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Fledgling French sales outfit B-Rated International has added a trio of titles to its debut EFM slate.

Marta Bergman’s L’Enfant Belier is a people-smuggling drama based on the true story of a couple who arrive in Belgium illegally with their two year-old daughter en route to the UK. Producers are Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Canada’s Productions des Années Lumières.

B-Rated is also launching Olivier Meys’ Jahia’s Summer, about the friendship between two women, one from Eritrea, the other from Moldova, living in a Belgian centre for asylum seekers. It is produced by Belgium’s Michigan Films,...

Covered with laurels for his recent series “Soviet Jeans” (audience award at Series Mania 2024) and for his features “Modris” (Latvia’s Oscar submission 2014) and “Oleg” (Cannes Director’s Fortnight entry 2019), Latvian writer/director Juris Kursietis is competing at Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival’s Official Selection with “The Exalted,” due to world premiere Nov. 14.

The satire about cultural clashes between Eastern and Western Europe, seen through the prism of an upper-class couple, has just been acquired by newly launched French sales outfit B-Rated International, outside the co-producing countries Estonia, Latvia, and Greece.

“The Exalted” offers a harsh and cynical portrayal of the upper class,” said Arnaud Chevallier, formerly at Mediawan International Sales and founder of the Paris-based outfit. “We admire the pic’s brilliant and subtle directing and are convinced that it will resonate with foreign audiences due to its globally relevant themes and multiple languages spoken throughout the film.

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The Americans is a period spy thriller drama series created by Joe Weisberg. The FX series is set during the Cold War and it follows the story of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two Soviet Kgb intelligence officers who are sent to Washington D.C. to pose as an American couple to gather information on the American government. The Americans stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys in the lead roles with Maximiliano Hernández, Holly Taylor, Keidrich Sellati, Noah Emmerich, Annet Mahendru, Susan Misner, and Alison Wright starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the intensely thrilling story, nail-biting drama, and compelling characters in The Americans here are some similar shows you should check out next.

The Spy (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

The Spy is a French English-language spy thriller drama series created by Gideon Raff. Based on the life...

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (known as PÖFF) has unveiled the full lineup of its flagship Official Selection, whose 18 features from 23 countries will compete for the coveted €20,000 Grand Prix.

They include 11 world premieres. The jury is helmed by acclaimed German director Christoph Hochhäusler.

Tiina Lokk, the founder and director of the festival, said “the Official Selection Competition has it all! There’s a psycho-thriller that approaches horror, a psychological family drama, and sci-fi genre is represented. The selection is broad, and so is the range of countries. We’re not trying to highlight a certain theme or a particular region, we are free in our choices,” she noted.

Emphasizing the various topics covered, Lokk cites old age, the end of life and euthanasia “perhaps due to the influence of Covid,” domestic violence and war, “not tackled in the traditional form” but rather via psychological dramas.

“Last year there were...

New films by rising German directors Natja Brunckhorst, Fabian Stumm and Frédéric Jaeger are among the nominees for this year’s German Cinema New Talent Award, which will hand out prizes to the best director, producer, writer and actor.

It is open to all directors, producers, screenwriters, and actors whose first, second or third features have been selected for Munich International Film Festival’s (Miff) New German Cinema section.

Brunckhorst’s German reunification comedy Two To One will open the festival on June 29. It is in the running for the best director prize of € 30,000, with 12 other titles including Fabian Stumm’s second feature Sad Jokes,...

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Stateside, German actor Til Schweiger has become a “that guy” of action thrillers, a supporting player who turns up —in Atomic Blond, King Arthur or Inglourious Basterds — for a memorable line (“Say auf Wiedersehen to your Nazi balls!”) or some high-energy action scene.

The parts Schweiger gets offered — Medieval, Highland Film Group’s new period actioner screening at AFM, in which he co-stars alongside Ben Foster and Sophie Lowe is a case in point — tend to be hunky heavies and tough guys. In the parts he writes for himself — in the string of German box office hits which he also directed, including Barefoot (2005), Rabbit Without Ears (2007) and Kokowääh (2011) — Schweiger favors the cocky, cynical outsider whose heart eventually gets melted by the charms

of a smart-alecky kid or the love of a wary woman.

Occasionally, Schweiger also dips into darker territory. His 2014 dramedy success...

Alastair Mackenzie, Jessica Frances Dukes and Debi Mazar have been added as supporting players in Filip Jan Rymsza’s fourth feature — cameras are currently rolling on Object Permanence which is being toplined by Millie Brady. Variety reports that the production is currently taking place in Poland with stops in Thailand and Germany directly after. Vincent Riotta, Johanna Wokalek, Andrzej Chyra, Jim Caesar, Luisa-Celine Gaffron, Marianna Zydek, Weronika Rosati, Ola Rudnicka and Maddie Kulicka complete the full cast. Cinematographer Bartosz Świniarski (Christos Nikou’s Apples and Aga Woszczynska’s Silent Land) is on board. Rymsza recently saw his third feature Mosquito State get showcased at the Venice Film Festival and he also produced The Other Side of the Wind and Katharine O’Brien’s Lost Transmissions.…...

