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NEW GERMAN FILMS IN LOCARNO, VENICE,

TORONTO & SAN SEBASTIAN

DIRECTORS Karin Jurschick & Marco Kreuzpaintner

PRODUCER Felix von Boehm of Lupa Film

ACTRESS Anne Ratte-Polle

THE SUMMER ISSUE

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CONTENTS GFQ 3-2019

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GFQ 3-2019 CONTENTS

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I N T H I S I S S U EPORTRAITS

PRACTICING POLITICAL DOCUMENTARYA portrait of director Karin Jurschick .............................................. 4

“MY WORKSPACE IS MY HAPPY PLACE”A portrait of director Marco Kreuzpaintner ...................................... 6

REMAINING INDEPENDENT A portrait of production company Lupa Film ................................. 8

A WOMAN OF MANY TALENTSA portrait of actress Anne Ratte-Polle ............................................ 10

NEWS & NOTES ................................................................................ 12

�������� NEW FEATURES

7500Patrick Vollrath .................................................................................. 16

CRESCENDO #MAKEMUSICNOTWARDror Zahavi ...................................................................................... 17

DIE DREI !!!THE THREE !!! Viviane Andereggen ................................................ 18

FISCH FÜR DIE GEISELFISH FOR THE HOSTAGE Steffen Cornelius Tralles ........................ 19

FREIES LANDFREE COUNTRY Christian Alvart ..................................................... 20

DAS FREIWILLIGE JAHRA VOLUNTARY YEARUlrich Köhler, Henner Winckler ...................................................... 21

GIRAFFEAnna Sofie Hartmann ..................................................................... 22

LARAJan-Ole Gerster .............................................................................. 23

MEIN ENDE. DEIN ANFANGRELATIVITY Mariko Minoguchi ........................................................ 24

PELIKANBLUTPELICAN BLOOD Katrin Gebbe ....................................................... 25

REST IN GREECEFlorian Gottschick ........................................................................... 26

TRAUMFABRIKMartin Schreier ................................................................................. 27

VERAWaldemar Oldenburger .................................................................. 28

DAS VORSPIELTHE AUDITION Ina Weisse ............................................................. 29

�������� NEW DOCUMENTARIES

ANOTHER REALITYNoël Dernesch, Olli Waldhauer ...................................................... 30

B.B. UND DIE SCHULE AM FLUSSB.B. AND THE SCHOOL BY THE RIVERDetlev F. Neufert .............................................................................. 30

INTERTANGO – EINE VERBINDUNG FÜRS LEBENINTERTANGO – A CONNECTION FOR LIFEHanne Weyh .................................................................................. 31

MATERA. VERBORGENE HEIMATMATERA. MOTHER OF STONE Alessandro Soetje ............................................................................ 31

�������� NEW SHORTS

BOJE Andreas Cordes, Robert Köhler ............................................. 32

DEINE SCHÖNE GESTALTBEAUTIFUL YOU Bernadette Kolonko .......................................... 32

NACH ZWEI STUNDEN WAREN ZEHN MINUTEN VERGANGENAFTER TWO HOURS, TEN MINUTES HAD PASSEDSteffen Goldkamp ............................................................................. 33

SUMMER HIT Berthold Wahjudi .................................................... 33

SUZANNE – VON KOPF BIS FUSSPORTRAIT OF SUZANNE Izabela Plucinska ................................... 34

�������� UPCOMING FILMS

AUERHAUS Neele Leana Vollmar .................................................... 35

FABIAN Dominik Graf ..................................................................... 35

DAS GLASZIMMER Christian Lerch ............................................... 35

GUNDERMANN REVIER Grit Lemke ............................................... 36

HELLO MY FRIEND Bettina Blümner .............................................. 36

RÄUBERHÄNDE lker Çatak ............................................................ 36

RESISTANCE – WIDERSTAND Jonathan Jakubowicz .................... 37

ROLAND REBERS TODESREVUE Roland Reber ........................... 37

SCHATTENSTUNDE Benjamin Martins .......................................... 37

TRÜMMERMÄDCHEN Oliver Kracht ................................................ 38

DER ÜBERLÄUFER Florian Gallenberger ....................................... 38

UNDINE Christian Petzold .............................................................. 38

UND MORGEN DIE GANZE WELT Julia von Heinz .......................... 39

THE WAY WE WERE Marten Persiel ............................................... 39

Shareholders & Supporters ............................................................ 41

Film Exporters ................................................................................. 42

Imprint .............................................................................................. 43

DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT GFQ 3-2019

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A P O R T R A I T O F D I R E C T O R K A R I N J U R S C H I C K

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PRACTICING POLITICALDOCUMENTARY

GFQ 3-2019 DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT

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“For me, making documentariesmeans immersing myself in anexperience. Of course planningis necessary, but during the

work process I hand over control and openup to what is and whatever I can perceive.Even if that throws my previous opinionsoverboard and leaves me with more ques -tions than answers.”

This is an attitude with which director KarinJurschick also confronts current develop-ments in the genre, which are focusingincreasingly on the formatted. Her mostrecent work conveys this open approach ina practical way. PLAYING GOD portraysUS star lawyer Ken Feinberg, who is com-missioned by the government to determinecompensation for victims of the 9/11 attackor the Deepwater Horizon explosion, forexample, and shows the often apparentlycynical outcome of his work. Here, Jurschickbalances brilliantly between rejection andsympathy, attention for the contradictoryperson himself and insight into his inte -gration into a tight web of legal and eco -nomic guidelines. It is a highly political film,which premiered at Hot Docs in Toronto in2017.

Recently, Jurschick also presented it at theEN COUNTERS Documentary Film Festival inCape Town and reported how surprised shewas that South African audiences were alsoable to get so much from her film. Onereason is that questions of compensationare also very relevant there at the moment.“It was nice that the different sides of myprotagonist were also seen so clearly there,as well. In the USA that was much more

home, which endedwith my mother’ssuicide, was alwaysconnected to the ‘big(hi)story’. I had the feel -ing I was experiencingan invisible war thathad strayed into ourprivate life, strongly in-fluenced by the warsthey had experienced.”

She made this clearin the film using acomplex montage tech-nique and a reflectivelydistanced style, whichalso condenses pri-vate history into ananalytical view ofGerman post-war so-ciety. At the premiere ofthe film at the Inter -national Forum duringthe Berlinale 2001,audiences and criticswere electrified, andmany other festivalsand prizes were to

follow. And suddenly Jurschick had becomea celebrated “filmmaker” due to her unex-pected success.

It presented an opportunity and a challengeat the same time. Jurschick went on to dealwith wars, crises and (above all sexualized)violence later: the vicious circle of prostitu-tion and trafficking in women that inter -national aid organizations had helped totrigger during the Balkan wars (THE PEACE-KEEPERS AND THE WOMEN, 2005), the con-sequences of Chernobyl (THE CLOUD, 2011),or the complex of drones, AI and hi-techwarfare (WAR AND GAMES, 2016). “I amdriven by the desire to find a visual form forsomething that doesn’t produce a clearimage, something that is complex andpainful. In terms of content, my interest hasalways focused on systemic questions,” shesays in respect to the source of her creativeenergy. And obstacles?

