In Berlin und Umgebung sowie in Leipzig laufen noch bis November die Dreharbeiten zur Romanverfilmung „Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße“, bei der Wolfgang Becker Regie führt.
Am Set von „Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße“ (v.l.n.r.): Regisseur Wolfgang Becker mit dem Cast Yvon Moltzen, Charly Hübner, Helena Landau und Leonie Benesch (Credit: Frédéric Batier – X Filme Creative Pool)
Nach einem Drehbuch, das Constantin Lieb geschrieben hat, inszeniert Wolfgang Becker noch bis November in Berlin und Umgebung sowie in Leipzig die Verfilmung von Maxim Leos Roman „Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße“.
In der Hauptrolle verkörpert Charly Hübner den kurz vor der Pleite stehenden Berliner Videothekenbesitzer Micha Hartung (Charly Hübner), der zum 30. Jahrestages des Mauerfalls von einem Journalisten zum Drahtzieher der größten Massenflucht der Ddr stilisiert wird. Als Hochstapler wider Willen verstrickt sich Micha in einem Gestrüpp aus Halbwahrheiten und handfesten Lügen. Und als das fragile Kartenhaus der Geschichte...
Am Set von „Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße“ (v.l.n.r.): Regisseur Wolfgang Becker mit dem Cast Yvon Moltzen, Charly Hübner, Helena Landau und Leonie Benesch (Credit: Frédéric Batier – X Filme Creative Pool)
Nach einem Drehbuch, das Constantin Lieb geschrieben hat, inszeniert Wolfgang Becker noch bis November in Berlin und Umgebung sowie in Leipzig die Verfilmung von Maxim Leos Roman „Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße“.
In der Hauptrolle verkörpert Charly Hübner den kurz vor der Pleite stehenden Berliner Videothekenbesitzer Micha Hartung (Charly Hübner), der zum 30. Jahrestages des Mauerfalls von einem Journalisten zum Drahtzieher der größten Massenflucht der Ddr stilisiert wird. Als Hochstapler wider Willen verstrickt sich Micha in einem Gestrüpp aus Halbwahrheiten und handfesten Lügen. Und als das fragile Kartenhaus der Geschichte...
- 10/28/2024
- by Jochen Müller
- Spot - Media & Film
2025 geht die von Studiocanal initiierte „Best of Cinema“-Reihe, in deren Rahmen an jedem ersten Dienstag im Monat ein Kultfilm oder Filmklassiker in einer 4K-restaurierten Fassung erneut im Kino zu sehen ist, in ihr drittes Jahr. Jetzt wurde das Programm für das erste Halbjahr bekannt gegeben.
Das Programm der „Best of Cinema“-Reihe für das erste Halbjahr 2025 steht. Wie Studiocanal, das die Reihe, die in ihr drittes Jahr geht, initiiert hat, heute mitteilt, ist neben Studiocanal, Capelight Pictures, Tobis und X-Verleih mit Warner Bros. Pictures erstmals ein Major mit an Bord.
„Wir freuen uns sehr, ab Januar Teil der ‚Best of Cinema‘-Reihe zu sein und mit der erneuerten Fassung unseres Psychothrillers ‚Sieben‘ in das Kino-Jahr 2025 zu starten“, erklärt Steffen Schier, SVP Theatrical (Gsa) – Managing Director Warner Bros. Entertainment GmbH.
Im Rahmen der „Best of Cinema“-Reihe werden an jedem ersten Dienstag im Monat – am heutigen 1. Oktober steht „Good Bye, Lenin!...
Das Programm der „Best of Cinema“-Reihe für das erste Halbjahr 2025 steht. Wie Studiocanal, das die Reihe, die in ihr drittes Jahr geht, initiiert hat, heute mitteilt, ist neben Studiocanal, Capelight Pictures, Tobis und X-Verleih mit Warner Bros. Pictures erstmals ein Major mit an Bord.
„Wir freuen uns sehr, ab Januar Teil der ‚Best of Cinema‘-Reihe zu sein und mit der erneuerten Fassung unseres Psychothrillers ‚Sieben‘ in das Kino-Jahr 2025 zu starten“, erklärt Steffen Schier, SVP Theatrical (Gsa) – Managing Director Warner Bros. Entertainment GmbH.
Im Rahmen der „Best of Cinema“-Reihe werden an jedem ersten Dienstag im Monat – am heutigen 1. Oktober steht „Good Bye, Lenin!...
- 10/1/2024
- by Jochen Müller
- Spot - Media & Film
German Films celebrated its 70th anniversary at Cannes on Sunday, with its guests looking back but also looking forward.
“It has gotten much better,” Managing Director Simone Baumann told Variety at the event.
“We’ve had Oscar-winning ‘All Quiet on the Western Front,’ Oscar-nominated ‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ [for best international feature], films by Wim Wenders and with Sandra Hüller! Sure, Wim showed a Japanese movie and Sandra a French one [‘Perfect Days’ and ‘Anatomy of a Fall’], but it doesn’t matter: It’s more ‘mixed’ these days and I am proud of it, to be honest.”
At Cannes, 14 German productions and co-productions have been selected this year, including Match Factory’s main competition offerings “Motel Destino” by Karim Aïnouz – who also attended the bash – and Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour.” Run Way Pictures is behind Mohammad Rasoulof’s anticipated “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.”
As festivals get “more competitive,” underlines Baumann, international collabs are here to stay.
“It has gotten much better,” Managing Director Simone Baumann told Variety at the event.
“We’ve had Oscar-winning ‘All Quiet on the Western Front,’ Oscar-nominated ‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ [for best international feature], films by Wim Wenders and with Sandra Hüller! Sure, Wim showed a Japanese movie and Sandra a French one [‘Perfect Days’ and ‘Anatomy of a Fall’], but it doesn’t matter: It’s more ‘mixed’ these days and I am proud of it, to be honest.”
At Cannes, 14 German productions and co-productions have been selected this year, including Match Factory’s main competition offerings “Motel Destino” by Karim Aïnouz – who also attended the bash – and Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour.” Run Way Pictures is behind Mohammad Rasoulof’s anticipated “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.”
As festivals get “more competitive,” underlines Baumann, international collabs are here to stay.
- 5/20/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Daniel Brühl has recalled the time he swerved a Karl Lagerfeld cover shoot two decades before playing him in the eponymous Disney+ series that airs out of competition at tonight’s Canneseries.
The BAFTA-nominated Rush star met the fashion icon in the early noughties but it has had a long lasting effect on him, and he was later to discover that this was true in the reverse.
Speaking to Deadline on the day of the Becoming Karl Lagerfeld premiere, the German-Spanish actor detailed how he was taking part in a photo shoot at the Berlinale right after announcing himself on the world stage with his critically-acclaimed performance in Wolfgang Becker’s Good Bye, Lenin!.
“There was this Karl Lagerfeld photo shoot and all the German actors were stood together cramped like sausages and my Spanish pride kicked in, and I just thought, ‘This is embarrassing’,” Brühl explained. “But [Lagerfeld] saw it...
The BAFTA-nominated Rush star met the fashion icon in the early noughties but it has had a long lasting effect on him, and he was later to discover that this was true in the reverse.
Speaking to Deadline on the day of the Becoming Karl Lagerfeld premiere, the German-Spanish actor detailed how he was taking part in a photo shoot at the Berlinale right after announcing himself on the world stage with his critically-acclaimed performance in Wolfgang Becker’s Good Bye, Lenin!.
“There was this Karl Lagerfeld photo shoot and all the German actors were stood together cramped like sausages and my Spanish pride kicked in, and I just thought, ‘This is embarrassing’,” Brühl explained. “But [Lagerfeld] saw it...
- 4/7/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s father-daughter drama Sentimental Value has received €200,000 from the German Federal Film Board (Ffa) and will shoot in Germany as well as in Norway and France later this year.
The film will reunite Trier with Renate Reinsve, the star of his Oscar-nominated The Worst Person In The World, and that film’s writer Eskil Vogt.
The production funding was allocated to the film’s German co-producer Komplizen Film which is producing with Norway’s Mer Film and Eye Eye Pictures, Denmark’s Zentropa, France’s Agat Films, and Mk Production.
The family drama is about two...
The film will reunite Trier with Renate Reinsve, the star of his Oscar-nominated The Worst Person In The World, and that film’s writer Eskil Vogt.
The production funding was allocated to the film’s German co-producer Komplizen Film which is producing with Norway’s Mer Film and Eye Eye Pictures, Denmark’s Zentropa, France’s Agat Films, and Mk Production.
The family drama is about two...
- 3/5/2024
- ScreenDaily
Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s father-daughter drama Sentimental Value has received €200,000 from the German Federal Film Board (Ffa) and will shoot in Germany as well as in Norway and France later this year.
The film will reunite Trier with Renate Reinsve, the star of his Oscar-nominated The Worst Person In The World, and that film’s writer Eskil Vogt.
The production funding was allocated to the film’s German co-producer Komplizen Film which is producing with Norway’s Mer Film and Eye Eye Pictures, Denmark’s Zentropa, France’s Agat Films, and Mk Production.
The family drama is about two...
The film will reunite Trier with Renate Reinsve, the star of his Oscar-nominated The Worst Person In The World, and that film’s writer Eskil Vogt.
The production funding was allocated to the film’s German co-producer Komplizen Film which is producing with Norway’s Mer Film and Eye Eye Pictures, Denmark’s Zentropa, France’s Agat Films, and Mk Production.
The family drama is about two...
- 3/5/2024
- ScreenDaily
Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.
For those unfamiliar with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors.