Scottish actor Alastair Mackenzie, recently spotted in “The Crown” and “Andor,” Jessica Frances Dukes and Debi Mazar have been added to the cast of Filip Jan Rymsza’s feature film “Object Permanence.”

They join previously announced star Millie Brady, who plays Brooke Brooks: a former supermodel who becomes a successful lifestyle mogul and is the first person to IPO herself.

Production is currently underway in Poland and will continue in Thailand and Germany. “Apples” DoP Bartosz Świniarski is lensing the film.

Set in the near future, “Object Permanence” is produced by Friends with Benefits Studio, with co-financing by the Polish Film Institute. Marta Lewandowska and Rymsza – the latter also behind “Mosquito State” – are producing, while CAA is handling North American sales.

“Filip’s script is an inspired study of the perils of celebrity and the conflictual relationships that exist within the system built up around it,” says Mackenzie, opening...

Exclusive: German public broadcaster’s latest drama is to be a remake of the 2019 Australian thriller mini-series Safe Harbour after a deal with distributor NBCUniversal Formats.

Titled Liberame – Nach dem Sturm (Liberame – After the Storm), the drama is set around a sailing trip on the Mediterranean, an overcrowded refugee boat and a catastrophe that changes the lives of everyone.

All episodes will be available to stream on streaming service ZDFmediathek on July 30and will begin broadcasting on Zdf on August 29.

The original show was produced for Australian cultural broadcaster Sbs and came from Universal International Studios’ Sydney-based producer Matchbox Pictures.

Here’s a synopsis for the Zdf remake: “Jan (Friedrich Mücke) and Caro (Johanna Wokalek) are on a sailing trip on the Mediterranean Sea with Jan’s sister (Natalia Belitski), her friend Daniel (Marc Benjamin) and Helene (Ina Weisse) when they encounter a broken-down boat with refugees in distress. The...

FX released a trailer for the third and final season of “Pose,” which will debut on May 2.

Nearly two years after Blanca Evangelista’s (Mj Rodriguez) triumphant return to the ballroom, she gets a new job working at a hospital, while newly-engaged Angel (Indya Moore) and Papi (Angel Bismark Curiel) seem happy as ever. Following a health scare last season, Pray Tell’s (Billy Porter) fate is up in the air. “I knew this disease was gonna eat me alive, but I’m not going out without a fight,” he says in the trailer. Watch it in full below.

Also in today’s TV news roundup, Showtime announced a virtual farewell event featuring the cast of “Shameless,” taking place April 11 at 7 p.m. Pt., immediately following the series finale. Showrunner John Wells will join cast members William H. Macy, Jeremy Allen White, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Emma Kenney,...

Bill Nighy is set to score a triple word score this weekend with the dramedy Sometimes Always Never, which is set to open virtually in theaters today before it becomes available on-demand July 10.

Directed by former member of the British band The Farm, Carl Hunter and written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, the film follows Alan (Nighy) a stylish tailor who has spent years searching for his son Michael who went missing after he stormed out of his life…over a game of Scrabble. With a body to identify and his family torn apart, Alan must fix the relationship with his youngest son Peter (Sam Riley) and solve the mystery of an online player who he thinks could be Michael, so he can finally move on and reunite his family. The film also stars Alice Lowe, Jenny Agutter and Tim McInnerny.

Marking Hunter’s feature film debut, the dramedy debuted in...

"You're not allowed to be here!" Screen Media Films has debuted a new official Us trailer for the Danish film now known as Exit Plan, formerly titled Suicide Tourist during its initial international release. This premiered at the Sitges & Zurich Film Festivals last year, and is arriving on VOD in June to watch. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays an insurance detective named Max who is investigating Arthur's disappearance. The assignment takes him on a long, mysterious journey into the clandestine Aurora Hotel. While in the midst of an existential crisis, Max questions his perception of reality. Also starring Tuva Novotny, Kate Ashfield, Robert Aramayo, Sonja Richter, Kaya Wilkins, Sobjørg Højfeld, Lorraine Hilton, Slimane Daz, Jan Bijvoet, and Johanna Wokalek. This looks a bit like a "Black Mirror" episode with a horrorific twist. Here's the new official trailer (+ poster) for Jonas Alexander Arnby's Exit Plan, direct from YouTube: Insurance claims investigator...

Charades closes deals for Spain, Middle East, Cis.

Screen Media has acquired North American rights and Charades has struck a raft of international deals on Efm sales title Suicide Tourist, the mystery thriller starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from Game Of Thrones.

