the traces of our desire for

illusion and escapism – fatally bound betweenfact and fiction. PLAYLAND USA questions thepossibilities and limits of the representationof history and is a self-reflection regardingfilm as a medium. The film draws a line incinematic images from Noah’s Ark to thecolonization of Mars and asks essentialquestions: What is seeing? How do we see theworld? What is invisible, for us, for others?The director has made many “AmericanDreams” into one “American Nightmare”, in -scribing quotes of pop culture and Hollywoodinto a biblical history. When the film recountsthe shooting at the Batman premiere inAurora, reality and fiction have finally merged.

BENJAMIN SCHINDLER studied at theAcademy of Media Arts Cologne. Also activein the fields of virtual stage design, space andvideo installations, and as a cameraman, hisfilms as a director include: COSTA DEL SOL(2010), CHELLAPONNU (2011), PLAYHOUSEOF A. (2013), and PLAYLAND USA (2019).

GENRE Fantasy, History, Science Fiction,Society YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Benjamin Schindler CINEMA-TOG RAPHY Benjamin Schindler PRODUCERSLevin Hübner, Benjamin Schindler,Fabian Wallenfels PRODUCTION COMPANIESzeitgebilde Filmproduktion & Hübner/Wallenfels, in co-production with WDR, in co-operation with ARTE RUNTIME 88 min

LANGUAGE English FESTIVALS FilmfestivalMax Ophüls Preis Saarbrücken 2019

SALES Hübner/[email protected]

© zeitgebilde Filmproduktion & Hübner/Wallenfels


In Lake Constance, the fifth store ofEurope’s biggest pharmacy chain openedin 2017. Even more nappies and tooth -paste for the tourist shoppers from

Switzer land. Until 2016, the location used tobe the residence of the Scala Filmpalast.When Douglas Wolfsperger arrives, the pro-tests are just in full swing – it’s the last rebel-lion of a dying cinema. He talks to movieenthusiasts and bureaucratic local council-men. Town centers and the meaning ofculture are changing. But who are the wire -pullers?

DOUGLAS WOLFSPERGER was born in 1957.Active as a writer, producer and director, hisfilms include: LEBE KREUZ UND STERBEQUER (1985), KIES (1986), PROBEFAHRT INSPARADIES (1992), HEIRATE MIR! (1999),BELLARIA – AS LONG AS WE LIVE! (2001),RIDERS OF THE SACRED BLOOD (2003), DIDYOU EVER FALL IN LOVE WITH ME? (2005),LONG JOURNEY INTO THE LIGHT (2007), THE

DISCARDED FATHER (2008), DOUBLE LIFE(2011), BRUNDIBAR REVISITED (2014), andSCALA ADIEU (2018).

GENRE Educational, Film History, Tragi -comedy YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTOR Douglas Wolfsperger CINEMA- TOG RAPHY Frank Amann, Börres Weiffen-bach PRODUCER Douglas Wolfsperger PRO-

DUCTION COMPANY Douglas WolfspergerFilmproduktion RUNTIME 80 min LANGUAGEGerman FESTIVALS Hof 2018, BiberacherFilmfestspiele 2018 AWARDS Best Documen-tary Biberach 2018

SALES Douglas Wolfsperger Filmproduktioninfo@douglas-wolfsperger.dewww.douglas-wolfsperger.com

© Wilder Süden Filmverleih

49


STRESS follows five young veteransfrom Pittsburgh who served inAfghanistan or Iraq after 9/11. Joe,Torrie, Mike, James and Justin tell

stories of their experience in the war andtheir process of adjusting to civilian life backhome. Veterans only make up 2% of the U.S.population, but they carry almost all of thephysical and psychological burden of recentwars – a decade of trauma and injury. Thefilm finds a unique visual language, using ex-treme slow motion to make the difficulties ofadjusting to civilian life after the experienceof war emotionally tangible for the audience.

FLORIAN BARON was born in 1984 andstudied at the Film University BabelsbergKONRAD WOLF. In 2015 he founded theproduction company Machnitzky Filmpro -duktion. His films include: RADIO TAXI (2010,short doc), THE FINAL CALL (2012, doc), JOEBOOTS (short doc, 2017), and STRESS (doc,2018).