The Filmmaker’s Podcast #302:Daniel Brühl, Albrecht Schuch and Edward Berger talk...
For those unfamiliar with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors.
The Filmmaker’s Podcast #302:Daniel Brühl, Albrecht Schuch and Edward Berger talk...
- 11/7/2022
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Chulpan Khamatova, a leading Russian actress who has also made several international film appearances, has given an interview saying that she has gone into exile in Latvia, following her country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Khamatova recorded an interview that was broadcast earlier this week on YouTube, explaining that she travelled to Riga on holiday several weeks ago with her daughters, but has decided to stay put rather than return to Russia.
“I thought at the start that I would just wait. Then I signed the petition against the war. And then it was made clear to me it would be undesirable for me to go back,” she said, according to RadioFreeEurope’s translation. “I know I am not a traitor. I love my motherland very much.”
Khamatova added that to make her return to Russia possible, she would either have to deny that a war was taking place or apologize...
Khamatova recorded an interview that was broadcast earlier this week on YouTube, explaining that she travelled to Riga on holiday several weeks ago with her daughters, but has decided to stay put rather than return to Russia.
“I thought at the start that I would just wait. Then I signed the petition against the war. And then it was made clear to me it would be undesirable for me to go back,” she said, according to RadioFreeEurope’s translation. “I know I am not a traitor. I love my motherland very much.”
Khamatova added that to make her return to Russia possible, she would either have to deny that a war was taking place or apologize...
- 3/26/2022
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
“An intellectual today in Russia cannot afford to be silent,” said Vladimir Mirzoev.
The number of voices within the Russian film community actively speaking out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine is growing daily, as filmmakers Vitaly Mansky, Vladimir Mirzoev and Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and actresses Chulpan Khamatova and Ksenija Rappoport join the call to end the war
Mansky and Khamatova are signatories along with other filmmakers including Ivan Vyrypaev (Euphoria), Tofig Shahverdiev (Our Whole Life Is A Crime), and Andrey Smirnov (A Frenchman), as well as film critic Anton Dolin to an online appeal published by journalist and author Mikhail Zygar...
The number of voices within the Russian film community actively speaking out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine is growing daily, as filmmakers Vitaly Mansky, Vladimir Mirzoev and Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and actresses Chulpan Khamatova and Ksenija Rappoport join the call to end the war
Mansky and Khamatova are signatories along with other filmmakers including Ivan Vyrypaev (Euphoria), Tofig Shahverdiev (Our Whole Life Is A Crime), and Andrey Smirnov (A Frenchman), as well as film critic Anton Dolin to an online appeal published by journalist and author Mikhail Zygar...
- 2/27/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab¬Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
“An intellectual today in Russia cannot afford to be silent,” said Vladimir Mirzoev.
The number of voices within the Russian film community actively speaking out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine is growing daily, as filmmakers Vitaly Mansky, Vladimir Mirzoev and Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and actresses Chulpan Khamatova and Ksenija Rappoport join the call to end the war
Mansky and Khamatova are signatories along with other filmmakers including Ivan Vyrypaev (Euphoria), Tofig Shahverdiev (Our Whole Life Is A Crime), and Andrey Smirnov (A Frenchman), as well as film critic Anton Dolin to an online appeal published by journalist and author Mikhail Zygar...
The number of voices within the Russian film community actively speaking out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine is growing daily, as filmmakers Vitaly Mansky, Vladimir Mirzoev and Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and actresses Chulpan Khamatova and Ksenija Rappoport join the call to end the war
Mansky and Khamatova are signatories along with other filmmakers including Ivan Vyrypaev (Euphoria), Tofig Shahverdiev (Our Whole Life Is A Crime), and Andrey Smirnov (A Frenchman), as well as film critic Anton Dolin to an online appeal published by journalist and author Mikhail Zygar...
- 2/27/2022
- by Martin Blaney¬Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
“An intellectual today in Russia cannot afford to be silent,” said Vladimir Mirzoev.
The number of voices within the Russian film community actively speaking out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine is growing daily, as leading independent producer Artem Vasilyev of Moscow-based Metrafilms, filmmakers Vitaly Mansky, Vladimir Mirzoev and Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and actresses Chulpan Khamatova and Ksenija Rappoport join the call to end the war.
“This is all wrong,” Vasilyev told Screen of his opinion of the invasion. “I know many people in the Ukrainian film community and I am shocked that the situation has developed in this way.”
Additionally,...
The number of voices within the Russian film community actively speaking out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine is growing daily, as leading independent producer Artem Vasilyev of Moscow-based Metrafilms, filmmakers Vitaly Mansky, Vladimir Mirzoev and Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and actresses Chulpan Khamatova and Ksenija Rappoport join the call to end the war.
“This is all wrong,” Vasilyev told Screen of his opinion of the invasion. “I know many people in the Ukrainian film community and I am shocked that the situation has developed in this way.”
Additionally,...
- 2/27/2022
- by Martin Blaney¬Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Following his directorial debut “Next Door” – which saw him poke fun at his international success as a movie star Daniel, forced to deal with a stalkerish neighbor on his way to a secret audition for a superhero movie – Daniel Brühl will be next seen in Matthew Vaughn’s spectacle “The King’s Man” as Erik Jan Hanussen, a stage clairvoyant born in 1889 and rumoured to have advised Hitler despite his Jewish origins.
The prequel to the popular “Kingsman” series, set for December release, will see history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds plotting a war to wipe out millions, as well as Rhys Ifans playing Rasputin.
“I’ve had a lot of fun with Matthew and the cast. It was a bit of a strategic choice because it’s a pivotal part. It’s not big, but I saw the potential for it to reappear later on, hopefully. That’s the...
The prequel to the popular “Kingsman” series, set for December release, will see history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds plotting a war to wipe out millions, as well as Rhys Ifans playing Rasputin.
“I’ve had a lot of fun with Matthew and the cast. It was a bit of a strategic choice because it’s a pivotal part. It’s not big, but I saw the potential for it to reappear later on, hopefully. That’s the...
- 10/3/2021
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
TVNow, Rtl Deutschland’s streaming service, high-flying Berlin-based production house X Filme Creative Pool and production-distribution powerhouse Beta Film are partnering on what looks like one of the biggest German drama series productions of 2021: “House of Promises,” (a working title).
Beta Film is handling world sales and will present first moving images of the series at October’s Mipcom trade fair in Cannes, it said Friday.
Described by Beta Film as a “high-end” and a “visually stunning drama,” the 12-hour series is currently shooting on location in Berlin, Brandenburg and the Saxon city of Görlitz. Set in Berlin in the 1920s, it captures the hopes of a dazzling decade and the dramatic turn of an era from the perspective of a young woman and a Jewish family, owner of a state-of-the-art department store at Berlin’s Torstrasse 1.
Award winning director Sherry Hormann directs episodes 1-6, once again focusing on “complex,...
Beta Film is handling world sales and will present first moving images of the series at October’s Mipcom trade fair in Cannes, it said Friday.
Described by Beta Film as a “high-end” and a “visually stunning drama,” the 12-hour series is currently shooting on location in Berlin, Brandenburg and the Saxon city of Görlitz. Set in Berlin in the 1920s, it captures the hopes of a dazzling decade and the dramatic turn of an era from the perspective of a young woman and a Jewish family, owner of a state-of-the-art department store at Berlin’s Torstrasse 1.
Award winning director Sherry Hormann directs episodes 1-6, once again focusing on “complex,...
- 9/3/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The film is described as ’a deadpan romp through post-Soviet Russia”.
Screen can exclusively reveal the first trailer for Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s new film Petrov’s Flu ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in July.
Based on the novel The Petrovs In And Around Flu by Alexey Sainikov, Petrov’s Flu is described as a “deadpan, hallucinatory romp through Post-Soviet Russia”.
“With the city in the throes of a flu epidemic, the Petrov family struggles through yet another day in a country where the past is never past, the present is a booze-fuelled, icy...
Screen can exclusively reveal the first trailer for Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s new film Petrov’s Flu ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in July.
Based on the novel The Petrovs In And Around Flu by Alexey Sainikov, Petrov’s Flu is described as a “deadpan, hallucinatory romp through Post-Soviet Russia”.
“With the city in the throes of a flu epidemic, the Petrov family struggles through yet another day in a country where the past is never past, the present is a booze-fuelled, icy...
- 6/7/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
In Next Door, a famous actor living in the penthouse of a renovated Altbau in Berlin––complete with his own private elevator––has his life flipped upon confronting a seemingly unassuming neighbor at his local bar. The director is Daniel Brühl, probably the most recognizable German actor to emerge since the country’s reunification and even in villainous roles a generally endearing onscreen presence. Next Door is his first feature (Brühl gets credit as director and star) and swings for the fences in its attempts to address the idiosyncratic generational, geographical class divides of his adoptive city. It doesn’t quite come off.
Brühl was born in Barcelona (his mother is Catalan) and grew up in Cologne, the furthest West of Germany’s major cities. His breakout role came in Wolfgang Becker’s Good Bye Lenin!, a 2003 film by a West German director with romanticized notions of the East. The...
Brühl was born in Barcelona (his mother is Catalan) and grew up in Cologne, the furthest West of Germany’s major cities. His breakout role came in Wolfgang Becker’s Good Bye Lenin!, a 2003 film by a West German director with romanticized notions of the East. The...
- 3/8/2021
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
The Criterion Channel has unveiled their March 2021 lineup, which includes no shortage of remarkable programming. Highlights from the slate include eight gems from Preston Sturges, Elaine May’s brilliant A New Leaf, a series featuring Black Westerns, Ann Hui’s Boat People, the new restoration of Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi.