Rights to Danish filmmaker Jonas Alexander Arnby’s follow-up to his 2014 Cannes Critics’ Week selection When Animals Dream have closed in Spain (B-team), Cis and Baltics (Paradise), Israel (Forum), and Middle East (Empire).

Further deals have closed in Greece (Spentzos), Hungary, former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria (Aqs), and Taiwan (Spotlight). The film’s German co-producer Dcm is the distributor for German-speaking...

Exclusive: With AMC’s Preacher coming to a close this summer, Dominic Cooper is set to star in the six-part espionage Cold War series Spy City from Miramax and Germany’s H&v Entertainment and Zdf.

Novelist and screenwriter William Boyd is currently writing Spy City. German-Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Alexandre will direct, and Johanna Wokalek and Leonie Benesch (The Crown, Babylon Berlin) also star.

Cooper will play an English spy who is sent to Berlin in 1961 to sift out a traitor in the UK Embassy or among the Allies, shortly before the construction of the Berlin Wall. The city, declared by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev as “the most dangerous place on earth,” is teeming with spies and double agents. One wrong move could trigger the looming threat of nuclear war as American,...

Suicide Tourist

Danish director Jonas Alexander Arnby assembles an impressive cast and crew for his sophomore feature Suicide Tourist. The Scandinvaian-German-French co-pro is produced by Eva Jacobsen, Mikkel Jersin and Katrin Pors for Denmark’s Snowglobe, while Germany’s Dcm, Norway’s Mer Film, France’s Charades, and Sweden’s Film i Vast and Garagefilm International have also been involved in production. Arnby returns to work with his When Animals Dream Dp Niels Thastum as well as composer Mikkel Hess. Greece’s Yorgos Mavropsaridis serves as editor. A stellar cast consists of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Tuva Novotny, Sonja Richter, Jan Bijvoet, Kaya Wilkins, Robert Aramayo, Sobørg Højfeldt, Lorraine Hilton and Johanna Wokalek.…...

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister in “Game of Thrones,” heads a distinguished European cast in “Suicide Tourist,” a mystery drama with romantic elements from Copenhagen-based Snowglobe, whose production credits include “Thelma,” “The Untamed” and “Birds of a Passage.”

Described by Snowglobe in a statement as its most ambitious film to date, “Suicide Tourist” marks Danish director Jonas Alexander Arnby’s follow-up to his breakout debut “When Animals Dream,” which played in Cannes Critics’ Week and sold to Radius for the U.S. and to another score of territories. Paris-based Charades has acquired world sales rights to “Suicide Tourist” and will introduce the title to buyers at next week’s American Film Market in Santa Monica.

Coster-Waldau stars opposite Sweden’s Tuva Novotny, co-star of international productions such as “Borg vs. McEnroe” and Alex Garland’s “Annihilation.”

Arnby’s “When Animals Dream” proved catnip to distributors because of its director-driven...

Berlin-based One Two Films, co-producer of such recent high-profile works as Jennifer Fox’s “The Tale” and Isabel Coixet’s “The Bookshop,” is set to follow its winning run with a slew of upcoming German and international productions.

One Two Films’ Jamila Wenske and Sol Bondy are partnering with Canadian writer-producer Mike MacMillan on two English-language films currently in development. “I Will Not Go Quietly” centers on a distant but desperate father who travels from Toronto to Switzerland to reach his ill daughter; the film is penned by MacMillan and Darragh McDonald. “Nightlife” is a comedy set in Berlin.

In addition, the company is co-producing Icelandic director Grimur Hakonarson’s recently wrapped “The County.” The film, which follows his 2015 Cannes Un Certain Regard award winner “Rams,” is a co-production by Iceland, Denmark, Germany, and France.

Wenske and Bondy — selected by Variety for its 2018 10 Producers to Watch list — are re-teaming with...

Freedom sells to Us, Lemonade sells to France.

Berlin-based sales agent Pluto Film has struck keys deals on two of its European Film Market (Efm) titles.

Jan Speckenbach’s Freedom has gone to the Us after a deal was reached with Corinth Films.

The film premiered at last year’s Locarno Film Festival, it stars Johanna Wokalek in the story of a mother who leaves her husband and two children behind in pursuit of freedom.

Lemonade, produced by Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), has been picked up for France by Asc Distribution.

The Romanian-Canadian-German-Swedish co-production is from first-time feature director Ioana Uricaru. The Us-set drama follows a Romanian woman who, after moving to the Us with her nine-year-old son, marries a man she has only known for a few months.

Screen revealed the film’s first trailer before its premiere in this year’s Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand.

Prior to this year...

The poroject is based on the classic Siegfried Lenz’s novel.

Wild Bunch has boarded German director Christian Schwochow’s adaptation of Siegfried Lenz’s classic novel The German Lesson (Deutschstunde) which begins shooting in North Rhine-Westphalia in March.