On the one hand, “documentary films that donot follow classic dramaturgy involving ahero’s journey but aim instead at recognitionand questioning, are rarely accepted byfestivals today.” Another urgent task forfilmmakers worldwide are the new “toys andtechnologies” that are driving them forwardat a continually increasing pace. For twoyears, Karin Jurschick has also faced a newresponsibility as a professor at the Univer-sity of Television and Film in Munich, whichshe describes as “fulfilling in every sense.”Slowly, however, she is beginning to feel the“desire and strength” to conceive a newproject of her own. Those of us who are notstudents are glad to hear it.

Silvia Hallenslebenn

difficult: there, it’s obviously confusing forsomeone to be a good guy and a bad guysimultaneously.“ Perhaps this was also onereason why an attempt to involve the USbroadcasting station PBS in the pro ductionfailed. But primarily, Jurschick believes, thatwas probably fear of domestic audiences re-jecting the idea of a German telling themanything about America.

Jurschick’s film career also began by ap-proaching a man with a very special charac-ter: the director’s father, with whom she hadbroken off contact after her mother’s earlysuicide. Born in Essen in 1959, she studiedfilm and media studies and then made aname for herself as a journalist and co-founder of the first and largest Germanwomen’s film festival, the Feminale inCologne, especially in the feminist filmscene. But at some point, the past developedinto too big an issue. And at the age of 40,Jurschick returned to her old apartment,where her 91-year-old father was still living.She had brought along many questions – anda camera as a means of approach anddistancing at the same time.

This emotionally intense work with herfather was also good schooling for laterwork with difficult protagonists. It resultedin a film (DANACH HÄTTE ES SCHÖN SEINMÜSSEN) with a sober precision that pro -vides a counterpart to the intra-family self-reflections popular today. This was alsodue to Jurschick’s attention to historicalcontexts: “My father was born into the FirstWorld War,” she says, “my mother intoNational Socialism and the Second WorldWar. For me, what I had experienced at

DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT GFQ 3-2019

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“MY WORKSPACEIS MY HAPPY PLACE”A PORTRAIT OF DIRECTOR MARCO KREUZPAINTNER

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GFQ 3-2019 DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT

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Everyone needs a holiday now andthen, but few have earned it quiteas much in summer 2019 as MarcoKreuzpaintner. “For the first time

in two years, I am getting to think in peace,”the director laughs on the phone fromMallorca – and remembers how stressful butabove all how productive the last 24 monthshave been.

It was not until last autumn, for example, thatthe BEAT series was launched on the AmazonPrime streaming service. Kreuzpaintner notonly had the idea for the thriller set in Berlin’snightlife, he also directed all seven episodeshimself. “Unlike many colleagues, I didn’teven have an idea for a series tucked away ina drawer when I was asked,” the 42-year-oldrecalls. “Simply because I didn’t have enoughbreaks between my projects to put one downonto paper. But to use a literary comparison,there was huge appeal in depicting a longnovel instead of a short story for a change.” Itwas announced this spring that there won’tbe a second season. But the fact that theseries has been awarded the renownedGrimme Prize should still be a source of deepsatisfaction for its creator.

Kreuzpaintner is at least as proud of his latestfeature film, THE COLLINI CASE, whereby –as he points out – pride is not a word withwhich he actually describes the pleasure hegets from his projects. He was able to winover international star Franco Nero for alead ing role in the film adaptation ofFerdinand von Schirach’s bestseller, and alsogave comedy darling Elyas M’Barek a newimage as a public defender. So far, no Germanproduction has attracted more viewers intothe cinemas in Germany in 2019. “The factthat we have proven with this film that even acourt drama referring to an historical casecan still work in the cinema if it is properlyproduced, staged and prominently cast is

what makes me happiest,” he states for therecord. “Perhaps this will give hope to allthose who would otherwise tend to be pessi-mistic about the industry’s future”.

Kreuzpaintner’s view of the German filmindustry and the public’s taste has alwaysdiffered a little from that of many colleagues.The Rosenheim-born filmmaker has neverattended a film academy – traditionally theplace where the first networks form and film-makers integrate themselves into existingtraditions. Instead, he has relied on ‘learningby doing’: no job in film, television and ad -vertising production was too minor, and asassistant to Edgar Reitz he transcribed thelatter’s old HEIMAT episodes. The moneyearned always flowed into his own first shortfilms.

“Back then, I had to generate all my in -frastructure myself,” Kreuzpaintner recalls.“And I was always challenged to motivate my-self without direct comparison – which Iwould have been exposed to at the film aca-demy. However, being without any concretecompetitive relationship, perhaps I was freerand could really concentrate on what I wantedto do without being surrounded by people try-ing to influence or distract me.”

Certainly the fresh wind – one also influencedby American viewing habits – that he broughtto the German cinema landscape at the ageof 20 attracted some attention. His featurefilm debut, BREAKING LOOSE, was nomi -nated for the Max Ophüls Prize, and wasfollowed by the New Faces Award for thevery personally inspired coming-out storySUMMER STORM. Kreuzpaintner’s work hasalmost been received better abroad than inhis home country: SUMMER STORM not onlypremiered at the Toronto International FilmFestival but was even released in cinemas inthe USA and South Korea. His compatriotRoland Emmerich turned out to be a promi-nent fan, who quickly took the young col -league under his wing as a mentor and is stilla close friend today.

Kreuzpaintner, supported by Emmerich asproducer, finally made his Hollywood debut in2007 with TRADE, a human trafficking dramastarring Kevin Kline, which became the firstever film to be premiered at the UnitedNations General Assembly. Only one yearlater, KRABAT celebrated its world premierein Toronto: an elaborate adaptation of OtfriedPreußler’s classic youth novel of the samename, interspersed with many special ef-fects. The fantasy fairy tale attracted morethan 1.8 million viewers to cinemas inGermany.

Since then, Kreuzpaintner has maintained aremarkably swift pace of work almost con-stantly, according to the motto “my workspaceis my happy place”, as he put it once on Insta -gram last year. “When I’m interested in a pro-

ject, I usually think to myself: go for it, whoknows what possibilities there will be in a fewyears’ time,” jokes the director, who occasion -ally stages television films or commercialsand has long dreamed of a biopic aboutRainer Werner Fassbinder. “Besides, the nextfilm is always the most important. Thinkingahead – I think that’s healthy.”

So there can be no question of a long holiday,even in the summer of 2019. Not only arecinema releases of THE COLLINI CASEscheduled in France, Great Britain, Israel,Japan and the Netherlands. In England,where Kreuzpaintner has now settled at leasttemporarily, work on a new series (which hasnot yet been officially announced beforeeditorial deadline) will begin soon. Just like inLondon, he recently found a new agent in theUSA who keeps an eye open for English-language projects. However, this doesn’tmean turning away from home, as he empha-sizes in his closing remarks: “I would preferan international production that is connectedwith Germany in some way. And I’m alreadyworking on a few things.”