GENRE Society YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTOR Florian Baron CINEMATOGRAPHYJohannes Waltermann PRODUCER FlorianBaron CO-PRODUCER Herbert Burkert PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Machnitzky Filmpro -duktion RUNTIME 83 min LANGUAGE EnglishFESTIVALS DOK Leipzig 2018 AWARDSDEFA Sponsoring Prize DOK Leipzig 2018

SALES NEW [email protected]

© Machnitzky Filmproduktion

Daniele Kihlgren is a visionaryentre preneur who tries to bringold Italian villages back to life andpreserve their ancient charm,

even at the cost of losing money. Though asick man, he is a lively, eccentric characterwho uses all his stamina to fight against timeand prevent Italian beauties from falling intooblivion.

ALESSANDRO SOETJE is a Milan-baseddirector and cinematographer. His work in-cludes the documentaries AFRICA AS SEENBY AFRICANS (series) and the award-winningAFRICA’S CHILDREN, as well as numerousother television series and commercials. Hiswork on the international campaign AwareMigrants was awarded the Best Social Cam-paign prize at the 30th International Grand

Prix for Advertising Strategies. He is currentlyworking on the documentary THE HAPPI-NESS OF PURSUIT.

GENRE Biopic YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTOR Alessandro Soetje CINEMATOG -RAPHY Alessandro Soetje PRODUCER Ales-sandro Melazzini CO-PRODUCER AlessandroSoetje PRODUCTION COMPANY Alpenway

Media, in co-production with Nantucket RUN-TIME 72 min LANGUAGE Italian FESTIVALSMontreal 2018, FrontDoc Aosta 2018, Sondrio2018

SALES Alpenway [email protected]

© Alpenway Media

OUR STONE

50


How does living with a seriously sickor disabled child influence thefamily structure? What specificrole do the healthy siblings have?

UNZERTRENNLICH accompanies childrenand young adults from four completely diffe-rent families and seeks to find answers tothese questions in their everyday lives.

Over three quarters of the population inGermany have at least one brother or sister.These siblings are playmates, confidantesand often best friends for life. But with a sib-ling there also emerges rivalry in the compe-tition for affection, attention, freedom andrespect. Conflicts are part of every healthy re-lationship between siblings. They are impor-tant to establish a lasting balance and tosupport the healthy development of a child.But what happens if that is not possible be-

cause one child has a special, shielded statusin the family, due to a sickness or disabilityand is in need of constant care?

FRAUKE LODDERS’ other films include:MONDSCHEIN SONATE (2008), UND SCHULDHAST DU (2009), VERLASSEN (2009), HIPHOP BRAUCHT KEIN MENSCH, ABERMENSCH BRAUCHT HIP HOP (doc, 2015), and

the feature MORPHEUS (2015).

GENRE Human Interest, Society, Family YEAROF PRODUCTION 2018 DIRECTOR FraukeLodders CINEMATOGRAPHY Timo Schwarz, Fabian Schmalenbach PRODUCERS Mike Beilfuß, Matthias Greving, Frauke LoddersCO-PRODUCER Andreas Hellmanzik PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Kinescope Film, in co-

production with Soundbase Studios RUNTIME91 min LANGUAGE German FESTIVALS Kas-sel Documentary Film & Video Festival 2018AWARDS Golden Hercules Kassel 2018

SALES Kinescope Film [email protected]

© Kinescope Film

INSEPARABLE

Check out the new GFQ digital issuewww.germanfilmsquarterly.de

Specially designed for desktop

and mobile devices, to keep

you informed on all the latest

German films and filmmakers,

and a whole lot more!

GFQ 1-2019 NEW SHORTS

51

THE FUNERAL DANCER

© Amber Palmer

THE FUNERAL DANCER tells thestory of Jazz, who works as a funeralentertainer, a profession which hasbecome one of the best paid jobs in

a world where funerals are a status symboland at the same time an obligation to enter-tain relatives, friends and work colleaguesalike. Expectations are high, morals are low.While Jazz tries to entertain the mourners,she is forced to face severe problems of herown.