Schwochow, who has oscillated between TV and feature productions throughout his career, is at the Berlinale this year with his buzzed-about high-finance thriller TV series Bad Banks (pictured) which premieres in the festival’s TV sidebar.

One of the classic novels of post-Second World War German literature, The German Lesson explores human behaviour under a dictatorship through the tale of a young man who defies his police officer father to save the expressionist paintings of a neighbour from destruction during the Nazi reign.

Network Movie Film is producing alongside Senator Film with the support of Zdf. The picture sees Schwochow collaborate again with his mother Heide Schwochow who wrote the screenplays for three of his previous feature films: November...

For his second feature film, German filmmaker Jan Speckenbach is tackling familiar material, with a twist. In Speckenbach’s first feature, “Reported Missing” (aka “Die Vermissten”), a father goes searching for his estranged — and now missing — daughter and is shocked by what he finds along the way.

In his “Freedom,” Speckenbach appears to be working through a similar idea, but told through a very different perspective.

Read More‘Good Manners’ Trailer: ‘Hard Labor’ Filmmakers Return With an Ambitious, Terrifying Fairy Tale — Watch

Starring “Pope Joan” and “The Baader Meinhof Complex” star Johanna Wokalek, “Freedom” centers on the seemingly average Nora, who simply walks away from her family in search of her own version of freedom. She leaves behind a shell-shocked husband and a pair of baffled children, moving to a random city and totally changing her identity in order to pursue an entirely new life.

As Nora digs into her...

Berlin-based One Two Films is making its first foray into Stateside production as the co-producer on Jennifer Fox’s fiction feature debut The Tale, which begins shooting at locations in Louisiana today (Oct 20).

The $3.5m investigative thriller is being produced by Blackbird Films and A Luminous Mind Productions, with Lawrence Inglee and Laura Rister as producers and Oren Moverman serving as executive producer.

The autobiographical story has a cast headed up by Laura Dern, with Ellen Burstyn, Isabelle Nélisse, Elizabeth Debicki and Jason Ritter.

One Two Films’ Sol Bondy - who was a Screen Future Leader at Cannes 2013 - told ScreenDaily he had been introduced to The Tale as a project when he and Fox took part in the 2013/14 edition of the Transatlantic Film Partners programme.

He subsequently brought public broadcaster Zdf and Arte to the project which is being handled internationally by Mongrel International and is set to wrap principal photography in December.

From Helsinki...

German moutaineers get their climb on in North Face.

The contest is over. And the two winner, chosen by Random.org, are Anita and Matt! Congratulations! Please email your mailing address to lhlerman@gmail.com before July 17 to claim your prize.

The acclaimed 2008 adventure film North Face was finally released on Blu-ray today and Music Box Films has given Disc Dish two copies to give away to a pair of readers!

Directed by Philipp Stölzl and starring Benno Furmann, Florian Lukas and Johanna Wokalek, North Face is based on the true story of a 1936 attempt to scale the most dangerous rock face in the Alps, the North Face of the Eiger, by two competing climbing teams. One team consists of German climbers are Toni Kurz and Andi Hinterstoisser, who quit their service in the German military in order to make the attempt. The competing group of Austrians that eventually team...

"This is my calling."

Did you miss the epic movie event Pope Joan when it aired on Reelzchannel? Not to worry, this is your weekend to catch up, with the first half of Pope Joan airing this weekend at 3Pm Et/12Pt on Saturday and 11Am Et/8Am Pt on Sunday as part of our Epic October movie series.

Based on the controversial international bestseller by Donna Woolfolk Cross, Pope Joan stars Johanna Wokalek in the titular role of a 9th century woman who decides to dress as a man and eventually rises through the Vatican ranks, eventually becoming the Pope, as well as the only woman to sit on the throne of St. Peter. Her time as the Pope was short-lived, and her tenure was omitted from papal records. Of course, many religious scholars consider the story fictitious and merely that of legend, but we'll let you decide. John Goodman...

The epic movie event Pope Joan will be re-airing on ReelzChannel this month and again in March to celebrate National Women's History Month (Nwhm). March is officially Nwhm and what better way to celebrate than to honor a legendary woman whose alleged existence has been denied for over a thousand years.

Pope Joan is the story of a controversial figure of historical record who disguised herself as a man and rose to rule the Catholic Church in the 9th century as the first and only woman to sit on the throne of St. Peter. The movie, based on the international bestselling novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross, features the performances of John Goodman, Johanna Wokalek and David Wenham.

Next Showing:

Pope Joan - Trailer

Johanna Wokalek, David Wenham, and John Goodman star

Link | Posted 2/16/2012 by Katie

Pope Joan | David Wenham | John Goodman | Johanna Wokalek...

When Donna Woolfolk Cross first stepped on set of the movie adaptation of her book Pope Joan, she literally got goosebumps watching the words she wrote transform into hundreds reenacting a market scene.