They will also add films from their Essential Fellini boxset, series on Dirk Bogarde and Nelly Kaplan, and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Death in Venice, and more. In terms of recent releases, there’s also Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century and Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In.
Check out the lineup below, along with the teaser for the Black Westerns series. For weekly streaming updates across all services, bookmark this page.
The Adventurer, Charles Chaplin, 1917
Bandini, Bimal Roy, 1963
Behind the Screen, Charles Chaplin, 1916
Black Jack, Ken Loach, 1979
Black Rodeo, Jeff Kanew, 1972
Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen,...
They will also add films from their Essential Fellini boxset, series on Dirk Bogarde and Nelly Kaplan, and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Death in Venice, and more. In terms of recent releases, there’s also Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century and Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In.
Check out the lineup below, along with the teaser for the Black Westerns series. For weekly streaming updates across all services, bookmark this page.
The Adventurer, Charles Chaplin, 1917
Bandini, Bimal Roy, 1963
Behind the Screen, Charles Chaplin, 1916
Black Jack, Ken Loach, 1979
Black Rodeo, Jeff Kanew, 1972
Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen,...
- 2/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
‘Next Door’ is directed by Daniel Brühl and Dan Stevens stars in ‘In Your Man’.
World sales agent Beta Cinema has swooped on international rights to Daniel Brühl’s directorial debut Next Door and Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man, which will both premiere in Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival (March 1-5).
The Munich-based outfit will introduce the features to buyers at the European Film Market (EFM), which will run alongside this year’s industry-focused, online-only event.
Next Door marks the directing debut of Brühl, who also stars in the black comedy alongside Peter Kurth and Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps.
World sales agent Beta Cinema has swooped on international rights to Daniel Brühl’s directorial debut Next Door and Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man, which will both premiere in Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival (March 1-5).
The Munich-based outfit will introduce the features to buyers at the European Film Market (EFM), which will run alongside this year’s industry-focused, online-only event.
Next Door marks the directing debut of Brühl, who also stars in the black comedy alongside Peter Kurth and Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps.
- 2/15/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
The dark comedy, which also stars Brühl himself, will centre on a film star and his troublesome neighbour. Renowned German-Spanish actor Daniel Brühl, best known for his performances in films and series such as Good Bye Lenin!, My Zoe, The Alienist and Inglourious Basterds, is ready to make his directorial debut with Next Door. Brühl will also appear in front of the camera as the lead actor in this dark comedy that centres on a film star. When his neighbour confronts him with troubling revelations, it risks destroying both his career and his private life. Peter Kurth is to play the problematic neighbour in the feature, which will also explore subjects such as gentrification and social inequality in Berlin. The cast of the upcoming film also includes Aenne Schwarz, Rike Eckermann and Gode Benedix. Based on an idea by Daniel Brühl, the script for Next...
Russian actor Chulpan Khamatova is known internationally for key roles in “Good Bye, Lenin!,” and more recently Aleksei Alekseivich German’s drama “Under Electric Clouds,” and Ralph Fiennes-directed Rudolf Nureyev biopic “The White Crow.” Last month, as Russia was deep in lockdown, Khamatova found herself embroiled in controversy sparked by TV series “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes” in which she plays a young woman deported to Siberia during the Stalin-era purges.
Produced and aired by Russia Television and Radio, “Zuleikha” has scored a massive more than 36.5 million TV viewers and more than 30 million digital viewings in Russia, while serving as a catalyst for the country to contend with its past. Chulpan, in a rare interview, spoke candidly to Variety about this aspect of the show being presented to international buyers during the Roskino Key Buyers Event: Digital Edition market. Excerpts from the conversation.
As a bestselling book “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes...
Produced and aired by Russia Television and Radio, “Zuleikha” has scored a massive more than 36.5 million TV viewers and more than 30 million digital viewings in Russia, while serving as a catalyst for the country to contend with its past. Chulpan, in a rare interview, spoke candidly to Variety about this aspect of the show being presented to international buyers during the Roskino Key Buyers Event: Digital Edition market. Excerpts from the conversation.
As a bestselling book “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes...
- 6/10/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Company releases first image for The Macaluso Sisters and Kirill Serebrennikov’s Petrov’s Flu.
Paris-based company Charades has boarded world sales on Sicilian director Emma Dante’s Palermo-set feature The Macaluso Sisters, about a group of tightly-knit sisters whose lives are marked forever by the death of one of them in a tragic beach accident.
The feature is an adaptation of Dante’s 2014 play of the same name which has toured her native Italy as well as Europe and the Us to critical acclaim in recent years. It is a second fiction feature for Dante after debut film A...
Paris-based company Charades has boarded world sales on Sicilian director Emma Dante’s Palermo-set feature The Macaluso Sisters, about a group of tightly-knit sisters whose lives are marked forever by the death of one of them in a tragic beach accident.
The feature is an adaptation of Dante’s 2014 play of the same name which has toured her native Italy as well as Europe and the Us to critical acclaim in recent years. It is a second fiction feature for Dante after debut film A...
- 2/18/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Petrov’s Flu
For his eighth feature, Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov, still unable to leave Moscow despite being released from house of arrest in April of 2019, has commenced work on eighth feature Petrov’s Flu, based Alexey Salnikov’s (a contemporary writer compared to Bulgakov or Gogol) novel The Petrovs in Various Stages of the Flu (the screenplay which he wrote while under house arrest). The Russian-Swiss-German-French co-production will star Chulpan Khamatova and Semyon Serzin.…...
For his eighth feature, Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov, still unable to leave Moscow despite being released from house of arrest in April of 2019, has commenced work on eighth feature Petrov’s Flu, based Alexey Salnikov’s (a contemporary writer compared to Bulgakov or Gogol) novel The Petrovs in Various Stages of the Flu (the screenplay which he wrote while under house arrest). The Russian-Swiss-German-French co-production will star Chulpan Khamatova and Semyon Serzin.…...
- 1/2/2020
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Award Winning Director Wolfgang Becker (“Good Bye Lenin!”) will open the festival at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre with “Me and Kaminski” bringing outstanding German cinema and its stars to Los Angeles from October 20 to 23rd.
Full Program Line Up Announced with a selection of the best new German, Austrian and Swiss Cinema
Celebrating its 10th year, German Currents features an expanded program including screenings of ten La premieres, conversations with prolific German directors, writers and actors, as well as the return of the free family matinee film screening for local schools.
“Me and Kaminski” starring Daniel Brühl and directed by Wolfgang Becker
2016 has been a successful year for German language cinema, not only in Europe, but across the globe. Beginning on Thursday, October 20th 2016 German Currents will open this year’s 4 day festival with the red carpet event Los Angeles premiere of Wolfgang Becker’s (“Goodbye Lenin”) five-time...
Full Program Line Up Announced with a selection of the best new German, Austrian and Swiss Cinema
Celebrating its 10th year, German Currents features an expanded program including screenings of ten La premieres, conversations with prolific German directors, writers and actors, as well as the return of the free family matinee film screening for local schools.
“Me and Kaminski” starring Daniel Brühl and directed by Wolfgang Becker
2016 has been a successful year for German language cinema, not only in Europe, but across the globe. Beginning on Thursday, October 20th 2016 German Currents will open this year’s 4 day festival with the red carpet event Los Angeles premiere of Wolfgang Becker’s (“Goodbye Lenin”) five-time...
- 10/4/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Berlin -- Six years after his worldwide hit “Good Bye, Lenin!” German director Wolfgang Becker is returning to the big screen with an adaptation of “Me and Kaminski” from German bestselling author Daniel Kehlmann (“Measuring the World”). “Good Bye, Lenin!” star Daniel Bruhl is on board to play the lead.
The novel follows the rivalry between the journalist Sebastian Zollner (Bruhl) and an art critic, who are both trying to write a biography of reclusive “blind painter” Manuel Kaminski.
The project is being planned as a European co-production with Becker’s Berlin-based X Filme as lead producer. Shooting is set to start this fall in Germany, France and Belgium.
Becker contributed a short film, “KrankesHaus,” to the omnibus production “Germany 09,” which will premiere Feb. 13 at the Berlinale.
The novel follows the rivalry between the journalist Sebastian Zollner (Bruhl) and an art critic, who are both trying to write a biography of reclusive “blind painter” Manuel Kaminski.
The project is being planned as a European co-production with Becker’s Berlin-based X Filme as lead producer. Shooting is set to start this fall in Germany, France and Belgium.
Becker contributed a short film, “KrankesHaus,” to the omnibus production “Germany 09,” which will premiere Feb. 13 at the Berlinale.
- 2/3/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Eastern European Distributors at the San Sebastian Film Festival
The European Film Promotion (EFP) and the San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 18-27) launched a new promotion initiative entitled "European Distributors: Up Next".
Ten independent distributors from Central and Eastern Europe attending the festival discussed the possibilities of theatrical distribution on a European level. Since the majority of European producers do not cross national borders, the meetings in San Sebastian were aimed to create possible platform and networking opportunities to improve the circulation of European productions.
• From Slovenia, Natasa Bucar, project manager of the cultural center Cankarjev Dom, a public institution that organizes many events promoting film, including the Ljubljana International Film Festival has been in art film distribution for the last 15 years. They distribute five to six titles every year to fill the gap in theatrical distribution of European high-profile films in Slovenia. Priority is given to established and not always well-known European and other international filmmakers. Their last distributed titles were Neil Jordan’s ‘Breakfast on Pluto’, Tony Gatlif’s ‘Transylvania’, Bent Hamer’s ‘Factotum’, Dagur Kari’s ‘Dark Horse’, Corneliu Porumboiu’s ‘12:08 East of Bucharest’, Roy Andersson’s ‘You, the Living’, Pascale Ferran’s ‘Lady Chatterley’, Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Persepolis’ and Shane Meadows’ ‘This Is England’.