NATALIE MACMAHON began her career as anactress and became more interested in writ -ing and directing her own films. Her award-winning films include: THE MAN WHOCOULDN’T CRY (short, 2015), LIKE A SUM-MER SONATA (short, 2016), the web seriesTHE SECRET OF BERLIN (2015) and SENSES(2016), LOLA WANTS TO SEE THE SEA (short,2016), A UNIVERSAL LOVE STORY (short,2017), IT’S GETTING DARKER EVERY DAY(short, 2017), THE REDHEAD (short, 2017),MALSANO NOMATA AMO (web series, 2018),and THE FUNERAL DANCER (2019).

GENRE Drama, Experimental, Science FictionYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORNatalie MacMahon SCREENPLAY NatalieMacMahon CINEMATOGRAPHY AmberPalmer CAST Mara Scherzinger, MichaelIhnow, Annette Pausch, Henry Morales,Saskia Mommertz, Frences Kulus, NatalieMacMahon, Theresa Scherhag, Inken Grosse,Marian Böing, Jennifer Kristin Lindner,Gernot Edelmann PRODUCER Natalie Mac-Mahon PRODUCTION COMPANY NatalieMacMahon Films RUNTIME 9 min 31 secLANGUAGE German

SALESNatalie MacMahon [email protected]

© Little Big Talents

Time is of essence, trapped underrubble, buried in the dust. Stevewakes up and realizes he cannotmove. Darkness lies before him.

Then he hears a voice, unknown and in astrange language. Khaled has awakened froma faint. He, too, realizes that he is underburied rubble and can’t move. Wasn’t he justwith his daughter in the city? Didn’t he justwant to go shopping and visit his parents?Where is his daughter? What happened?Steve tries to calm him down, but what is thisAmerican saying? Khaled hardly understandsa word. Steve cannot understand Khaledeither. Both are trapped in complete darknessclose to each other...

In the evening Anja packs her bag in a smalloffice in Germany. “Press” is written on it inwhite letters. Concentrated, she puts pass-ports and cards into it. Her husband Leo iswatching her closely. He knows that he has tolet Anja go again. Into uncertainty. The nextmorning her flight is heading to the war zone.Leo stays behind. The waiting for the first signof life begins.

Things have become quiet around Steve andKhaled. The fifth day has begun. It feels likean infinity. The air is so dry, nobody can speakanymore. The silence bursts all hope. Whenwill Anja get in touch? Will Steve and Khaledever see daylight again?

MICHELE GENTILE is active as a director, wri-ter, cameraman and editor. A selection of hisfilms as a director includes: IM EINSATZ(short doc, 2009), THE PROJEKTIONISTIN(2010), VERLUST (short, 2011), DIE PRO -JEKTIONISTIN – DIE GESCHICHTE EINESFILMS (doc, 2013), GOOD BYE SYRIA (doc,2013), PADDY’S MUM (doc, 2014), JAMIL(short, 2018), and MALIA (in development).

GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2018DIRECTOR Michele Gentile SCREENPLAYMichele Gentile CINEMATOGRAPHY FrankBarbian CAST Tobias Langhoff, Beate Malkus,Sam Alexander, Fakhri Hamad, AlyssaHarting, Maria Gorka Uchmann PRODUCERSJennifer Schense, Michele Gentile CO-PRO-DUCERS Holger Bergmann, Sascha SchmidtPRODUCTION COMPANY Little Big TalentsRUNTIME 29 min LANGUAGE German

SALESLittle Big Talents [email protected]

52

UPCOMING FILMS GFQ 1-2019

8 TAGE

Stefan Ruzowitzky and the HFF Munichgraduate Michael Krummenacher areco-directors of the eight-part drama

series 8 DAYS to be aired by Sky in Germanyand Austria in early 2019. The doomsdayscenario focuses on the last days of humanityas we know it as a giant meteor rushes to-wards Earth. Hidden and familiar conflictsbreak out and intensify as the disaster looms:people suddenly can break the speed limit atwill, have wild unprotected sex, do all thedrugs they want, shop with no money, livewith out working, and love without any con -sequences. But, in the end, the only thing thatmatters is what is really important in one’sfinal days and hours...