I remember writing that scene in my little study and I just had goosebumps... I was very moved by that, actually.

Now the Us audience will be able to watch Cross' words on screen when Reelz airs the four-hour Pope Joan. The miniseries tells the story of Johanna von Ingelheim, a woman whose existence has been denied for more than a thousand years. A controversial figure of historical record, she disguised herself as a man and rose to rule the Catholic Church in the 9th century as the first and only woman to sit on the throne of St. Peter.

Pope Joan, which stars Johanna Wokalek and John Goodman, will air in two two-hour parts on Dec.

In a little over a week, Reelz will be debuting the 2-part miniseries Pope Joan to U.S. television audiences. Set to air December 18th, Pope Joan tells the story of Johanna von Ingelheim, a woman whose existence has been denied for a thousand years. A controversial figure of historical record, she disguised herself as a man and rose to rule the Catholic Church in the 9th century as the first and only woman to sit on the throne of St. Peter.

Based on the international bestselling novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross, Pope Joan was produced by Constantin Film. Made as a four hour miniseries, Reelz will air it in separate two-hour parts starting December 18th and 19th at 8pm Et and 8pm Pt.

Next Showing:

Link | Posted 12/8/2011 by Lindsey

Pope Joan | David Wenham | John Goodman | Johanna Wokalek...

"Lotte Flack makes her American debut"

Exclusive Interview by Michael Aaron Gallagher

Actress Lotte Flack arrives on the red carpet.Syracuse, NY - As she stepped out of the limousine and onto the red carpet at the Palace Theater, her delightful smile and carefree twirl, showing off her stylish heals, were sure signs that German actress Lotte Flack (who is from Hamburg) was glad to be in America. It may not have been the warm, tropical beauty of the Florida coast, but for her coming to United States was something she had always wanted to do.

On April 2, her film “Pope Joan,” which was directed by Sonke Wortmann and also stars Johanna Wokalek, John Goodman ("Roseanne"), David Wenham (“Lord of the Rings”), and Iain Glen (“Resident Evil”) premiered in front of a sell-out crowd. The author, Donna Woolfolk Cross, a Central New York native was also in attendance, as well as Barbara Rosenblat,...

In the opening few seconds of the trailer for Lars Kraume’s The Days to Come (Die kommenden Tage, or The Coming Days as it’s referred to in some places) was looking like your average drama (there may be hints of some scifi bits in the voiceover but my lack of German can’t make it out). But then there’s this little scene, quick and inconspicuous, that suggests otherwise.

The deal here? The near future. Perhaps even the apocalypse. Check out the official synopsis:

The Days To Come is the story of an upper-middle-class Berlin family on their personal journey from the present into a near future, a journey into a time of uncertainty and major changes. Due to a rare antibody reaction, Laura Kuper has to choose between her desire to have children and Hans the love of her life. Her sister Cecilia is driven into the...

Islamist extremists simply don't have enough idiot poster girls to make good movies, argues John Patterson

Why have film-makers recently become – if it's the right word – nostalgic for the old-school political terrorism of the 1970s? Movies are popping up everywhere about the glamour boys and girls of such deformed and often demented political groupings as West Germany's Red Army Faction and the Japanese United Red Army. Now there's Carlos, Olivier Assayas's five-hour globetrotting epic about the life of peripatetic assassin, kidnapper, Opec hostage-taker and ideologically addled playboy terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sánchez, Aka Carlos the jackal.

Me, I blame al-Qaida, with their nihilism and grotesque misogyny, their stated preference for death over life and, worst of all, their world-beating humourlessness. (It took Chris Morris, in Four Lions, to find the laffs in Islamofascism.)

Jeez, lighten up, fellas. Watching these guys dropping new fatwa videos and declarations of total war on,...

Cologne, Germany -- "Entourage" star Adrian Grenier, celebrity philanthropist Sir Bob Geldof, German star Nora Tschirner ("Rabbit Without Ears") and Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind") will be among the VIPs attending this year's Zurich Film Festival, which runs Sept. 23 – Oct. 3.

Zurich received worldwide attention last year after director Roman Polanski, en route to accept the festival's lifetime achievement award, was arrested by Swiss police on a decades-old sex charge. For its 6th edition, Zurich is hoping cinema, not scandal, will be in the spotlight.

Other luminaries making the trip to Zurich are directors Milos Forman, who will receive a retrospective tribute at the fest, and Oliver Stone, whose "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" closes the event. Also set to attend is actor Frank Langella ("Frost/Nixon") and German actress Johanna Wokalek ("Pope Joan," "The Baader Meinhof Complex").

Actor/director Danny DeVito will travel to Zurich...

A new German language movie, Pope Joan, starring Baader-Meinhof Complex’s Johanna Wokalek has caused a bit of a stink with Catholic priests and bishops in Italy this week.

You’d think they’d be more outraged with the lurid actions of some of their own than have time to whinge about a new movie based on the medieval legend of a female pope.