Besides Cankarjev Dom, there are only four arthouse cinemas in Slovenia. They need more along with arthouse cinema networks to enable better film promotion. In Slovenia, like everywhere in Europe, the number of cinema viewers has fallen drastically. Audiences focus on fewer films, the top 20 films take up to almost 50% of the market in Slovenia.
• From Hungary, Rita Linda Potyondi of Cirko Film - Másképp Foundation, the only Hungarian distributor to operate as a non-profit-foundation, they also own one theater in Budapest. Working on a showstring budget, they are guided by personal tastes and focus on international and particularly European ‘difficult’ auteur films with targeted or limited audiences, especially those that explore themes related to discriminated groups: homosexuals, handicapped people, ethnic or religious minorities and victims of family abuse. Their last releases include films by Robert Guédiguian, Bruno Dumont, Fernando Leon de Aranoa, Baltasar Kormakur, Alain Corneau, Bruno Podalydès, Bertrand Bonello, Claire Denis, Ferzan Ozpetek, Catalin Mitulescu and Oskar Roehler. A recent surprise success was Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘Adam's Apples’ which became a sort of cult film. They also did well with Palme d’Or-winner ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’, and ‘Persepolis’, Susanne Bier’s ‘After the Wedding, ‘Red Road’, ‘My Brother Is An Only Child’, ‘A Soap’, ‘Our Daily Bread’. Upcoming are the Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's ‘Lorna’s Silence’, Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Belepine’s ‘Louise Michel’, Nic Balthazar’s ‘Ben X’, Simon Staho’s ‘Heaven’s Heart’, Ole Christian Madsen’s ‘Kira’s Reason’, Josef Fares’ ‘Leo’, Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘The Green Butchers’ and ‘Flickering Lights’, and Ole Bornedal’s ‘Just Another Love Story’.
• Czech distributor Artcam’s Managing Director Premysl Martinek knows he is fighting an uphill battle. In 2007 combined total admissions for Artcam's films were under 50,000 — 0.4 percent of the national total. By comparison, leading distributor Falcon drew more than 4,000,000 viewers with its films, nearly a third of the market. However Martinek is convinced there is room in the market for small distributors and is interested in the shared challenges, from the opportunities offered by digital distribution and video-on-demand to how to negotiate with producers on minimum guarantees. The main problem is cultivating an audience. “It's very different from in Holland or Germany, where there are audiences for arthouse films,” he says.
Most of Artcam's target market is in Prague, home to roughly 1,000,000 people where European film is largely restricted to a handful of single-screen theatres, while the city's 14 multiplexes focus primarily on Hollywood imports and successful local films.
Artcam has distributed some of the most widely heralded European films of recent years, including Ole Madsen's drama ‘Prague’, ‘Persepolis’ and ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’. The international success of such films has attracted the attention of larger distributors who are now crowding the arena. This year in Cannes when they tried to acquire ‘Waltz with Bashir’, there was greater competition. Martinek says arthouse is an important part of any film culture, and lack of access to European films is hurting Czech cinema because if they lack exposure to the cinema of other countries, from new ways of narration, they cannot develop their own cinema. The Czech Ministry of Education has introduced media studies to secondary school curricula to show young people that film is “not just fun and popcorn. It's also art.”
• Polish distribution company Gutek’s Jakub Duszyński, artistic director and head of programming (along with Roman Gutek) at the Muranow movie theater also programs for the different festivals held at the theatre and for Poland’s largest film event, the Era New Horizons Film Festival in Wroclaw. A lawyer by training and a fan of Asian genre films, Duszynski has also set up a distribution company (Blink) specializing in this type of film.
Gutek Film has always been a launching pad for auteur films and has released films by Lars Von Trier, Pedro Almodóvar, Jim Jarmush and Wong Kar-Wai. Every year, they distribute two or three films not aimed solely at auteur film enthusiasts, but also at multiplex audiences. Among such titles are Tom Tykwer’s ‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’ and ‘Control’. Coming up are Polish features including Jerzy Skolimowski’s ‘Four Nights With Anna’, Piotr Lazarkiewicz’s ‘0_1_0’ and Katarzyna Adamik’s ‘Boisko bezdomnych’. They distribute almost exclusively European films. The box office is certainly dominated by US films, but by only a few titles which often have, interestingly, something European about them, for example they may be inspired by European literature.
• Slovakia’s Michal Drobny is marketing manager for Slovak distributor Continental Film. Slovakia sees 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 admissions in a year. A successful film for Continental is 10,000 to 15,000 admissions, as compared to one of the Harry Potter films which will have 200,000 admissions.
Continental releases 30 to 40 films a year and, thanks largely to its partnership with Warner Bros, enjoys a market share of 20%–30%. Continental also serve as Slovak distribution partners for Hollywood Classic Entertainment, which often buys rights to European and arthouse titles for several Eastern European territories at once. Continental acquires other titles through direct negotiation with the producers, usually from the Czech Republic. Drobny seldom attends festivals other than Berlin. This year is his first visit to San Sebastian.
Margins are tight for Continental, which is the second or third largest distributor in Slovakia. Continental is also a 30% shareholder in Slovak multiplex chain Cinemax, which owns nine cinemas countrywide. Continental also operated Bratislava's only arthouse cinema until it was turned into a congress hall.
Continental counts on public money for a small portion of its operating budget. The Slovak Ministry of Culture gives support up to a maximum of SKK 160,000 (€5,500) for the distribution of European films which covers the cost of two or three prints. Continental also receives funding through the MEDIA automatic support scheme, typically receiving 40 to 60 cents per admission for European films.
Drobny says this public support is welcome but it's seldom enough to make a real difference to distributors. “A print for a US title costs $300 [€210]. For a European title, the cost is $1,000–1500 [€700–1,000] for the print, plus I still need to pay for the all the marketing materials and the cost of subtitles,” he says. “We can't be surprised that American films are everywhere.”
Not surprisingly few European films secure distribution in Slovakia. Cinemax promotes European and arthouse film through its Artmax program and screens independent films once a week, sometimes for free. Current titles in the selection include ‘Good Bye, Lenin!’, ‘The Secret Life of Words’, ‘The Science of Sleep’, ‘Volver’ and ‘Angel’. In cooperation with the Embassy of Spain, Continental and Cinemax are creating a Spanish Days celebration of Spanish cinema at Cinemax locations in November.
Drobny has hopes that digital cinema will help small distributors, but believes it will be five to ten years before the major studios settle on a common format. Even then, the costs of converting screens will be challenging for the private sector. “To install one 2K digital system costs SKK 3m–4m [€100,000–132,000] and we have 37 screens, so it's a lot of money,” he says. “We'd like to invest but it will take a long time to see a return on that investment.”
• From Romania, Transilvania Film, founded by Tudor Giurgiu and currently run by Stefan Bradea is one of the successful pioneers of arthouse film distribution in Romania. At first they distributed mainly British, German and Scandinavian features but gradually turned to quality Romanian films, genre pictures, even some mainstream American movies. Their eclectic selection is targeted to the highly educated public, basically university graduates under 35. Their latest premiere was ‘Non pensarci’ by Gianni Zanasi, an Italian comedy. Coming up are Gus Van Sant’s ‘Paranoid Park’ and a few Romanian films: Horatiu Malaele’s ‘Silent Wedding’, Adrian Sitaru’s ‘Hooked’ and Anca Damian’s debut, ‘Crossing Dates’. Their most profitable film was Tudor Giurgiu’s ‘Love Sick’ with 20,800 admissions and a box office gross of over €50,000. Other successful features were Neil Burger’s ‘The Illusionist’, with 11,500 admissions, and ‘Paris Je T’Aime’, with 9,715 admissions.
Film distribution business in Romania is rather unstable. There are eight active distributors bringing 150-160 features every year to 40-50 screens around the country. The number of distributors is growing and it is becoming a overserved field.
The Romanian mainstream public has little interest in European arthouse film and there are very few available screens, no arthouse cinemas and a poor DVD and TV arthouse market. And there is competition among distributors.
• Stefan Kitanov is the founder of the most important annual film event in Bulgaria, the Sofia International Film Festival. In 2001 he founded ART FEST Ltd., the company behind Sofia IFF. The same company is one of the key European film distributors in Bulgaria. ART FEST Ltd. has three components: production, distribution and exhibition.
Most recent releases include Fatih Akin’s ‘The Edge of Heaven’, ‘The Palermo Shooting ‘by Wim Wenders and ‘Delta’ by Kornel Mundruczo. The most successful releases were Francois Ozon’s ‘Swimming Pool’ and ‘Crossing the Bridge’ by Fatih Akin with 8,000 to 10,000 admissions.
Such a distribution business is not profitable. Festival audiences like European films but the general audience likes Hollywood films. Festival audiences don’t go to regular cinemas. The general audience goes to regular cinemas, therefore European films don’t go regularly to mainstream cinemas. There need to be events around the distribution of European films so that they be seen, such as a traveling package going to different towns, whether it is with 35mm or video screenings. There are less than 30 towns in Bulgaria with cinemas.