GENRE Drama, Melodrama CATEGORY SeriesDIRECTORS Stefan Ruzowitzky, MichaelKrummenacher SCREENPLAY Peter Kocyla,Rafael Parente, Benjamin Seiler CASTChristiane Paul, Mark Waschke, Lena Klenke,Luisa-Céline Gaffron, Devid Striesow,Fabian Hinrichs, Henry Hübchen, MurathanMuslu, Claude Heinrich PRODUCER FlorianKamhuber PRODUCTION COMPANY NEUE-SUPER, in co-production with Sky Deutsch-land LANGUAGE German

SALES Sky [email protected]

BODY OF TRUTH

The internationally famous artistsMarina Abramović, Sigalit Landau,Katharina Sieverding and Shirin Nes-

hat have been influenced and politicized bytheir personal experiences of war, violenceand oppression in their respective countriesof origin. These experiences infiltrate theirworks. Their means of expression is the mostintimate medium they possess: their ownbodies. Their art challenges us to developnew perspectives and awareness, deepeningour understanding of the issues of our times.

BODY OF TRUTH accompanies these artistson an emotional journey through their bio -graphies, chronicling the connections andparallels among them, exhibiting the aware-ness-raising power of art.

GENRE Art CATEGORY Documentary DIREC-TOR Evelyn Schels PRODUCERS Arek Gielnik,Sonia Otto PRODUCTION COMPANY INDIFILM, in co-production with DokLab LAN -GUAGE English, German

SALES Autlook [email protected]

DER CLUB DER SINGENDEN METZGER

Adapted from Louise Erdrich’s US-bestseller of friendship and greatlove against the background of

German emigration to the US in the early 20thcentury, this is the story of WWI veteranFidelis Waldvogel, who emigrates to Argus,North Dakota to establish an existence andprovide for Eva, the pregnant fiancée of afallen friend. Here, he meets the performingartiste Delphine and her alcoholic fatherRobert, a clown. Delphine finds work with theLakota Indian Cyprian in a traveling circuswhile Fidelis opens his own butcher’s shop inArgus, and, as a way of dealing with his home-sickness, founds a German singing club.When Eva arrives with her child she quicklyforms a close friendship with Delphine. Butthen their happiness is put to the test.

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Mini-Series DI-RECTOR Uli Edel SCREENPLAY Doris Dörrie,Ruth Stadler CAST Jonas Nay, Aylin Tezel,Leonie Benesch, Sylvester Groth, VladimirKorneev, Therese Hämer, Claudia Kottal PRO-DUCERS Oliver Berben, Sarah Kirkegaard,Karsten Rühle PRODUCTION COMPANIESMOOVIE, Constantin Film Produktion, inco-production with ARD Degeto, SWRLANGUAGE German, English


© Stephan Rabold/NEUESUPER/Sky

© Börres Wieffenbach/INDI FILM

© Silvia Zeitlinger/ARD Degeto/MOOVIE

53

GFQ 1-2019 UPCOMING FILMS

DER FALL COLLINI

Elyas M’Barek is cast as the young Ger-man defense lawyer Caspar Leinen inConstantin Film’s screen adaptation of

Ferdinand von Schirach’s international best-selling courtroom drama The Collini Case.

As Leinen searches for clues to explain whyhis client brutally murdered a prominent in-dustrialist, he discovers a personal connec-tion to the victim and unearths a terrible truthat the heart of Germany’s legal system thatnobody wants to know...

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIRECTORMarco Kreuzpaintner SCREENPLAY ChristianZübert, Robert Gold, Jens-Frederik Otto CASTElyas M’Barek, Alexandra Maria Lara, FrancoNero, Heiner Lauterbach, Manfred Zapatka,Jannis Niewöhner, Rainer Bock, Catrin Strie-beck, Pia Stutzenstein, Peter Prager, HannesWegener PRODUCERS Christoph Müller,Kerstin Schmidbauer, Marcel Hartges PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Constantin Film Pro -duktion, in co-production with SevenPicturesFilm LANGUAGE German


HANNES

Shooting was completed last autumn atlocations in Bavaria, Italy and Spain forHans Steinbichler’s HANNES, an adap-

tation of Rita Falk’s moving bestseller of thesame name about friendship, loss and part -ing, adventure and love of life.