Yes, that is what has got their goat. A no-tail pope! One newspaper, albeit one for priests, said the film held an:

“extremely limited vision.”

The film directed by Sönke Wortman, based on an American novel, also stars John Goodman as Pope Sergius and David Wenham as Pope Joan’s lover (although he looks exactly like his character in Lord of the Rings). Now you might be thinking the history of Roman popes was a pure as the driven snow, but you’d be dead wrong.

Pope Joan, which depicts a female pontiff rumoured to have existed in the ninth century, has been criticised by the Roman Catholic Church for its 'extremely limited vision'

Blockbuster Hollywood films such as The Da Vinci Code, and its prequel, Angels and Demons, have often fallen foul of the Vatican in recent years. Now a new movie looks set to spark anger in the Holy See due to its depiction of a female pontiff.

Pope Joan, based on American novelist Donna Woolfolk Cross's book of the same name, stars German actor Johanna Wokalek as the titular character, with Lord of the Rings' David Wenham as the lover who supposedly brought her to Rome, and Us actor John Goodman as Pope Sergius. The film is based on persistent rumours – denied by the Roman Catholic Church and, to be fair, the majority of historians – that a female pope existed in the ninth century.

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp

The Basketball Diaries - Blu-ray Review

I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t believe it but this is without question the best film Leonardo DiCaprio has ever done.

A story about the young life of Jim Carroll, the film is an abrasive, dark, evocative portrait that showcases DiCaprio as an actor that seamlessly blends into the background of a story that is nothing short of compelling. Now in Blu-ray this is a wonderful chance to revisit a movie that helped Leo be known as an actor to contend with but, I think, the real joy in re-watching this movie is its dealing with drug culture that wasn’t proselytizing in nature but exposed it for what it was.

There was...

Originally ran November 12th, 2009 as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival

It.s not much of a qualifier, but writer/director Philipp Stolzl.s North Face, Nordwand in its native German, could very well be the greatest story about mountain climbing put to film. Full of staggering cinematography, incredible performances, and an epic sense of bravery in the face of tragedy, it is a truly engaging tale of man versus nature that never fails to rise to the heights set forth by its natural antagonist.

The film is based on the true story of Toni Kurz, played by Benno Furmann, and Andreas Hinterstoisser, played by Florian Lukas, two, young German men who always had a knack for climbing things, challenging themselves all along the way. In the summer of 1936, as Germany was preparing to host the Olympic Games, these two men set out to do something none had ever accomplished.

DVD Playhouse: March 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Precious: Based On The Novel “Push” By Sapphire (Lionsgate) In-your-face, but undeniably powerful film that follows the plight of an overweight inner-city teen (Gabourey Sidbe, a real find) who must deal with an abusive mother (Mo’Nique, in a career-making turn for which she won a most-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar), a baby born of her abusive, and absent, father, and trying to survive day-to-day with few people to offer her help, save for a sympathetic teacher (Paula Patton) in a special ed program. Director/producer Lee Daniels, a former personal manager/producer-turned-filmmaker, brings a kitchen sink authenticity to the proceedings, along with a cast of famous powerhouse performers, who manage to disappear into their roles. Tough stuff, but not to be missed. Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay (Geoffrey Fletcher). Bonuses: Commentary by Daniels; Featurettes; Interviews with Sapphire and Daniels; Deleted scene. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.

There really is only one good kind of mountain-climbing movie—the kind where things go horribly, terribly wrong. Luckily, that's precisely the kind of mountain-climbing movie the new German film "North Face" is. And really, how could it not be, since it's based on the disastrous 1936 attempt to climb the north face of the Eiger, then dubbed the "Last Problem in Europe." Director Philipp Stölzl's true strength is found on the mountain. The scenes his protagonists go through are so harrowing and intense that you're willing to overlook the fact that his versions of Toni Kurz (Benno Fürmann) and Andreas Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas) are more archetypes than characters. In fact, within the confines of the film, the two wouldn't even be on the mountain at all, if it wasn't for Kurz's old girlfriend, Luise (Johanna Wokalek). She's a city girl now, working for a Berlin newspaper, who turns her editor,...

You can bring home a German indie film on DVD and Blu-ray at the end of March. The Baader Meinhof Complex will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 30. We have no pricing details at this time, but you can take a look at the Bd cover art and the special features below. The film stars Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Nadja Uhl, Jan Josef Liefers, Stipe Erceg, Niels-Bruno Schmidt and Vinzenz Kiefer.

Germany in the 1970s: Murderous bomb attacks, the threat of terrorism and the fear of the enemy inside are rocking the very foundations of the yet fragile German democracy. The radicalised children of the Nazi generation lead by Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin are fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism supported by the German establishment, many of whom have a Nazi past. Their...