• From Estonia, Katrin Rajaare of Tallinnfilm, a state-owned company that used to produce the majority of Estonian films during the Soviet era has stopped production and sold its studio and now focuses on restoration of its archives. In 2004, Tallinnfilm began operating as an arthouse cinema and a year later started a distribution operation to ensure continuous programming for the cinema. Tallinnfilm acquires the rights to 12-16 films a year, mostly European films, with some titles from Asia and the US. As a state-owned company, Tallinnfilm buys mostly Estonian theatrical rights only. It is the second largest distribution company in Estonia, with a market share of 2.6%. In the Baltic countries, all rights are acquired for smaller films and shared with Lithuania’s Skalvija and Latvia’s Kino Riga. Their biggest hit in 2007 was ‘La Vie en Rose’ with 9,606 paid admissions. This film was number 43 in the 2007 national box office chart. Only US and Estonian films were at the top of the chart. Recent acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ and ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’ to be released around Christmas and the beginning of 2009.
There is a small, steady market for arthouse titles in the capital city of Tallinn, but the recent opening of a five-screen miniplex in the second city, Tartu (96,000 inhabitants), has brought hope from the outskirts as well. There are very few towns where you can screen European films, although the cinemas have received public support for technical equipment and should screen arthouse titles, but the reality is that you can’t force cinemas to screen certain films that won’t bring in audiences.
• From Lithuania Skalvija, an exhibitor since 1962 under the name of Planeta became the only arthouse in Lithuania in 1992. It has only one screen and 88 seats and is subsidized by the Vilnius Municipality. Located in the city center; it promotes quality cinema and pays special attention to young audiences and education. Its market share as an exhibitor is 1.11%. Two major multiplex theatres share 70 % of the entire Lithuanian exhibition market. Greta Akcijonaite heads its recent arthouse film distribution activity. Over the last two years they have released 10 films theatrically, and another 5 have been acquired for Lithuania and/or all the Baltic States. As a very small and specialized distributor, Skalvija has a market share of 0.64%. Most recent releases were the Danish film ‘Adam's Apples’, with almost 8,000 admissions and the Spanish film ‘Dark Blue Almost Black’ with over 6000 admissions. Recent acquisitions include Sam Garbarski’s ‘Irina Palm’ (Belgium/UK), Kornel Mundruczo’s ‘Delta’ (Hungary), the Palme d’Or winner ‘The Class’ (France) by Laurent Cantet, Thomas Clay’s ‘Soy Cowboy’ (Thailand/UK), Ruben Östlund’s’ Involuntary’ (Sweden), and Ilmar Raag’s ‘The Class’ (Estonia).
The market share of the European films released theatrically was 25% in 2007 although the share of admissions to European films was only 11%. There is definitely a lack of venues for screening European and quality films.
• Latvia’s Oskars Killo heads Acme Film Sia the leading independent film distributor in Latvia, established in 2004 and owned by Acme, a Lithuanian based company. The rights for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are bought by the mother company in Lithuania. In 2007, Acme Film had 62 theatrical releases and a 25% market share. In 2008, the number of films released will be the same, but the revenue is expected to be higher. In 2008, Acme Film has had such European successes as French films ‘99 Francs’ and ‘Asterix at the Olympic Games’, and Spain’s ‘The Orphanage’. The last European hit was ‘2 Days in Paris’, released on one print on July 4, 2008 and still in release with 12,500 admissions thus far. ‘Cash’ was released on one print on August 1 and has 8,500 admissions so far. The results for ‘2 Days in Paris’ and ‘Cash’ are comparable to recent US releases in Latvia such as ‘The X-Files 2’, and ‘Disaster Movie’. Recent European acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’, ‘Paris’, ‘JCVD’, ‘The Duchess’, ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’, ‘Vinyan’, ‘Ne te retourne pas’ among others.
In 2007, European films had a 18.3% market share, US films a 66% market share, the rest of the world 10.1% and national films a 5.5% market share.
Ten independent distributors from Central and Eastern Europe attending the festival discussed the possibilities of theatrical distribution on a European level. Since the majority of European producers do not cross national borders, the meetings in San Sebastian were aimed to create possible platform and networking opportunities to improve the circulation of European productions.
• From Slovenia, Natasa Bucar, project manager of the cultural center Cankarjev Dom, a public institution that organizes many events promoting film, including the Ljubljana International Film Festival has been in art film distribution for the last 15 years. They distribute five to six titles every year to fill the gap in theatrical distribution of European high-profile films in Slovenia. Priority is given to established and not always well-known European and other international filmmakers. Their last distributed titles were Neil Jordan’s ‘Breakfast on Pluto’, Tony Gatlif’s ‘Transylvania’, Bent Hamer’s ‘Factotum’, Dagur Kari’s ‘Dark Horse’, Corneliu Porumboiu’s ‘12:08 East of Bucharest’, Roy Andersson’s ‘You, the Living’, Pascale Ferran’s ‘Lady Chatterley’, Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Persepolis’ and Shane Meadows’ ‘This Is England’.
Besides Cankarjev Dom, there are only four arthouse cinemas in Slovenia. They need more along with arthouse cinema networks to enable better film promotion. In Slovenia, like everywhere in Europe, the number of cinema viewers has fallen drastically. Audiences focus on fewer films, the top 20 films take up to almost 50% of the market in Slovenia.
• From Hungary, Rita Linda Potyondi of Cirko Film - Másképp Foundation, the only Hungarian distributor to operate as a non-profit-foundation, they also own one theater in Budapest. Working on a showstring budget, they are guided by personal tastes and focus on international and particularly European ‘difficult’ auteur films with targeted or limited audiences, especially those that explore themes related to discriminated groups: homosexuals, handicapped people, ethnic or religious minorities and victims of family abuse. Their last releases include films by Robert Guédiguian, Bruno Dumont, Fernando Leon de Aranoa, Baltasar Kormakur, Alain Corneau, Bruno Podalydès, Bertrand Bonello, Claire Denis, Ferzan Ozpetek, Catalin Mitulescu and Oskar Roehler. A recent surprise success was Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘Adam's Apples’ which became a sort of cult film. They also did well with Palme d’Or-winner ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’, and ‘Persepolis’, Susanne Bier’s ‘After the Wedding, ‘Red Road’, ‘My Brother Is An Only Child’, ‘A Soap’, ‘Our Daily Bread’. Upcoming are the Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's ‘Lorna’s Silence’, Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Belepine’s ‘Louise Michel’, Nic Balthazar’s ‘Ben X’, Simon Staho’s ‘Heaven’s Heart’, Ole Christian Madsen’s ‘Kira’s Reason’, Josef Fares’ ‘Leo’, Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘The Green Butchers’ and ‘Flickering Lights’, and Ole Bornedal’s ‘Just Another Love Story’.
• Czech distributor Artcam’s Managing Director Premysl Martinek knows he is fighting an uphill battle. In 2007 combined total admissions for Artcam's films were under 50,000 — 0.4 percent of the national total. By comparison, leading distributor Falcon drew more than 4,000,000 viewers with its films, nearly a third of the market. However Martinek is convinced there is room in the market for small distributors and is interested in the shared challenges, from the opportunities offered by digital distribution and video-on-demand to how to negotiate with producers on minimum guarantees. The main problem is cultivating an audience. “It's very different from in Holland or Germany, where there are audiences for arthouse films,” he says.
Most of Artcam's target market is in Prague, home to roughly 1,000,000 people where European film is largely restricted to a handful of single-screen theatres, while the city's 14 multiplexes focus primarily on Hollywood imports and successful local films.
Artcam has distributed some of the most widely heralded European films of recent years, including Ole Madsen's drama ‘Prague’, ‘Persepolis’ and ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’. The international success of such films has attracted the attention of larger distributors who are now crowding the arena. This year in Cannes when they tried to acquire ‘Waltz with Bashir’, there was greater competition. Martinek says arthouse is an important part of any film culture, and lack of access to European films is hurting Czech cinema because if they lack exposure to the cinema of other countries, from new ways of narration, they cannot develop their own cinema. The Czech Ministry of Education has introduced media studies to secondary school curricula to show young people that film is “not just fun and popcorn. It's also art.”
• Polish distribution company Gutek’s Jakub Duszyński, artistic director and head of programming (along with Roman Gutek) at the Muranow movie theater also programs for the different festivals held at the theatre and for Poland’s largest film event, the Era New Horizons Film Festival in Wroclaw. A lawyer by training and a fan of Asian genre films, Duszynski has also set up a distribution company (Blink) specializing in this type of film.
Gutek Film has always been a launching pad for auteur films and has released films by Lars Von Trier, Pedro Almodóvar, Jim Jarmush and Wong Kar-Wai. Every year, they distribute two or three films not aimed solely at auteur film enthusiasts, but also at multiplex audiences. Among such titles are Tom Tykwer’s ‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’ and ‘Control’. Coming up are Polish features including Jerzy Skolimowski’s ‘Four Nights With Anna’, Piotr Lazarkiewicz’s ‘0_1_0’ and Katarzyna Adamik’s ‘Boisko bezdomnych’. They distribute almost exclusively European films. The box office is certainly dominated by US films, but by only a few titles which often have, interestingly, something European about them, for example they may be inspired by European literature.
• Slovakia’s Michal Drobny is marketing manager for Slovak distributor Continental Film. Slovakia sees 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 admissions in a year. A successful film for Continental is 10,000 to 15,000 admissions, as compared to one of the Harry Potter films which will have 200,000 admissions.
Continental releases 30 to 40 films a year and, thanks largely to its partnership with Warner Bros, enjoys a market share of 20%–30%. Continental also serve as Slovak distribution partners for Hollywood Classic Entertainment, which often buys rights to European and arthouse titles for several Eastern European territories at once. Continental acquires other titles through direct negotiation with the producers, usually from the Czech Republic. Drobny seldom attends festivals other than Berlin. This year is his first visit to San Sebastian.