Leonard Scheicher and Johannes Nussbaumare cast as Moritz and Hannes, who havebeen inseparable friends ever since birth.How ever, life for the 19-year-olds is radicallychanged when Hannes is seriously injured ona trip out on their motorbikes and remains ina comatose state in the hospital. Moritz isneverthe less convinced that Hannes willcome through and decides to now live life ashis best friend would have done...

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIRECTORHans Steinbichler SCREENPLAY DominikusSteinbichler CAST Leonard Scheicher, Johan-nes Nussbaum, Lisa Vicari, Heiner Lauter-bach, Hannelore Elsner, Jeanette Hain,Gabriela Maria Schmeide PRODUCER NilsDünker PRODUCTION COMPANY Lailaps Pic-tures, in co-production with STUDIOCANALFilm, ARD Degeto LANGUAGE German

SALES [email protected]

Slumbering in the east of Ukraine liesDerzhprom, the House of StateIndustry. Built between 1925-28 in the

Constructivist style, it was meant to embodythe idea of communism. The film circlesaround the building, opening up a kaleidos-cope of perspectives that include an aestheticexamination of the architecture, archivematerial from the 1920’s and the SovietRevolution in Ukraine, careful portraits of thewomen who now work in the building, and twoGerman filmmakers wandering about ratheraimlessly. An associative and poetic musingover the historical possibility of building anew society, the material remnants of thispossibility and the people inhabiting theseremnants.

GENRE Art, Experimental CATEGORY Docu-mentary DIRECTORS Tatjana Kononenko,Matilda Mester PRODUCER Myriam EichlerPRODUCTION COMPANY Deutsche Film- undFernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) LANGUAGERussian, German, Ukrainian

SALESDeutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin [email protected]

© Constantin Film

© STUDIOCANALl/Luis Zeno Kuhn

© Matilda Mester/DFFB

DAS HAUS

54

UPCOMING FILMS GFQ 1-2019

HAVEN – ABOVE SKY

Shooting wrapped at locations inGermany and Switzerland at the end ofNovember for the sci-fi spectacle

HAVEN – ABOVE SKY which sees the directorTim Fehlbaum being reunited with producersThomas Wöbke and Ruth Waldburger andDoP Markus Förderer from his 2011 award-winning debut, the apocalyptic thriller HELL.

The screenplay by Fehlbaum and his co-writer Mariko Minoguchi for the English-language production is set in a not-too-distant future: after a global catastrophe haswiped out nearly all of humanity, Blake, anelite astronaut from Space Colony Kepler, issent back to Earth to make a decision that willseal the fate of the people on both planets.

GENRE Fantasy, Science Fiction, ThrillerCATEGORY Feature DIRECTOR Tim FehlbaumSCREENPLAY Mariko Minoguchi, Tim Fehl-baum, Jo Rogers CAST Nora Arnezeder, IainGlen, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Sope Dirisu,Sebastian Roché, Joel Basman, Bella BadingPRODUCERS Thomas Wöbke, Philipp Trauer,Ruth Waldburger, Constanze Guttmann PRO-DUCTION COMPANIES BerghausWöbke Film-produktion, Vega Film, in co-production withConstantin Film Produktion, Babelsberg Film,SRF LANGUAGE English

SALES Mister Smith [email protected]

NÖ

Dina and Michael are in their early 30s.At first they are happy. Then hesuggests they should split up. To

which she says, “Nö, not having it!” The filmthen follows them over the coming years asthey try to navigate their way through life’spitfalls, live up to their own parents’ expecta-tions, keep their careers on track and be goodparents themselves. NÖ is a film about love,our search for it and inability to live it when itis there. About the passing of time and thatgeneration, now in their thirties, that has somuch, tries so hard and often fails silently. Itis also a film about something that cinemadoes especially well: showing those psycho-logical states that lie beyond the visible, butare no less real and decisive for our life’sjourney.