Patrick Heidmann

PRODUCER’S PORTRAIT GFQ 3-2019

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REMAINING INDEPENDENT A PORTRAIT OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY LUPA FILM

Working together with inter-national filmmakers hasalways had a high priorityfor Felix von Boehm since

establishing his production company LupaFilm in Berlin in 2012.

“When I started out with producing shortfilms, there was as strong internationalcomponent on films like the Turkish comedyPIG’S MILK by Nico Celik or AT THE END OFTHE WORLD by Dieu Hao Do,” von Boehm ex-plains. “And this has continued seamlesslyin the feature-length projects like InaWeisse’s THE AUDITION or Albert Serra’sLIBERTÉ as well as the series EDEN directedby Dominik Moll.”

The 33-year-old’s international outlook mayalso come from the fact that he went toschool in Paris from the age of 12 andstudied Film Production at the AtelierLudwigsburg Paris after Film & TheaterStudies at the Free University in Berlin.

“I’ve always found it extremely refreshing toget out of Germany and travel to festivalsabroad – whether it is Cannes or the festivalsdedicated to series like SeriesMania or C21– to meet and talk with colleagues fromFrance, England, Greece or Israel becausethe views from abroad about a project are al-ways really different from what you hear athome. This starts with the sense of humorwhere the French are quite different fromthe Germans, and then there are subjectsyou can’t tackle in Germany.”

A case in point is the project MISS HOLO-CAUST SURVIVOR, co-written by DonnaSharpe and Raquel Stern, which receivedscript funding from the German FederalFilm Board (FFA) last autumn. “You can’tproduce the story about a beauty contest ofHolocaust survivors without Israel!,” saysvon Boehm, who is now on the search for anIsraeli partner to come onboard the project.“Similarly, the financing wouldn’t have beenclosed on THE AUDITION by Ina Weisse if we

hadn’t had the French partner – it wouldn’tbe possible to do such a project out ofGermany on itself,” he argues.

“The other common thread running throughour work at Lupa Film is the focus on sociallyrelevant topics,” von Boehm continues.“These can be both in the past like FABIAN,which addresses issues that are just asrelevant for the present day even though thestory is set in 1931.” And then there areprojects which are both international andhave a topical relevance such as KarimAïnouz’s documentary CENTRAL AIRPORTTHF which premiered at the Berlinale’s Pan-orama last year or the six-part EDEN mini-series which was directed by Dominik Mollfrom an original idea by Felix Randau andJano Ben Chaabane, and aired by ARTE thispast May.

“The people we work with also have some-thing in common,” he suggests: “they arehighly original artists, each with their very

Felix

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GFQ 3-2019 PRODUCER’S PORTRAIT

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own individual style and agenda.”

Moreover, Lupa Film’s portfolio is not re-stricted to one particular format: thereare documentaries such as Aïnouz’s CEN-TRAL AIRPORT THF, Ina Weisse’s THE NEWNATIONAL GALLERY and Dominik Graf’sWHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘THE END’? sittingalongside feature films by Joya Thome(QUEEN OF NIENDORF), Ina Weisse (THEAUDITION) and Albert Serra (LIBERTÉ).

“I think that subject matter finds its particu-lar form and this is something you then haveto work on with the director,” von Boehmsays. However, there is no doubt that thedocumentary form has a special place inthe producer’s heart since he has directed anumber of documentary portraits in the past– on the directors Michael Haneke andDominik Graf, the French producer MarinKarmitz, Barrie Kosky, the Intendant ofBerlin’s Komische Oper, and the French con-ceptual artist Christian Boltanski.

“I always try to make films myself every nowand then because it’s something that givesme real pleasure,” he explains. “But, ofcourse, there isn’t much time for this in myproducer’s day-to-day schedule, althoughI am currently working with ConstantinLieb on a film about provenance research,looking at how the Nazis robbed Jewish artcollectors and how their works are nowbeing restituted.”

In its short existence, Lupa Film – the com-pany’s name refers to the she-wolf whosuckled the twin brothers Romulus andRemus in Roman mythology – has startedbuilding up its own “film family” because, asvon Boehm stresses, “I like working on thebasis of mutual trust and am interested inrelationships of a long-term nature.” Thishas seen him initially working with Ina

Weisse on her documentary THE NEWNATIONAL GALLERY before embarking onproducing her second feature film THEAUDITION, starring Nina Hoss, with IdéaleAudience as French co-producer.

His documentary portrait of Dominik Grafwas then followed by the production of Graf’sown portrait of the late film critic MichaelAlthen in WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘THE END’?and the shooting this summer of FABIAN, anadaptation of Erich Kästner’s satire, starringTom Schilling, Saskia Rosendahl and MeretBecker. In addition, Lupa Film is developinga series project with Graf and his long-stand ing screenwriter Günter Schütter.

Moreover, von Boehm is looking to work withKarim Aïnouz on a future fiction feature pro-ject after their successful collaboration onCENTRAL AIRPORT THF, while the companyis also lined up as a partner for French actorMathieu Amalric’s eighth feature film as di-rector, SERRES MOINS FORT.

“A particular characteristic of Lupa Film isthat we take our time with developing thescreenplays until they are fully developed,”von Boehm says. “For example, we spentfour years on developing FABIAN and threeyears on EDEN.” We produce quite a lot giventhe company’s size and the fact that we onlyhave four full-time staff, but we don’t wantto grow any bigger,” he observes.

Looking to the future development of LupaFilm, von Boehm suggests that the companywill focus on a two-track strategy of pro -ducing 1-2 of its own films and serving as aGerman minority co-producer on one otherfilm each year. “We are independent andwould like to remain that way,” he stresses.“Indeed, I think that you can even see theindependent element in such a primetimeseries as EDEN, and we want to use this

position to build a bridge for other indepen-dents to the financing system and other filmdistributors.”

Martin Blaney

ACTRESS PORTRAIT GFQ 3-2019

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A WOMAN OF MANY TALENTS

A PORTRAIT OF ACTRESS ANNE RATTE-POLLE

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It’s one of those hot days in a typicalBerlin summer when Anne Ratte-Polleturns into the Gipsstraße on her bicycle.We have arranged to meet at a café in

Mitte, not far from the Volksbühne on Rosa-Luxem burg-Platz, where the actress waspart of the ensemble for several years andhas been back on stage since April in theplay Der Palast. But the 45-year-old actressis actually just coming from rehearsals forUNDINE, the new feature film by ChristianPetzold, for which she will soon be facing thecameras. To attend these rehearsals, shereturned from Prague, where she is cur-rently shooting the international TV seriesSHADOWPLAY. Anne Ratte-Polle is certainlyin demand, her diary is almost even over-crowded, but she shows no apparent signs ofstress. On the contrary, she calmly ordersherself a latte and approaches the next twohours in a relaxed mood, concentrating fullyon our conversation.