Directed by Philipp Stölzl from a screenplay by Stölzl, Christoph Silber, Johannes Naber, and Rupert Henning, the stunningly shot mountain-climbing drama North Face is currently playing in the Los Angeles area at Encino’s Town Center 5, West La’s Royal Theatre, and Pasadena’s Playhouse 7, in addition to Irvine’s University Town Center. The adventure drama stars Benno Fürmann, Johanna Wokalek, Florian Lukas, Simon Schwarz, Georg Friedrich, and Ulrich Tukur (one of the leads in The White Ribbon). A tale entwining melodrama, Nazis, Aryan superiority ideology, mind-blowing vistas, and some pretty awesome stunts, North Face won the best screenplay and best cinematography (Kolja Brandt) awards from the German Film Critics Association, and best cinematography and sound awards from the German Film Academy. The [...]...

Benno Furmann Scales A Slippery Slope

By

Alex Simon

German actor Benno Furmann was born in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1972, cutting his acting chops on two high-profile German miniseries in his late teens, and then moved to the States shortly thereafter to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York. After appearing in high-profile titles such as Richard Loncraine's My House in Umbria, the Oscar-nominated Ww I drama Merry Christmas, the Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer, and Christian Petzold's Jerichow, Benno Feurmann's star is further on the rise with the U.S. release of North Face, director Philipp Stoelzl's harrowing drama about two moutaineers (Furmann and Florian Lukas) in 1936 attempting to scale Switzerland's foreboding Eiger moutain, with the Nazi propaganda machine prodding them on what is seemingly a suicide mission for the glory of the Fatherland. Winner of the 2009 German Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay, the film co-stars Johanna Wokalek,...

Strong, handsome men battling the elements, attempting to conquer mountains despite freezing temperatures, biting winds, and the limits of their own endurance. Filmmakers return to this story again and again. When it's well done, it still manages to enthrall. Despite a few weaknesses, Philipp Stölzl's North Face (Nordwand) is one of the more successful ones, thrilling, nail-bitingly intense, and simply beautiful to behold.

The story concerns two skilled German climbers, volunteers in Hitler's new mountain strike force, Toni Kurz (Benno Furmann) and Andi Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas). The pair set off in 1936 to tackle "the last problem of the Western Alps" -- the 1,800-meter summit of Switzerland's Eiger North Face, pushed to climb by a German reporter, Henry Arau (Ulrich Tukur), who believes that a success would mean great propaganda for the Nazis and the upcoming Berlin Olympics. Toni's real motivation, however, is Arau's assistant, Luise (Johanna Wokalek, last seen...

Taking your vacation at the beach is Ok for tourists, if you can tolerate the sand and the dampness, but visiting the mountains is for travelers. The mountains can offer the kinds of demands that the ocean rarely does, and we.re not talking about the challenge of meeting fellow singles at the Concord in New York.s Catskills ranges. We.re talking extreme sport: climbing the heights, which can be something else if your most exhausting task has been to ascend the endless stairs on the F line in New York.s 63rd Street station. Nor do we refer to using a walking stick to amble up a sierra that points up from the ground at a thirty-degree angle. Philipp Stölz shows the way in his documentary-style drama based on an actual event that finds pairs of athletes who defy death (or do not as the specific case may...

Cologne, Germany -- Leading German indie producer/distributor Constantin Film has extended its first look deal with Cologne-based operation Little Shark Entertainment for a further two years.

Little Shark was behind period drama "Pope Joan" starring Johanna Wokalek, David Wenham and John Goodman. Based on the Donna W. Cross bestseller on the legend of 9th-century female Pope, the film was one of Constantin's biggest hits of 2009, scoring $25 million at the German boxoffice.

Little Shark principles, director Sonke Wortmann and producer Tom Spiess, are also an established force in non-fiction. They produced Germany's most successful non-fiction film, the soccer documentary "Germany -- a Summer Fairytale," (2006) which grossed some $35 million in its home territory.

Mother and Child

Opens: 2010

Cast: Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington

Director: Rodrigo Garcia

Summary: A tale of a mother and daughter, separated at birth, who struggle with the damage done by the most important person missing in their lives while a young African-Americn woman deals with an unwanted pregnancy and the adoption process.

Analysis: Scoring rave reviews in Toronto, the $7 million latest effort of Rodrigo Garcia ("Nine Lives," "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her") once again shows off his skill at weaving multiple narratives together in clever and unexpected ways. At its heart it's an emotional family drama, but Garcia excels with his female characters which makes the involvement of Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington and especially Annette Benning thrilling.

The few criticisms levelled at the film were toward some pacing and credibility issues in the last act, but otherwise praised it for not...

Mother and Child

Opens: 2010

Cast: Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington

Director: Rodrigo Garcia

Summary: A tale of a mother and daughter, separated at birth, who struggle with the damage done by the most important person missing in their lives while a young African-Americn woman deals with an unwanted pregnancy and the adoption process.