GENRE Comedy, Love Story CATEGORYFeature DIRECTOR Dietrich BrüggemannSCREENPLAY Anna Brüggemann, DietrichBrüggemann CAST Alexander Khuon, AnnaBrüggemann, Hanns Zischler, Petra Schmidt-Schaller, Isolde Barth, Andreas Döhler, NinaPetri, Mark Waschke PRODUCERS MartinHeisler, Gabriele Simon PRODUCTION COM-PANY Flare Film, in co-production with RotorFilm LANGUAGE German


RETTET DAS FEUER“Isay: I believe in life, I believe in love, I

believe in death. This is why I believe intransience. I take a photograph, I pho-

tograph a person. I photograph the world. Iexist. When I imagine the stream of my an-cestors standing behind me, I see my adop-tive parents, my biological parents, and I seemy queer ancestors.” Jürgen Baldiga

“Identity means history and vice versa. Sowhat does it mean to not know one’s own his -tory? Today, AIDS no longer means what it didthirty years ago, but the stories from the col-lective memory are now becoming history andI want to tell them.” Jasco Viefhues

GENRE Essay CATEGORY DocumentaryDIRECTOR Jasco Viefhues PRODUCER JascoViefhues PRODUCTION COMPANY DeutscheFilm- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB)LAN GUAGE German

SALESDeutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin [email protected]

© Constantin Film Verleih/Gordon Timpen

© Alexander Sass/Flare Film

© Hendrik Reichel/DFFB

55

GFQ 1-2019 UPCOMING FILMS

SPIDES

Director-showrunner-producer RainerMatsutani returns to his greatpassion of genre filmmaking with

SPIDES which will be aired on NBCUni -versal’s SYFY channels around the world fromlate 2019.

Set in modern day Berlin, the eight-part se-ries centers on a young woman who wakesout of a coma without any memory of her pre-vious life after taking a mysterious drug.When she sets out to discover what happenedto her, she begins to unravel a conspiracy ofaliens who are using a synthetic drug to infil-trate humans to use as host bodies. The moreshe starts uncovering, the more of her owndark secret is revealed: she is the key to theinvasion she is fighting.

GENRE Science Fiction, Thriller, Action CATE-GORY Series DIRECTOR Rainer MatsutaniSCREENPLAY Rainer Matsutani, EckhardVollmar, Peter Hume, Carola Lowitz, MarkWachholz CAST Rosabell Laurenti Sellers,Falk Hentschel, Florence Kasumba, DésiréeNosbusch, Damian Hardung PRODUCERSA. Kiening, R. Matsutani, B. Schlotterer, W.Behr, J. Cabourne, D. v. Braun, H. NemmertPRO DUCTION COMPANIES Spides Pro duc -tion, Katapult Film, Red Sun Films, in co-pro-duction with Palatin Media, Aventin Film,Nevision Ltd., Baby Giant Hollyberg LAN -GUAGE English

SALES Palatin Media [email protected] www.palatinmedia.com

DAS VORSPIEL

Anna teaches violin at a music school,her husband is an instrument-maker.They have a 10-year-old son, Jonas.

At school, Anna champions young Alexander,in whom she alone sees great talent. She de-votes much energy and attention preparinghim for the next stage exam to prove she wasright. Soon Anna devotes more time to himthan to Jonas, bringing the two boys intorivalry. At the same time her marriage iscollapsing, she withdraws increasingly fromher own family and starts an affair with hercolleague Christian, who is encouraging herto join a quartet. When she fails during theirjoint concert, the pressure mounts. With Alex-ander now her vehicle, she drives him everonwards and upwards. Come the day of theexam, events take a tragic turn...

GENRE Drama, Music CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTOR Ina Weisse SCREENPLAY InaWeisse, Daphne Charizani CAST Nina Hoss,Simon Abkarian, Ilja Monti, Serafin Mishiev,Sophie Rois, Jens Albinus, Thomas ThiemePRODUCER Felix von Boehm PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Lupa Film, in co-production withZDF, ARTE, Idéale Audience, Port au PrinceFilm & Kultur Produktion LANGUAGEGerman, French

SALES Les Films du [email protected]

Avampire who can’t stand the sight ofblood, a fairy who has a fear of flying,and a werewolf with an animal hair

allergy: teenagers Vlad, Faye and Wolf arefrequently the butt of jokes at the world’smost famous magic school of the PennerAcademy, but the trio band together as theWolf Gang to uncover a secret conspiracyhatched by the mayor and his secretary thatcould spell the end of the town of Crailsfeldenand its inhabitants of fairies, witches, trolls,dwarves and vampires. The fantasy adventure– which also features top comedians RickKavanian and Axel Stein – will be the firstcinema adaptation of a book by WolfgangHohlbein, one of Germany's most successfulfantasy and sci-fi writers.