Right now, after a long time, it is possible tosee her again in a leading role in a cinemafilm, and involuntarily one wonders why thisdoesn’t happen more often. At the end ofJune her new feature film I WAS, I AM, I WILLBE premiered at the Filmfest Munich. IlkerÇatak’s second work as a director (afterONCE UPON A TIME IN INDIAN COUNTRY in2017) was awarded two prizes by the jury,and the critics praised the film highly. AnneRatte-Polle plays Marion, an agile, indepen-dent airline pilot, who spontaneously flies onholiday to the Turkish Mediterranean after abreast cancer diagnosis. There she meets ayoung Kurd, whom she ultimately helps toobtain a residence permit in Germanythrough a fictitious marriage. The unusualstory of the relationship is brought alive byquiet nuances, thanks, above all, to AnneRatte-Polle’s differentiated character work,her subtle gestures and electrifying pre-sence carrying the film over long stretches.

What looks so easy on screen is also the re-sult of meticulous preparation. She involvedherself intensively with the character, fromher psychological motivation and processesto her job as a pilot and the clinical pictureof her illness. She says, “I really had to drawon my reserves,” but she was able to empa -thize well with the role. “I have to find a corethat I can relate to myself.”

In June, another feature film, MANY HAPPYRETURNS, was screened in Competition atthe Shanghai International Film Festival.In Carlos A. Morelli’s directorial debut shealso plays a highly contemporary, yet verydifferent woman. Anne is the mother of alittle boy but divorced from the father of herchild. Together, they try to organize theirson’s birthday, which ends in total chaos.Ratte-Polle’s great art lies in being able tobuild this supporting role into a multi-lay -ered character in just a few scenes that willbe remembered for a long time. Furtherproof of her immense talent can be seenin the internationally successful GermanNetflix series DARK.

She talks about her profession wisely andwith reflection, and I sense her enthusiasmand discipline even apart from appearancesin productions. She knew early on that shewanted to become an actress; at school inthe provinces of Lower Saxony she alreadyliked to slip into different roles, and her ta-lent was quickly recognized by the teachers.

The versatile character actress has never letherself be pinned down. But her main focus,if there has ever been one in her widelyramified work as an actress, soon becamethe theater: she acted at some of the mostrenowned theaters in German-speakingcountries, from Cottbus, Düsseldorf andHanover to Bochum, Zurich, Munich andBerlin. This experience also developed herself-understanding as an actress, which sheintegrates actively into the creative process:whether on television, where she regularlyappears in crime series such as TATORT andPOLIZEIRUF 110, or in cinema such as forAndreas Dresen’s WILLENBROCK (2005),Romuald Karmakar’s NIGHTSONGS (2004)or the title roles in Carolina Hellsgård'sWANJA (2015) and Michael Krummenacher’sSIBYLLE (2015), for which she received theaward as Best Actress at the Dark FrameFestival in Santa Fe.

I WAS, I AM, I WILL BE was shot last autumn,and “since then I have been busy withscarcely a break”. Only three weeks in be -tween time, but there is also her band, withwhich she prepared a gig during that period.So how does she keep track of things?“Actually, I always try to concentrate on justone thing, but these are all such great worksthat I say to myself: I’ll manage somehow.I can rest afterwards.” She deliberatelychose to work in such a wide range of media.

“I could certainly have had things easier ifI had only focused on theater or film,” shebelieves, “but for me it was clear from thestart that I didn’t want to restrict myself.I love jumping back and forth between verydifferent projects.” There’s very little thatAnne Ratte-Polle can’t do. And she’s notafraid of trying something new again andagain. She doesn’t worry about overdoing it,she knows her limits too well. The Berliner-by-choice gets her energy precisely fromexploring such varied content. And yogaprovides the balance, no matter where she’sworking.

But when selecting her projects, she has nofixed rules and relies on her experience,quickly sensing whether something is a goodfit. She calls this “having a nose for it”.“I don’t do things by the book. It’s crucial thatthe approach is right, and that those involvedhave the same language and imagination tocreate a shared world.”

In the end there is one small ‘limit’ to herversatility. She doesn’t have any ambitions todirect a film herself yet. “Writing alone takesan incredible amount of time. I don’t havethe patience,” she says laughing. She prefersto explore further opportunities for heracting talent, in the cinema and elsewhere.It will be exciting to see how she gets on.

Thomas Abeltshauser

GFQ 3-2019 ACTRESS PORTRAIT

NEWS & NOTES GFQ 3-2019

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1NEWS & NOTES

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Marcel Maïga© augenschein Filmproduktion

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1NRW IN LOCARNO WITH 7500,

BAGHDAD IN MY SHADOW &

A VOLUNTARY YEAR

7500, Patrick Vollrath’s feature film debut,will screen on the Piazza Grande at the 72ndLocarno Film Festival (7-17 August). JosephGordon-Levitt and Aylin Tezel star in theFilmstiftung-backed thriller which was shotalmost completely in NRW. The German co-producer is Cologne-based augenscheinFilmproduktion. 7500 is set exclusively in anairplane’s cockpit and shows the horrors ofmodern terrorism in an unprecedented man-ner. Vollrath, who received the StudentOscar® among several awards for his shortEVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY, wrote thescreenplay together with Senad Halilbasic .

The NRW production A VOLUNTARY YEARby the directors Ulrich Köhler and HennerWinckler will be running in this year’s Con-corso Internazionale. Cologne-based SutorKolonko produced the drama as a commis-sion from WDR.

The festival will also be showing the Filmstif-tung-backed production BAGHDAD IN MYSHADOW by Samir, which was produced byCologne-based Coin Film.

2NEW FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVE

FOR EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA

Since the beginning of May, German Films ispleased to have a new colleague, MarcelMaïga, on board as our new foreign re -presentative for Eastern Europe and Russia.Marcel Maïga (born in Berlin in 1968) knowsthe markets in these regions inside-out:he has been working as a programmer atthe Film Festival Cottbus since 1996, wherehe was responsible for such sidebars as"Russkiy Den", "Special Belarus", "SpotlightGeorgia" and "Moldavian Discoveries". Maïgahas also been a program coordinator at DOKLeipzig since 2011 and has been advising theSchlingel International Children's and YouthFilm Festival since 2008. Asked what heconsiders the challenges for the region overthe next few years, Maïga responded: “In thefuture, it will be important to maintain acultural exchange by making German filmsaccessible to a wide audience in EasternEurope and stimulating a cultural discourse.German cinema has a good chance of findingan interested audience and securing its ownniche in a region with such a high level ofcultural education – as has already beenthe case with French and Italian films, forexample. An increasing number of distri -butors are also interested in films fromWestern Europe, and German films are oftenbeing screened at film festivals. But the tele -vision market also offers opportunities forthe distribution of German films.”