Margins are tight for Continental, which is the second or third largest distributor in Slovakia. Continental is also a 30% shareholder in Slovak multiplex chain Cinemax, which owns nine cinemas countrywide. Continental also operated Bratislava's only arthouse cinema until it was turned into a congress hall.
Continental counts on public money for a small portion of its operating budget. The Slovak Ministry of Culture gives support up to a maximum of SKK 160,000 (€5,500) for the distribution of European films which covers the cost of two or three prints. Continental also receives funding through the MEDIA automatic support scheme, typically receiving 40 to 60 cents per admission for European films.
Drobny says this public support is welcome but it's seldom enough to make a real difference to distributors. “A print for a US title costs $300 [€210]. For a European title, the cost is $1,000–1500 [€700–1,000] for the print, plus I still need to pay for the all the marketing materials and the cost of subtitles,” he says. “We can't be surprised that American films are everywhere.”
Not surprisingly few European films secure distribution in Slovakia. Cinemax promotes European and arthouse film through its Artmax program and screens independent films once a week, sometimes for free. Current titles in the selection include ‘Good Bye, Lenin!’, ‘The Secret Life of Words’, ‘The Science of Sleep’, ‘Volver’ and ‘Angel’. In cooperation with the Embassy of Spain, Continental and Cinemax are creating a Spanish Days celebration of Spanish cinema at Cinemax locations in November.
Drobny has hopes that digital cinema will help small distributors, but believes it will be five to ten years before the major studios settle on a common format. Even then, the costs of converting screens will be challenging for the private sector. “To install one 2K digital system costs SKK 3m–4m [€100,000–132,000] and we have 37 screens, so it's a lot of money,” he says. “We'd like to invest but it will take a long time to see a return on that investment.”
• From Romania, Transilvania Film, founded by Tudor Giurgiu and currently run by Stefan Bradea is one of the successful pioneers of arthouse film distribution in Romania. At first they distributed mainly British, German and Scandinavian features but gradually turned to quality Romanian films, genre pictures, even some mainstream American movies. Their eclectic selection is targeted to the highly educated public, basically university graduates under 35. Their latest premiere was ‘Non pensarci’ by Gianni Zanasi, an Italian comedy. Coming up are Gus Van Sant’s ‘Paranoid Park’ and a few Romanian films: Horatiu Malaele’s ‘Silent Wedding’, Adrian Sitaru’s ‘Hooked’ and Anca Damian’s debut, ‘Crossing Dates’. Their most profitable film was Tudor Giurgiu’s ‘Love Sick’ with 20,800 admissions and a box office gross of over €50,000. Other successful features were Neil Burger’s ‘The Illusionist’, with 11,500 admissions, and ‘Paris Je T’Aime’, with 9,715 admissions.
Film distribution business in Romania is rather unstable. There are eight active distributors bringing 150-160 features every year to 40-50 screens around the country. The number of distributors is growing and it is becoming a overserved field.
The Romanian mainstream public has little interest in European arthouse film and there are very few available screens, no arthouse cinemas and a poor DVD and TV arthouse market. And there is competition among distributors.
• Stefan Kitanov is the founder of the most important annual film event in Bulgaria, the Sofia International Film Festival. In 2001 he founded ART FEST Ltd., the company behind Sofia IFF. The same company is one of the key European film distributors in Bulgaria. ART FEST Ltd. has three components: production, distribution and exhibition.
Most recent releases include Fatih Akin’s ‘The Edge of Heaven’, ‘The Palermo Shooting ‘by Wim Wenders and ‘Delta’ by Kornel Mundruczo. The most successful releases were Francois Ozon’s ‘Swimming Pool’ and ‘Crossing the Bridge’ by Fatih Akin with 8,000 to 10,000 admissions.
Such a distribution business is not profitable. Festival audiences like European films but the general audience likes Hollywood films. Festival audiences don’t go to regular cinemas. The general audience goes to regular cinemas, therefore European films don’t go regularly to mainstream cinemas. There need to be events around the distribution of European films so that they be seen, such as a traveling package going to different towns, whether it is with 35mm or video screenings. There are less than 30 towns in Bulgaria with cinemas.
• From Estonia, Katrin Rajaare of Tallinnfilm, a state-owned company that used to produce the majority of Estonian films during the Soviet era has stopped production and sold its studio and now focuses on restoration of its archives. In 2004, Tallinnfilm began operating as an arthouse cinema and a year later started a distribution operation to ensure continuous programming for the cinema. Tallinnfilm acquires the rights to 12-16 films a year, mostly European films, with some titles from Asia and the US. As a state-owned company, Tallinnfilm buys mostly Estonian theatrical rights only. It is the second largest distribution company in Estonia, with a market share of 2.6%. In the Baltic countries, all rights are acquired for smaller films and shared with Lithuania’s Skalvija and Latvia’s Kino Riga. Their biggest hit in 2007 was ‘La Vie en Rose’ with 9,606 paid admissions. This film was number 43 in the 2007 national box office chart. Only US and Estonian films were at the top of the chart. Recent acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ and ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’ to be released around Christmas and the beginning of 2009.
There is a small, steady market for arthouse titles in the capital city of Tallinn, but the recent opening of a five-screen miniplex in the second city, Tartu (96,000 inhabitants), has brought hope from the outskirts as well. There are very few towns where you can screen European films, although the cinemas have received public support for technical equipment and should screen arthouse titles, but the reality is that you can’t force cinemas to screen certain films that won’t bring in audiences.
• From Lithuania Skalvija, an exhibitor since 1962 under the name of Planeta became the only arthouse in Lithuania in 1992. It has only one screen and 88 seats and is subsidized by the Vilnius Municipality. Located in the city center; it promotes quality cinema and pays special attention to young audiences and education. Its market share as an exhibitor is 1.11%. Two major multiplex theatres share 70 % of the entire Lithuanian exhibition market. Greta Akcijonaite heads its recent arthouse film distribution activity. Over the last two years they have released 10 films theatrically, and another 5 have been acquired for Lithuania and/or all the Baltic States. As a very small and specialized distributor, Skalvija has a market share of 0.64%. Most recent releases were the Danish film ‘Adam's Apples’, with almost 8,000 admissions and the Spanish film ‘Dark Blue Almost Black’ with over 6000 admissions. Recent acquisitions include Sam Garbarski’s ‘Irina Palm’ (Belgium/UK), Kornel Mundruczo’s ‘Delta’ (Hungary), the Palme d’Or winner ‘The Class’ (France) by Laurent Cantet, Thomas Clay’s ‘Soy Cowboy’ (Thailand/UK), Ruben Östlund’s’ Involuntary’ (Sweden), and Ilmar Raag’s ‘The Class’ (Estonia).
The market share of the European films released theatrically was 25% in 2007 although the share of admissions to European films was only 11%. There is definitely a lack of venues for screening European and quality films.
• Latvia’s Oskars Killo heads Acme Film Sia the leading independent film distributor in Latvia, established in 2004 and owned by Acme, a Lithuanian based company. The rights for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are bought by the mother company in Lithuania. In 2007, Acme Film had 62 theatrical releases and a 25% market share. In 2008, the number of films released will be the same, but the revenue is expected to be higher. In 2008, Acme Film has had such European successes as French films ‘99 Francs’ and ‘Asterix at the Olympic Games’, and Spain’s ‘The Orphanage’. The last European hit was ‘2 Days in Paris’, released on one print on July 4, 2008 and still in release with 12,500 admissions thus far. ‘Cash’ was released on one print on August 1 and has 8,500 admissions so far. The results for ‘2 Days in Paris’ and ‘Cash’ are comparable to recent US releases in Latvia such as ‘The X-Files 2’, and ‘Disaster Movie’. Recent European acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’, ‘Paris’, ‘JCVD’, ‘The Duchess’, ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’, ‘Vinyan’, ‘Ne te retourne pas’ among others.
In 2007, European films had a 18.3% market share, US films a 66% market share, the rest of the world 10.1% and national films a 5.5% market share.
- 10/11/2008
- Sydney's Buzz
'Friend of Mine' to open Hamburg fest
COLOGNE, Germany -- Sebastian Schipper's drama Ein Freund von Mir (A Friend of Mine) will open this year's Hamburg International Film Festival, organizers said Wednesday. It will be the world premiere of the feature, which stars Daniel Bruehl (Good-bye, Lenin!) as a straight-laced insurance salesman and Juergen Vogel (The Free Will) as the free spirit who turns his life upside down.
- 9/6/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Auteur theory: 'Lenin!' distribution is 'absurd'
COLOGNE, Germany -- German director Wolfgang Becker has decried as illegal the distribution of his 2003 comedy Good Bye, Lenin! by the right-wing opposition Civic Democrat Party (ODS) as part its national election campaign in the Czech Republic. The anti-communist ODS has distributed some 500,000 DVDs of Good Bye, Lenin! to potential voters in the run-up to the June 2-3 elections. The party views the film, which tells of the collapse of communism in East Germany through the story of a party-faithful mother and her loving son, as supportive of their political views. Becker disagrees.
- 6/2/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Burton has Cannes jury duty
PARIS -- Tim Burton will be joining the Cinefondation jury at the Festival de Cannes, organizers announced Tuesday. The Cannes section is dedicated to student and graduate films, and this year has 17 titles in competition. Burton joins previously announced jury members French actress Sandrine Bonnaire, Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cisse, German actor Daniel Bruhl (Goodbye, Lenin!) and Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner.