Analysis: Scoring rave reviews in Toronto, the $7 million latest effort of Rodrigo Garcia ("Nine Lives," "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her") once again shows off his skill at weaving multiple narratives together in clever and unexpected ways. At its heart it's an emotional family drama, but Garcia excels with his female characters which makes the involvement of Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington and especially Annette Benning thrilling.

The few criticisms levelled at the film were toward some pacing and credibility issues in the last act, but otherwise praised it for not...

A stray Chabrol, the next Juno and more Toni Servillo brilliance are among this year's hidden gems on the festival circuit. Hunt them down now before they're buried for ever

Home festivaling is one of the few perks of losing mobility through a back injury. What better way to cover 300+ screen events across the UK for Empire Online's Festivals & Seasons page than letting them come to you? Much festival fare falls squarely into the three-star category. But, every now and then, a disc arrives in the post containing a gem that leaves you wondering how the distributors missed it. So here's a personal selection of the festival favourites that have either failed to secure a UK release in 2009 or are not currently on the schedule for next year.

10) Let's Dance (dir. Noémie Lvovsky, France)

Festivals are invariably stuffed with quirky ensemble pieces, with Laís Bodanzky's superbly choreographed The Ballroom...

It’s not much of a qualifier, but writer/director Philipp Stolzl’s The North Face, Nordwand in its native German, could very well be the greatest story about mountain climbing put to film. Full of staggering cinematography, incredible performances, and an epic sense of bravery in the face of tragedy, it is a truly engaging tale of man versus nature that never fails to rise to the heights set forth by its natural antagonist.

The film is based on the true story of Toni Kurz, played by Benno Furmann, and Andreas Hinterstoisser, played by Florian Lukas, two, young German men who always had a knack for climbing things, challenging themselves all along the way. In the Summer of 1936, as Germany was preparing to host the Olympic games, these two men set out to do something none had ever accomplished. In July of that year, they set out to climb...

Cologne, Germany -- Sonke Wortmann's "Pope Joan" crowned Germany's boxoffice this weekend, one of seven German productions or co-productions to make the top ten.

The Constantin Film production, which stars Johanna Wokalek as a 9th century female pontiff, grossed $4.4 million in its first four days, with 370,000 admissions over 461 theaters. The German-Spanish-Italian co-production was shot in English and also stars John Goodman and David Wenham. Summit Entertainment is handling international sales.

German productions crowded out most imports. Simon Verhoeven's romantic comedy "Men In the City," came in at number three, just behind Disney animated family feature "G-Force." A Warner Bros. release, "Men" stars Christian Ulmen, Til Schweiger and Nadja Uhl and has grossed more than $10 million in its first three weeks.

Besides "G-Force," only two other Hollywood titles made the German top ten: "Up," which came in at number five in its fifth week in release and Sony's romcom "The Ugly Truth,...

Foreign Objects travels the world of international cinema each week to look for films worth visiting. So renew your passport, get your shots, and brush up on the local age of legal consent, this week we’re heading to… Germany! This may come as a shock to some of you, but I don't know everything. The range of what I don't know is actually fairly impressive in it's own right and includes (but is not limited to) the solution to the Hodge conjecture, what another word for 'synonym' is, the justification behind pea soup, the location of the Holy Grail, and much, much more. My ignorance is most notable (and most shameful) though when it comes to historical events. I blame the Catholics and their close-minded school system, but many Americans are in the same boat when it comes to being unaware of even recent historical events outside of our borders. For...

Oh, what a riveting mess! This sprawling portrait of the Red Army Faction, which literally terrorized West Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s, is neither an apologetic for the anarchist gang nor a condemnation of it, but rather a fascinating exploration of the shift in the zeitgeist of that era, not only in Europe but, by unspoken extension, across the Western world as well as in the Middle East. Radical journalist Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck: The Good Shepherd) is slowly wooed over to the violent ways of urban bomber Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu: Speed Racer), eventually throwing her lot in with him and his girlfriend/partner-in-crime Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) as they attempt to push back against global imperialism, particularly as represented by Germany’s complicity in the American war in Vietnam, by bombing U.S. army bases, police stations, and other targets of official governmental authority: as...

West Germany’s Baader Meinhof group (also known as the Red Army Faction or Raf) was formed in the late 1960s and named after two of its ringleaders, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhoff. With its logo of a gun set against a red star, the Raf was a terrorist organization made up of young left-wing revolutionaries who railed against a current political establishment with bombings, bank robberies, and murder and is the subject of the ambitious new movie The Baader Meinhoff Complex. Director Uli Eddels’s film is a long but engrossing look at a fascinating chapter of recent German history.

Based on a nonfiction book by Stefan Aust, The Baader Meinhoff Complex takes a look at the origins and heyday of the Raf and the violent acts they carry out, each more bold than the last: the bombing of a newspaper office, murders of prominent judges and prosecutors, the...