3GERMAN FILMS ABROAD

IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2019

The first half of 2019 saw 296 German filmsand German-international co-productionsrack up 45 million euros at the internationalbox office outside of Germany with 6.2 millionadmissions in 63 countries. Among the topten films were eight majority German pro-ductions with 22 million euros box office and3.1 million admissions, making up about halfof the box office totals for all German andinter national co-productions together.

The most internationally successful majority-produced German films from January toJune 2019 were:

THE AFTERMATH (rank 1): 8.4 million eurosin 29 countries

NEVER LOOK AWAY (rank 3): 3.3 millioneuros in 16 countries

HEIDI (rank 4): 2.7 million euros in China

HEILSTÄTTEN (rank 5): 2.3 million euros in14 territories

HIGH LIFE (rank 6): 1.8 million euros in 15territories

MARNIES WORLD (rank 7): 1.3 million eurosin 18 territories

BALLON (rank 9): 1.1 million euros in 4 ter-ritories

MANOU – THE SWIFT (rank 10): 1 millioneuros in 18 countries

GFQ 3-2019 NEWS & NOTES

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The German Film Festival in Australia (© Palace Cinemas/Theresa Harrison)Andreas Dresen (© Alberto Nevado)

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FFA CEO Peter Dinges with participants (© FFA)

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42ND GERMAN-PORTUGUESE CO-

PRODUCTION MEETING IN MUNICH

Producers from Portugal and Germany metagain in June during the Munich Film Festi-val. Topics of the event, which was organizedby the German Federal Film Board (FFA) andInstituto do Cinema e do Audio visual, in -cluded the presentation of national and re-gional film funding – including the new CashRebate Incentive in Portugal –, informationon production con ditions and possibilitiesfor joint cooperation, as well as previous suc-cesses of German-Portuguese co-produc -tions. Following the first co-productionmeeting in Lisbon in 2017, the participantsonce again had an opportunity to network,deepen their knowledge of the markets in thepartner countries and pitch new film projectsfor an international audience.

“The better we get to know each other, themore fruitful our future cooperation will be,”stressed FFA CEO Peter Dinges in his wel -coming speech. “Together with Luis ChabyVaz and his team, we would like to contributeto further increasing the opportunities andpossibilities of film industry relations be -tween Portugal and Germany. “

Following an amendment to the bilateral filmco-production agreement from 2015, it hasbecome easier for producers from Germanyand Portugal to initiate joint cinema projects.The minimum participation in joint co-pro-ductions is flexible and now amounts to only10 percent in special cases (previously:70:30). Examples of successful German-Por-tuguese co-productions in recent years in-clude the drama LOS PERROS by MarcelaSaid, which was co-produced on the Germanside with augenschein Filmproduktion andscreened in the Semaine de la Critique inCannes in 2017, and TABU by Miguel Gomes,which was co-produced by Komplizen Filmand screened in Competition at the Berlinale2012.

521ST FESTIVAL OF GERMAN FILMS

IN MADRID

The latest in German cinema was celebratedat the Festival de Cine Alemán in Madridfrom 4 to 9 June. The opening in the Palaciode la Prensa, a cinema built in 1929 andsteep ed in tradition, was a great success withmore than 800 guests. Following the screen -ing of GUNDERMANN, director AndreasDresen and lead actor Alexander Scheerspoke about the film in depth with theSpanish audience and gave a concert playingguitars and a ukulele. They did the Gunder-mann songs proud and included Dresen’sfavorite song, "... and the grass keeps grow -ing" (Gras by Gerhard Gundermann). ButDresen and Scheer weren’t the only ones tocome to Madrid for the event: BEAUTY &DECAY director Annekatrin Hendel and DoPMartin Farkas, director Yasemin Samdereli(THE NIGHT OF ALL NIGHTS), director ErikSchmitt and actress Marleen Lohse (both forCLEO) and Fariba Buchheim with her shortdocumentary SHAPES (from the NEXTGENERATION SHORT TIGER 2019 program ofshort films) also attended the festival.

CLEO was the audience’s darling and re -ceived the festival’s Audience Award, whichwas sponsored by the Spanish VOD platformFilmin. GUNDERMANN was also well re -ceived by Madrid’s cinema-goers, the secondperformance was a sell-out. Director DennisGansel and actor Henning Baum sent videogreetings for JIM BUTTON AND LUKE THEENGINE DRIVER. The performance of thechildren’s classic was packed with over 700cheering and applauding young cinemafans. The hall was also almost full for thescreening of ALL ABOUT ME which is beingreleased locally by the Spanish distributorWanda Visión on August 23rd.

6GREAT SUCCESS AT THE GERMAN

FILM FESTIVAL IN AUSTRALIA

Audiences across Australia proved theirenthusiasm and love for German culture andfilmmaking at the German Film Festival,which was organized by Palace Cinemas incooperation with German Films. The festivaltook place from 21 May to 12 June 2019 inseven cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra,Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Byron Bay –one more city than in 2018.

With 29 Australian premieres and a diverseprogram, a broad range of box office hits,feel-good comedies and award-winningdramas straight from the Berlinale, thefestival was able to attract 31,070 viewers.That means twice as many viewers came toattend the festival in its second edition.

Due to popular demand, additional screen -ings were added across Australia. TheseGerman Film Festival hits were BALLOON,MACK THE KNIFE – BRECHT’S THREE-PENNY FILM, HOW ABOUT ADOLF? and thedocumentary BAUHAUS SPIRIT.

Presented by the Goethe-Institut, thefestival’s cultural partner, the program in -cluded the sidebar “Kino for Kids”, a speciallycurated section dedicated to young audi-ences and families. Schools were invitedto attend the festival and to engage withGerman culture and language.

5

NEWS & NOTES GFQ 3-2019

14

RULES OF PLAY (© Merlin Flügel)Participants of the German Films Previews 2019 (© Elena Hill)

719TH GERMAN FILMS PREVIEWS

IN DÜSSELDORF

Düsseldorf, the capital of North Rhine-West-phalia, was the location for the 19th editionof the German Films Previews. This yearsome 85 international buyers from 33 diffe-rent countries were invited to the city on theRhine for an intensive 3-day exchange withthe German sales companies ARRI MediaInter national, Beta Cinema, Films Boutique,Global Screen, m-appeal, Media Luna,Picture Tree International, Pluto Film, SolaMedia and The Match Factory. The buyerswere given the opportunity to screen 14 newGerman productions in the cinema as well asattend the newly established Works in Pro-gress section where 11 upcoming projectswhere presented by the world sales com -panies. German Films’ managing directorSimone Baumann commented on the newfeature: “The Works in Progress was a greatsuccess, as the buyers today want to be in-formed about projects at an earlier date.We will certainly expand this section in thefuture.”