- 5/2/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hot topic: Germany's mean streets
BERLIN -- Attendees at this year's Berlin International Film Festival could be forgiven for thinking that Germany is coming apart at the seams. Judging by the latest crop of local films, unemployment is rife, youth gangs rule the streets and your average German can barely contain his desire to rape, murder and destroy. Films like Competition entry The Free Will about a violent serial rapist, Tough Enough, which plays like a German Mean Streets, or the skinhead initiation of Combat Sixteen are worlds away from the feel-good history of Goodbye, Lenin! or wry upper-crust comedy of a Dorris Doerrie movie.
- 3/13/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Deal brings 123 German films to VOD
BERLIN -- Germany's No. 1 Internet provider, T-Online, and the German Film Institute's filmportal.de Web site on Tuesday unveiled a new video-on-demand service for what they called "the most important German films of all time." The pilot project, presented at the Berlin International Film Festival, features 20 films influential in shaping the history of German cinema -- from Metropolis to Good bye, Lenin! In addition to movies, the T-Online VOD site will offer free background information and such bonus materials as Fritz Lang's original sketches for Metropolis. T-Online and filmportal.de will expand the project to eventually include the 100 most important German movies as determined by a German Film Institute survey of leading industry executives in 1995. Only films produced during the Nazi era will be excluded because German law makes the sale of anti-Semitic material illegal.
- 2/14/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
X takes 'Grassroots' toke
BERLIN -- Germany's X Filme, the team behind art house hits Good bye, Lenin! and Andreas Dresen's Summer in Berlin, have joined forces with the U.K. producers behind British children's classic The Magic Roundabout for a stop-motion animation feature based on Gilbert Shelton's cult comic Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. The project, titled Grassroots, was announced Monday at the Berlin International Film Festival. Celluloid Dreams will handle world sales. Shelton has written the script with Paul Davies. Dave Borthwick (Roundabout) is attached to direct. Bruce Higham, Andy Leighton and David Lascelles will produce on the U.K. side with X Filme's Andro Steinborn.
- 2/13/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Five more years for German fund's Schmid-Ospach
COLOGNE, Germany -- Germany's largest regional film subsidy board, the Filmstifftung NRW, announced Wednesday that it has extended the contract of managing director Michael Schmid-Ospach for another five years. Schmid-Ospach took over as managing director in 2001, replacing Dieter Kosslick who moved to Berlin to become director of the Berlin International Film Festival. Under Schmid-Ospach's direction, the Filmstifftung has backed a wide range of German productions, from such local boxoffice hits as Manitou's Shoe and 7 Dwarves to international crossover successes including Good Bye, Lenin! and Mostly Martha.
- 6/29/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
X-Filme forms own unit to pitch sleeper 'Zucker'
BERLIN -- Good bye, Lenin! producers X-Filme have set up an in-house sales division, X-Filme World Sales, to handle international distribution of Dani Levy's sleeper hit Go for Zucker -- An Unorthodox Comedy. X-Filme head Stefan Arndt and the company's business and legal affairs executive Andro Steinborn, will manage the new sales company. Previously, X-Filme sold international distribution rights to its films on a case-by-case basis to such German sales groups as Bavaria Film International and Beta Cinema. X-Filme said Zucker already has sold to Italy's Ladyfilms and Orlando in Israel. The Jewish family comedy, which focuses on the conflict between an West German orthodox Jew and his very unorthodox East German brother, was originally planned as a TV movie but scored a theatrical release in Germany through X-Filme, which also helped produce it, going on to gross more than $3 million.
- 2/15/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hopscotch touts slate
SYDNEY -- Leading independent distributor Hopscotch revealed its 2005 lineup Thursday, a slate hailed by co-owner Troy Lum as festival-lauded and director-driven. Set for release are Murderball, about wheelchair rugby players; Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin; Wong Kar Wei's 2046; German smash hit Der Untergang (The Downfall); and Kim Ki-Duk's Bin-jip (3-Iron). In addition, Hopscotch will handle an Australian film, Craig Monahan's Peaches, starring Hugo Weaving, Jacqueline McKenzie and newcomer Emma Lung. Hopscotch, shared by partners Lum, Sandie Don and Frank Cox, almost doubled its first year boxoffice takings in 2003 of AUS$13 million to AUS$22 million ($17 million) in 2004. Successful releases in 2003-04 included Fahrenheit 9/11, Goodbye Lenin!, Nowhere in Africa, Somersault, Spellbound and Touching the Void.
- 2/4/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Downfall' tops 3 mil admits
MUNICH -- Der Untergang (The Downfall), about Hitler's final days, continued at the No. 1 spot in German theaters for a fourth week in a row and broke through the 3 million-ticket barrier only 27 days after its release, distributors Constantin Film said Wednesday. So far this year, Untergang has been the second homegrown production to rise above the three million mark. The other movie, (T)Raumschiff Surprise -- Periode 1, also a Constantin film, managed that feat just one weekend after its release in late July and has sold more than 9 million tickets since then. Last year, two homegrown productions sold more than 3 million tickets in Germany: Good bye, Lenin! which scored 6 million, and Das Wunder von Bern (The Miracle of Bern) with 3.1 million.
- 10/14/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Germany boxoffice bounces back
COLOGNE, Germany -- Germany's boxoffice regained some of its momentum in the first half of this year, with ticket revenue inching up 1.4% to 420 million ($517.7 million), according to official figures released Wednesday by the German Film Board. The official tally confirmed earlier estimates that more than 1 million more tickets were sold in the first six months of the year compared with the same period last year, representing a total of 72.3 million admissions. Leading the pack were The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as well as two Hollywood films by German directors: Wolfgang Petersen's Troy and Roland Emmerich's The Day After Tomorrow. There were no German films released in the first half of 2004 to match the success of last year's Good bye, Lenin! and the market share for German films slipped to 13.9% from a year-earlier 17.1%. But those figures don't take into account the astronomical business generated by Constantin Film's (T)Raumschiff Surprise -- Periode 1 (Spaceship Surprise -- Period 1). The sci-fi spoof by Michael Bully Herbig regained the No. 1 spot in its fourth session last weekend, bringing its total earnings to 40.8 million ($50.3 million). Spaceship is already the year's No. 1 release, and if it continues its record-breaking pace, it could single-handedly push the market share for German films this year to something approaching 20%, industry observers said.
- 8/19/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
X Filme marks 10-year milestone
COLOGNE, Germany -- "In each European country, there is one -- and only one -- production company that can consistently produce films that work internationally. In Spain, it's Pedro Almodovar's El Deseo. In Germany, it's X Filme." That statement, made by the head of a leading U.S. indie distributor at this year's Cannes film festival, sums up why Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool -- which turned 10 years old this week -- remains a primary port of call for international acquisitions execs. From such break-out hits as Run, Lola, Run and Good bye, Lenin! to art house notables including Love in Thoughts, Heaven and Life Is All You Get, X Filme has broken free of the confines of the German market to find a worldwide audience for its eclectic, director-driven films.
- 7/26/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes panel decries piracy, eyes solutions
CANNES -- A high-level prefestival forum on piracy Tuesday included alarming reports from throughout Europe about the scale of the problem. The examples given were enough to make any industryite sit up and listen. An estimated 700,000 illegal copies of the German hit movie Good bye, Lenin! were already in circulation when the film came out on video on its home turf, equivalent to a revenue loss of about 3 million ($3.6 million). But Cannes jury president Quentin Tarantino, one of the few representatives of talent at the forum, said the piracy issue is not black and white. "On one hand, this is a business. ... You need to have a healthy industry," the director said. But he condoned the fact that pirated copies of his film Pulp Fiction circulate in China, where it would not otherwise be released, and said he is grateful that certain rare movies not available from legit routes can be found on bootleg copies. "I would be a liar if I was to say, across the board, no piracy," Tarantino said.
- 5/12/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tarantino, festival panel tackle piracy
A high-level prefestival forum on piracy held Tuesday heard alarming reports from across Europe about the scale of the plague. The examples given were enough to make any industryite sit up and listen. According to estimates, about 700,000 illegal copies of the German hit movie Good Bye, Lenin! were already in circulation when the film came out on video on its home turf, equivalent to a revenue loss of about 3 million euos ($3.6 million). But Cannes jury president Quentin Tarantino, one of the few representatives of talent at the forum, said the piracy issue is not black and white. "On one hand, this is a business. ... You need to have a healthy industry," the director said. But he condoned the fact that pirated copies of Pulp Fiction circulate in China, where the movie would not otherwise be released, and said he is grateful that certain rare movies not available from legit routes can be found on bootleg copies. "I would be a liar if I was to say, across the board, no piracy," Tarantino said.The MPA estimates worldwide losses to its member companies of about $3.5 billion to pirated hard copies alone. The scale of online piracy is harder to estimate, but MPA regional director Dara MacGreevy said it's a growing concern. "Illegal downloads are now increasing faster in Europe than anywhere else in the world," MacGreevy told attendees at the forum, organized jointly by the Festival de Cannes, French pay channel Canal Plus and France's CNC film body.
- 5/11/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
German boxoffice falls in 2003 to $1.1 billion
BERLIN -- Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl couldn't keep the German boxoffice from sinking last year, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King didn't bring about a return to growth in Germany, according to official figures released Wednesday. The numbers from Germany's Federal Film Board reveal that local boxoffice returns fell 11.5% to 850 million ($1.1 billion) last year from 960.1 million in 2002. The film board blamed a record hot summer, rising film piracy and a lack of blockbuster hits for the decline. Hits were certainly hard to find in Germany last year. Only six titles earned more than 20 million ($25.1 million) in the territory, with Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy Good bye Lenin! the sole German-language title in that exclusive club, which also included Return of the King, Nemo, Pirates, The Matrix Reloaded and Catch Me If You Can.