GENRE Children & Youth, Family Entertain-ment CATEGORY Feature DIRECTOR TimTrageser SCREENPLAY Marc Hillefeld CASTAaron Kissiov, Johanna Schrami, ArsseniBultmann, Rick Kavanian, Christian Berkel,Sonja Gerhardt, Axel Stein, Waldemar KobusPRODUCER Christian Becker PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Rat Pack Filmproduktion, in co-production with Deutsche Columbia PicturesFilmproduktion LANGUAGE German


© Spides Production

© Peter Hartwig/Lupa Film

© Sony Pictures Entertainment Deutschland

DIE WOLF-GÄNG

GERMAN FILMS: A PROFILE GFQ 1-2019

56

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

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

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

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

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

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

.

RANGE OF ACTIVITIES

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

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

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

� Staging of industry screenings in keyinternational territories

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

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

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

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

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

� Organization of the selection procedurefor the German entry for the Oscar® for BestForeign Language Film

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

� Selective financial Distribution Supportfor the foreign releases of German films

� Organization with UniFrance of the annualGerman-French film meeting

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

SUPERVISORY BOARD

Peter Herrmann Chairman

Peter DingesAntonio ExacoustosKirsten NiehuusSabine Pollmeier

TEAM

Mariette Rissenbeek / Simone Baumann (from 1 April 2019) Managing Director

Mai Anh Do Accounts

Christine Harrasser Press & PR, Television

Angela Hawkins Communications & Marketing

Anne Heidebrecht Distribution Support & Animation

Nicole Kaufmann Regional Coordinator: USA, UK & Northern Europe

Dennis Ruh Festival Relations

Fides Schäffer Regional Coordinator: Asia & Australia

Maike Schantz / Johanna Buse (from 1 March 2019) Regional Coordinator: Southern Europe & Latin America

Martin Scheuring Project Coordinator & Short Film

Andrea Schiefer Monitoring & Strategic Development, Business Affairs

Sabrina Schrödl Assistant to the Managing Director

Bernhard Simek Regional Coordinator: Eastern Europe, Documentary Film

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und MedienFederal Government Commissioner for Culture & the MediaKöthener Str. 2 | 10963 Berlin/Germany | phone +49-30-18 68 10fax +49-30-1 86 81 54 43 51 | [email protected] | www.kulturstaatsminister.de

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

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

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

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

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

57

GFQ 1-2019 SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORTERS

ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS GFQ 1-2019

58

ASSOCIATION OFGERMAN FILM EXPORTERS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE)

59

GFQ 1-2019 IMPRINT & FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

German Films Quarterly is published by:

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

ISSN 1614-6387

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

© German Films Service + Marketing GmbH

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

EditorAngela Hawkins

Contributors Martin Blaney, Patrick Heidmann, Simon Kingsley, Jenni Zylka

TranslationsLucinda Rennison

CoverEmma Drogunova(© Florian Liedel)

Design & Art DirectionWerner Schauer www.triptychon.biz

Printing Officewww.esta-druck.de

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

FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

Eastern Europe

Simone BaumannSaxonia EntertainmentAltenburger Str. 904275 Leipzig/Germanyphone +49-3 41-35 00 45 36fax +49-3 41-35 00 77 45 [email protected]

China

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

OPENING THE DOORS TOGERMAN CINEMA

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German Films at the European Film Market 2019 · Gropius Bau · Stand 17 · Niederkirchnerstr. 7 · 10963 Berlin · phone +49-30-220 088 415�

OPENING THED O O R S T OGERMANC I N E M A

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GFQ - German Films€¦ · director Nora Fingscheidt transcends a psycho logical study and crafts...

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