The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW gene-rously supported this year’s German FilmsPreviews and acted as the co-host for anexclusive evening event in Cologne. Duringthis event, the international guests weregiven the possibility to meet representativesof the local film industry and learn moreabout the media region NRW.

8GERMAN SHORTS SUCCESSFUL AT

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS

In recent months, German short films gaineda lot of awards recognition at many inter -national festivals, here’s a selection: At theAnnual Ann Arbor Film Festival back inMarch, Ilaria di Carlo took home the BarbaraAronofsky Latham Award for an EmergingExperimental Video Artist for her film THEDIVINE WAY. 32-RBIT by Victor OrozcoRamirez was awarded the Chris FrayneAward for Best Animated Film also at AnnArbor, where Yana Ugrekhelidze’s ARMEDLULLABY won an ex-aequo Jury Award.

THE DIVINE WAY was also awarded at theFestival international de films de femmesCréteil, where it won the award Meilleurcourt métrage étranger and it was alsosuccessful at the Tiburon Inter national FilmFestival. Adrian Figuero re ceived the Prix duCourt-Métrage award for his short documen-tary ANDERSWO in Créteil. DEAD SEA DYINGby Katharina Rabl & Rebecca Zehr wonthe Prix Tënk at the Festival Visions du Réelin Nyon, and BAT by Julia Ocker wasawarded the IndieJunior Audience Award atIndieLisboa.

PEOPLE OF THE WASTE LAND (DE/SY) byHeba Khaled won the Danzante Award at theHuesca Film Festival. From the Busan Inter-national Short Film Festival, F FOR FREAKSby Sabine Ehrl took home the AudienceAward in the International Competition.At the Palm Springs Shortfest, VincenzNeuhaus’ NOSIS received the Award forBest Student Animation; SUMMER HIT byBerthold Wahjudi won the Award for BestLive-Action Short over 15 Minutes.

At the Annecy International Animation FilmFestival, German short films were also verysuccessful: RULES OF PLAY by Merlin Flügelwon the Jury Award in the graduation filmssection, A YEAR ALONG THE GEO -STATIONARY ORBIT by Felix Dierich won theVimeo Staff Pick Award. Izabela Plucinska’sPORTRAIT OF SUZANNE (DE/FR/PL) won theGolden Dragon for Best Film at the KrakowFilm Festival. And at the Animafest in Zagreb,FLOOD by Malte Stein received the ZlatkoGrgic Award for Best First Film productionapart from educational institutions.

7 8

new German productions are presented

on the following 24 pages. Please visit

our website www.german-films.de

for more information on German features,

documentaries and shorts.

GFQ 3-2019 NEW FILMS

15

GIR

AFFE

(© Ir

is J

anke

/Kom

pliz

en F

ilm)

16

Acommercial flight is suddenlyhijacked by terrorists, leaving ayoung pilot to fight and negotiatewith the ruthless attackers. What

happens solely inside the claustrophobiccockpit could spell disaster for those trappedoutside, and beyond…

PATRICK VOLLRATH, born in 1985, grew upin a small town in Germany and started hiscareer working as an editor. In 2008, he beganhis studies in Directing at the Film AcademyVienna where he graduated with honors. Histeacher and mentor was Academy Award®

and two-time Palme d’Or-winning MichaelHaneke. Patrick has been awarded severalnational and international prizes for his work.His graduation film EVERYTHING WILL BEOKAY premiered in the Semaine de la Critiquein Cannes and in 2016 it was nominated foran Academy Award® for Best Live ActionShort Film at the 88th Academy Awards®.The film has since been awarded more than30 prestigious prizes worldwide. 7500 is hisfeature film debut, starring two-time GoldenGlobe®-nominated actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

GENRE Drama, Thriller YEAR OF PRODUC-TION 2019 DIRECTOR Patrick VollrathSCREENPLAY Patrick Vollrath, Senad Halil-bašić CINEMATOGRAPHY Sebastian ThalerCAST Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Omid Memar,Aylin Tezel, Carlo Kitzlinger, Murathan Muslu,Paul Wollin PRODUCERS Jonas Katzenstein,Maximilian Leo CO-PRODUCERS FranzNovotny, Alexander Glehr PRODUCTION COM-PANY augenschein Filmproduktion, in co-production with Novotny & Novotny Film -produktion, SWR, BR, ARTE RUNTIME 92 minLANGUAGE German, English, Turkish, ArabicFESTIVALS Locarno 2019 (Piazza Grande)

SALES FilmNation Entertainmentinfo@filmnation.com www.filmnation.com

Endeavor Contentinfo@indeavorcontent.comwww.endeavorco.com

© augenschein Filmproduktion

7500

NEW FEATURES GFQ 3-2019

17

In the context of peace negotiationsbe tween diplomats from Israel andPalestine in South Tyrol, a concert of ayouth orchestra of young Palestinians and

Israelis shall take place under massive secu-rity precautions. The young people do notwant to give up the peace efforts, which havealready worked in their microcosm.

By making music together they are finding, byand by, common ground – a first path tobridg ing hatred, intolerance and terror.

Does music have the strength, to buildbridges between the young people of differentreligions and hated nationalities despite themany challenges and obstacles?

DROR ZAHAVI was born in 1959 in Tel Aviv. In1982 he moved to the GDR and studied at theFilm and Television Academy “Konrad Wolf”(now Film University Babelsberg KONRADWOLF). His graduation film ALEXANDERPENN – I WANT TO BE IN EVERYTHING wasnominated for the Student Oscar® in 1988.After graduation, he worked as a film criticin Israel and returned to Berlin in 1991. Inaddition to numerous television movies, histheatrical features include the award-winningEVERYTHING FOR MY FATHER (2008) andCRESCENDO #MAKEMUSICNOTWAR (2019).

GENRE Drama, Music YEAR OF PRODUCTION2019 DIRECTOR Dror Zahavi SCREENPLAYJohannes Rotter, Dror Zahavi CINEMA -TOGRAPHY Gero Steffen CAST PeterSimonischek, Daniel Donskoy, SabrinaAmali, Bibiana Beglau, Mehdi Meskar, EyanPinkovich PRODUCER Alice Brauner CO-PRO-DUCER Peter Trenkwalder PRODUCTIONCOMPANY CCC-Filmkunst, in co-productionwith Filmvergnuegen RUNTIME 105 minLANGUAGE English, German, Arabic, HebrewFESTIVAL Filmfest Munich 2019

SALES Global Screen – a brand of Telepool info@globalscreen.dewww.globalscreen.de

© CCC Filmkunst/Oliver Oppitz Photography

CRESCENDO #MAKEMUSICNOTWAR

GFQ 3-2019 NEW FEATURES

18

First love, parental stress and a real,tricky criminal case: the three girlsalways stick together and tackleevery challenge with courage,

clever ness and crime-solving smarts. They’rebrave, daring and the best of BFFs. Threeclever, young female-detectives fearless inthe face of danger with no case they can'tcrack. But boys, though, sometimes they re-main a mystery...