- 2/5/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Foreign-language choices defy conventional wisdom
NEW YORK -- "Flabbergast" is not a foreign word -- it's etymology is unknown -- but it certainly can be used to describe some of the likely reactions to choices -- and omissions -- the Academy made this year in the foreign-language film category. Canadian helmer Denys Arcand's The Barbarian Invasions (Miramax Films) and Ondrej Trojan's Zelary (Sony Pictures Classics) from the Czech Republic had been bandied by those following the foreign film race as likely shoo-ins to nab nominations. But Wolfgang Becker's German feature, Good bye, Lenin! was also expected to find a place in the class photo too, but it was nowhere to be found when the noms were unveiled. In fact, a whole host of titles that have begun developing a following were among the missing. Among them, Bent Hamer and IFC Films' Kitchen Stories (Norway); Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni and ThinkFilm's The Story of the Weeping Camel (Mongolia) and Kim Ki-duk's and SPC's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring (Korea).
- 1/28/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New prize at Berlin fest for young filmmakers
BERLIN -- The Berlin International Film Festival, together with French channel TV5 and the Franco-German Youth Office, is launching a new film prize to be presented at this year's Berlin Fest (Feb. 5-15), organizers said Friday. The prize, called Dialogue en Perspective, will honor a German film screening in the Perspectives on German Cinema sidebar at the Festival. The section, set up three years ago, highlights works by young German directors. The new prize capitalizes on the recent success of Wolfgang Becker's Good Bye Lenin!, which was a surprise hit in France and aims to promote German film to often skeptical French audiences. A jury of four French and three German members, all aged between 18-29, will choose the winner. The film will be screened at the Festival of German Film in Paris in October as well as airing on TV5.
- 1/16/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
21 newcomers set for Berlin's Shooting Stars
BERLIN -- German actress Maria Simon (Good Bye, Lenin!), Spain's Elena Ananya (Van Helsing) and U.K.'s Eva Birthistle (Bloody Sunday) are among the 21 up-and-comers chosen to participate in the 2004 Shooting Star event at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, organizers announced Monday. Their home countries, all members of pan-European cinema group European Film Promotion (EFP), nominated the group of young actors and actresses. Now in its seventh year, the Shooting Stars program is designed to spotlight Europe's young talent and attract the attention of the international film scene gathered at the Berlin Festival. Former Shooting Stars that have gone on to an international film careers include Rachel Weisz, Franke Potente and Iben Hjejle. "Over a period of seven years, more than 100 of Europe's most promising young actors have stood before the press, industry and public on the main stage of the Berlinale Palast," said Berlin Festival Director Dieter Kosslick in a statement. "Commitment, skill and poise are just some of the words that come to mind when I think of these young actors who are the heart of Europe's cinematic renaissance."...
- 1/13/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Another accolade for 'Lenin!'
COLOGNE, Germany -- Multiple award-winning film Good bye, Lenin! has picked up another nod, the Bavaria Film Prize's audience award. Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy, which is nominated for a Golden Globe as best foreign-language film, will receive the Bavaria Film award at a ceremony Friday, Jan. 16 in Munich. It already has won a European Film Award and numerous German film plaudits.
- 1/11/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mexico City film fest set
MEXICO CITY -- Mexican exhibitor Cinemex said in a statement Thursday that it will host the first-ever Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival, a 10-day showcase featuring 150 pictures, among them winners at the Venice, Berlin and Cannes film festivals. The film fest, set to begin Feb. 19, will cost organizers about 8 million pesos ($711,000), according to event coordinator Milko Luis Coronel. Cinemex, Pepsi and brewery Grupo Modelo, among other companies, have agreed to sponsor the festival. All told, Cinemex will unspool 102 features and 48 shorts. Twenty-three international pictures will vie for the so-called La Pieza prize, among them Germany's Good bye Lenin!, Russia's The Return, U.S. production The Station Agent and Palestinian film Divine Intervention.
- 12/19/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Lenin' conquers Euro film nods
BERLIN -- Good Bye, Lenin! the German film that has been a local boxoffice smash and seen its success translate to territories across Europe, toppled the competition at the 16th annual European Film Awards Saturday, winning six EFA statuettes, including those for best European film, best actor for Daniel Bruhl and best screenwriter for Bernd Lichtenberg. Lenin also swept the People's Choice categories, with voters from across Europe choosing Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy as best film and stars Bruhl and Katrin Sass as best actor and best actress. U.K. producer and EFA chairman Nik Powell, dressed in a Santa Claus suit to mark the festive occasion, announced the best film winner by reaching into his red sack and pulling out a bust of Communist icon Vladimir Lenin. "It would have helped if we knew how successful this film was going to be when we were making it," director Becker said on accepting his award. "Because everything that could go wrong on the shoot did. It would have helped to know how it was going to turn out."...
- 12/8/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Lenin' conquers Euro film nods
BERLIN -- Good Bye, Lenin! the German film that has been a local boxoffice smash and seen its success translate to territories across Europe, toppled the competition at the 16th annual European Film Awards Saturday, winning six EFA statuettes, including those for best European film, best actor for Daniel Bruhl and best screenwriter for Bernd Lichtenberg. Lenin also swept the People's Choice categories, with voters from across Europe choosing Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy as best film and stars Bruhl and Katrin Sass as best actor and best actress. U.K. producer and EFA chairman Nik Powell, dressed in a Santa Claus suit to mark the festive occasion, announced the best film winner by reaching into his red sack and pulling out a bust of Communist icon Vladimir Lenin. "It would have helped if we knew how successful this film was going to be when we were making it," director Becker said on accepting his award. "Because everything that could go wrong on the shoot did. It would have helped to know how it was going to turn out."...
- 12/7/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bavaria Film gets off to a fast start at MIFED
MILAN -- In what it hopes will be a sign of things to come at this year's MIFED, leading German sales outfit Bavaria Film International closed a series of deals on the eve of the market including multiple territory sales for Kim Ki-duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring and a six-picture deal with Israel's Orlando Films. Spring, Korea's official Academy Award entry this year, was sold in all-rights deals to Metro Tartan for the United Kingdom and Ireland, Rialto for Australia, Spain's Festival Filves, Audiovisual for Greece, Imovision for Brazil, Portugal's LNK, Septimo Arte for Mexico, Rayson Global for Argentina and SPI International for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. Orlando, which has had a local hit with Bavaria's Good bye, Lenin! inked a six-picture deal with the German group, picking up Israeli rights to Soenke Wortmann's soccer drama The Miracle of Bern, Cesc Gay's In the City, Jaime Rosales' The Hours of the Day, Extrano by director Santiago Loza, Martin Rejtman's The Magic Gloves and Hans-Christian Schmid's Distant Lights.
- 11/9/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Foreign affair: Oscar voters' 55 choices
A record-breaking 55 countries -- one more than last year -- have submitted films to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration in the foreign language film category for the 76th annual Academy Awards. A number of the films that have been entered into the Oscar race have already begun to earn a profile on the festival circuit. The Danish entry, Reconstruction, directed by Christoffer Boe, was awarded the Camera d'Or as best first film at this year's Festival de Cannes. Palm Pictures is distributing it domestically. Good Bye, Lenin!, from Germany and director Wolfgang Becker, recently picked up eight awards at the German Film Awards. Several of the entries screened at Cannes this year -- among them Hector Babenco's prison drama, Carandiru, from Brazil and Sony Pictures Classics; the Canadian entry, Denys Arcand's The Barbarian Invasions, which Miramax plans to distribute domestically; and the Afghanistan entry, Osama, directed by Siddiq Barmak, whose distribution rights were picked up by United Artists.
- 10/21/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Goodbye, Lenin . hello, Judi and Maggie! German actor Daniel Brühl, star of the acclaimed Good-Bye Lenin! (Germany's Oscar contender this year), will make his English-language film debut in Ladies in Lavender alongside Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, Variety reports. Written and directed by actor Charles Dance, the comedy is adapted from William J. Locke's short story about two unmarried sisters who find a Polish castaway washed up on the beach near their family home. Miriam Margolyes, Natasha McElhone, David Warner, Freddie Jones, Clive Russell and Toby Jones also star.
- 9/25/2003
- IMDbPro News
'Good Bye, Lenin!' official German Oscar entry
COLOGNE -- Wolfgang Becker's Good Bye, Lenin! has been selected as Germany's official entry for consideration in next year's foreign-language Oscar race. The $4 million tragicomedy about a young man from East Berlin trying to hide the fact of German reunification from his devout communist mother, has earned more than $42 million at the local box office, making it the most successful film in the territory this year. "Wolfgang Becker has managed to take an explosive subject from Germany's postwar period and tell a light-hearted and strongly emotional story with a very modern voice," said the selection jury, an independent body chosen by the Export-Union of German Cinema. "Good Bye, Lenin!" ran away with eight Lolas at this year's German Film Awards, including statuettes for best film, director and actor for star Daniel Bruehl. It also won the Blue Angel award for Best European Film at this year's Berlin International Film Festival. The X-Filme production has sold to all major territories and has already opened successfully in the U.K., Italy and France. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the film in North America. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will announce the nominees for the foreign language Oscar on Jan. 27, 2004. The Oscars take place Feb. 29.
- 9/19/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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