VIVIANE ANDEREGGEN was born in 1985 andstudied Post-Industrial Design, Media Studiesand Ethnology in Basel and Film Directing inHamburg. Also active as a freelance photog-rapher and a video artist at numeroustheaters, her award-winning films include:GROSS STATT KLEIN (TV, 2012), FÜR LOTTE(short, 2013), HABIB UND DER HUND (short,2013), SCHULD UM SCHULD (short, 2013),SIMON SAGT AUF WIEDERSEHEN ZU SEINERVORHAUT (TV, 2014), HATTINGER UND DERNEBEL (2014), KEIN HERZ FÜR INDER (2015),RUFMORD (TV, 2016), and DIE DREI !!! (2019).

GENRE Family Entertainment YEAR OF PRO-DUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Viviane Ander -eggen SCREENPLAY Doris Laske, SinaFlammang CINEMATOGRAPHY PhilipPeschlow CAST Lilli Lacher, Alexandra Petz-schmann, Paula Renzler, Jürgen Vogel,Thomas Heinze PRODUCER Christian BeckerCO-PRODUCER Martin Moszkowicz PRODUC-TION COMPANY Rat Pack Filmproduktion, inco-production with Constantin Film Produk-tion RUNTIME 94 min LANGUAGE German

SALES ARRI Media Internationalworldsales@arri.dewww.arrimedia.de/international

© Constantin Film Verleih/Westside Filmproduktion/Bernd Spauke

DIE DREI !!!

THE THREE !!!

NEW FEATURES GFQ 3-2019

19

It was meant to be a small break-in andPiet was only meant to be the driver. “Wejust crack the safe to pay off Dad’s debtsand off we go. Pretty easy!,” Piet’s brother

Herm said. But as Herm takes a hostage anddirects Piet into a vacant house on the out -skirts, Piet enters the hardest challenge ofhis life: He finds himself being a kidnapperand trapped in between his hardliner brother,his own humanity and the person behind thehostage: Konstantin.

STEFFEN CORNELIUS TRALLES studied atthe European Film College and the HamburgMedia School. After working as a freelanceunit and production manager and assistantdirector, he began writing, producing anddirecting his own films. In addition to nu -merous image films and music videos, aselection of his films includes: KILLING ADEAD MAN (short, 2009), TOMORROW ISANOTHER DAY (short, 2009), MUTTS (short,2010), and his feature debut FISH FOR THEHOSTAGE (2019).

GENRE Comedy, Crime, Drama YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Steffen Corne-lius Tralles SCREENPLAY Vasko Scholz,Steffen Cornelius Tralles CINEMATOGRAPHYEike Zuleeg CAST Enno Hesse, Florian Hacke,Mats Kampen PRODUCER Steffen CorneliusTralles PRODUCTION COMPANY good sea-sons film RUNTIME 87 min LAN GUAGE Ger -man

SALES good seasons filmsteffen@tralles.tvwww.fischfuerdiegeisel.com

© good seasons film

FISCH FÜR DIE GEISEL

FISH FOR THE HOSTAGE

GFQ 3-2019 NEW FEATURES

20

Two cops investigate the disappear -ance of two teen sisters in a remotetown, where it seems like everyonehas something to hide – including

the bodies…

In the Fall of 1992, police inspectors Patrickand Markus are sent off to a remote corner ofthe country to examine the disappearance oftwo teen sisters, 15 and 16. Did the two prettygirls just run away from their hick town, or didsomething more sinister happen to them?In this remote part of the country, the effectsof the East German regime still muddy thewaters. No one saw anything, the inspectorsare greeted by iron silence. A photo negativeshowing the two girls naked and tied up in ahunting lodge seems to indicate a sex crimehas been committed. The terrible suspicionis tragically confirmed when the girls’ deadbodies are found, raped and brutally mur -dered. While the relatives of other youngwomen who have been missing for yearscome forward, the iron silence toward thecops turns into open hostility. Who has what

to hide and why? When the detectives start tounravel the mystery, they soon wind up indanger themselves...

CHRISTIAN ALVART was born in 1974. Henever attended film school, yet – self-taught– he still managed to make the leap to be -coming a director. After teaching himselfthe craft in various assistant positions, hefound ed his production company SyrrealEntertainment in 1997 in Berlin. In 1999, hemade his feature film debut with CURIOSITY& THE CAT, which was nominated for the MaxOphüls Prize. After his second feature filmANTI BODIES (2005), he moved to Hollywood,where he was able to prove his passion forgenre films on a grand scale. For Paramount,he directed horror-thriller FALL 39 (2007),follow ed by the sci-fi thriller PANDORUM(2008). Back in Germany, Alvart worked as adirector for the TATORT series and was hiredas the director for the Hamburg episodes ofthe series featuring Til Schweiger. His thrillerBANKLADY was released theatrically in 2013.In 2015, he directed the buddy-comedy HALF

BROTHERS followed by the TATORT featurefilm TSCHILLER - OFF DUTY in 2016. He alsoserves as showrunner for the Netflix seriesDOGS OF BERLIN. His production companyhas acquired the worldwide rights for CAP-TAIN FUTURE and is working on a live-actionversion of the series.

GENRE Thriller YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Christian Alvart SCREENPLAYChristian Alvart, Sigi Kamml CINEMATOG -RAPHY Christian Alvart CAST Trystan Pütter,Felix Kramer, Nora von Waldstätten PRO -DUCERS Sigi Kamml, Christian Alvart, TimmOberwelland CO-PRODUCER Jonathan Sau-bach PRODUCTION COMPANY Syrreal Enter-tainment, in co-production with Telepool,BASIS BERLIN Filmproduktion, ZDF RUN-TIME 127 min LANGUAGE German

SALES Global Screen – a brand of Telepool info@globalscreen.dewww.globalscreen.de

© Syrreal Entertainment

FREIES LAND

FREE COUNTRY

NEW FEATURES GFQ 3-2019

21

Jette is on her way to the airportto start a voluntary social year inCentral America. Her father Urswants her to lead a free, self-deter-

mined life and not to get stuck in the WestGerman province like he did. But Jette is tornbetween her high school sweetheart Marioand her father’s expectations. She can nolonger avoid the question of what she wantsherself. A film about the impossibility offorcing happiness.

ULRICH KÖHLER was born in 1969. Hestudied Fine Arts in France, Philosophy inHamburg, and Visual Communication at theUniversity of Fine Arts in Hamburg. Hisfeature films BUNGALOW and WINDOWS ONMONDAY premiered in the Berlinale Forumand have screened at many festivals world-wide, winning numerous awards. SLEEPINGSICKNESS premiered in Competition at theBerlinale in 2011 and won the Silver Bear forBest Directing. IN MY ROOM (2018) premieredin Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. A VOLUNTARYYEAR (2019, in co-direction with HennerWinckler) is his latest feature.

HENNER WINCKLER was born in 1969. Hestudied at the Academy of Art & Design inOffenbach, followed by studies in Visual Com-munication and Film at the University of FineArts in Hamburg. Also active in scriptwritingand behind the camera, his films as a directorinclude: SCHOOL TRIP (2002), LUCY (2006),and A VOLUNTARY YEAR (2019, in co-directionwith Ulrich Köhler).

GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTORS Ulrich Köhler, Henner WincklerSCREENPLAY Ulrich Köhler, Henner WincklerCINEMATOGRAPHY Patrick Orth CASTMaj-Britt Klenke, Sebastian Rudolph,Thomas Schubert PRODUCER Ingmar TrostCO-PRODUCER Katrin Schlösser PRODUC-TION COMPANY Sutor Kolonko for WDR RUN-TIME 86 min LANGUAGE German FESTIVALSLocarno 2019 (Concorso internazionale)

SALES Sutor Kolonkoinfo@sutorkolonko.dewww.sutorkolonko.de

© Patrick Orth/WDR

DAS FREIWILLIGE JAHR

A VOLUNTARY YEAR

GFQ 3-2019 NEW FEATURES

22

Atunnel will be built to connectDenmark and Germany, the pre-sent sets in motion towards thefuture, change hangs in the air.

Dara, an ethnologist, arrives to document thehouses tagged for demolition. The youngPole, Lucek, and his colleagues prepare thefuture construction site. Käthe works on theferry, steadily moving people, their stories,and goods to and fro. Birte and Leif leavetheir house that has been passed down forgenerations. Agnes’ life resounds in herdiaries, collectibles and the walls of herhome, which will soon be demolished. ADanish summer: long days turn into bluenights. People meet and part ways again.

ANNA SOFIE HARTMANN was born inDenmark and studied at the European FilmCollege in Aarhus before moving to Berlinand studying at the German Film and Tele -vision Academy Berlin (DFFB). Her featuredebut LIMBO premiered in San Sebastiánin 2014 and screened at numerous otherfestivals including Rotterdam, SXSW andGothenburg. The film was nominated for theEuropean Film Academy’s Discovery Award2015. Her other films include: MORNINGLADIES (short, 2005), STILLEBEN (short,2007), STUDIES FOR YOUR MOBILE EXPEC-TATIONS (short, 2007), KLEINE GROSSESCHWESTER (2009), HAUSE IM SEE (short,2011), MARGUERITE, MON CORPS (short,2013), and her latest feature GIRAFFE (2019).

GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Anna Sofie Hartmann SCREEN-PLAY Anna Sofie Hartmann CINEMATOG -RAPHY Jenny Lou Ziegel CAST Lisa LovenKongsli, Jakub Gierszał, Maren Eggert PRO-DUCERS Jonas Dornbach, Maren Ade, JanineJackowski CO-PRODUCERS Ditte Milsted,Jacob Jarek, Caroline Schlüter BingestamPRODUCTION COMPANY Komplizen Film, inco-production with Profile Pictures, RBB/Leuchtstoff, in cooperation with DanmarksRadio RUNTIME 87 min LANGUAGE Danish,English, Polish, German FESTIVALS Locarno2019 (Fuori Concorso)

SALES Komplizen Filminfo@komplizenfilm.dewww.komplizenfilm.de

© Iris Janke/Komplizen Film

GIRAFFE

NEW FEATURES GFQ 3-2019

23

It’s Lara’s 60th birthday, and she has everyreason to celebrate: this evening, her sonViktor will be giving the most importantpiano concert of his career. Lara was,

after all, the one who’d mapped out anddriven his musical career. Yet Viktor has beenunreachable for weeks and nothing indicatesthat Lara will be welcome at his debut perfor-mance. Without further ado, she buys up allthe remaining tickets and hands them out toeveryone she meets. The more Lara strives tomake the evening successful, however, themore events get out of control.

JAN-OLE GERSTER is a Berlin-based writerand director. After working for German filmproduction companies for several years hebegan studying Screenwriting and Directingat the German Film and Television AcademyBerlin. His debut film OH BOY, whichpre miered at Karlovy Vary in 2012, becamea domestic box-office success and was re-leased in cinemas in over 20 countries andwon numerous national and internationalawards, including the Audience and JuryAwards at Festival Premiers Plans d’Angersand the Tallinn International Film Festival,six German Film Awards and the EuropeanFilm Award for Best Debut Film. He has justcompleted his second feature film LARA andis currently working on a screen adaptationof Christian Kracht’s best-selling novelImperium.

GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Jan-Ole Gerster CINEMATOG -RAPHY Frank Griebe CAST Corinna Harfouch,Tom Schilling, Rainer Bock, Volkmar KleinertPRODUCER Marcos Kantis CO-PRODUCERJan-Ole Gerster PRODUCTION COMPANYSchiwago Film, in co-production withSTUDIO CANAL RUNTIME 98 min LANGUAGEGerman FESTIVALS Karlovy Vary 2019 (InCompetition), Filmfest Munich 2019 AWARDSEcumenical Jury Award, Best Actress(Corinna Harfouch) & Special Jury PrizeKarlovy Vary 2019, Fipresci Prize & GermanCinema New Talent Award Munich 2019

SALES Beta Cinema beta@betacinema.comwww.betacinema.com

© Frank Griebe/Schiwago Film

LARA

GFQ 3-2019 NEW FEATURES

24

Have you ever had a déjà vu experi-ence? Have you ever met a personyou think you already know?

For Nora and Aron, it’s love at first sight whenthey meet in the subway one rainy day. A com-plete chance meeting, Nora says. Everythingis fated, says Aron. But then, the young couplewinds up in the middle of a bank robbery.Aron is shot by one of the masked robbersand dies in Nora’s arms. Time stands still forNora. She tries to numb her pain, spending anight with a stranger – Natan. He offers Norasupport and stability. She has the odd feelingshe already knows him, without realizingwhat they really share…

RELATIVITY is a story about first love, a crimeand the fateful power of destiny.

MARIKO MINOGUCHI was born in Munich inin 1988. After graduation, she completed in-ternships and assistantships in the areas ofproduction, directing, cinematography, andproduction design on more than ten film andtelevision productions. In 2007, she directedthe short film MAYBE, which won the GermanYouth Film Award and followed this in 2010with the short films LIEBEN ALLEIN andGESCHWISTERHERZEN. In 2011, she foundedthe production company TRIMAPHILM (nowcalled TRIMAFILM) and served as a producerof the short films WIE DU KÜSST and IREMEMBER. Her short film KARLSTOD (2012)was screened at more than 30 nationaland international festivals and receivedvarious awards. In collaboration with directorTim Fehlbaum (HELL), Minoguchi wrote thescreen play for the international co-pro -duction HAVEN: ABOVE SKY, which is set tobe completed in 2019. RELATIVITY is herfeature-length debut as a director.

GENRE Drama, Melodrama YEAR OF PRO-DUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Mariko MinoguchiSCREENPLAY Mariko Minoguchi CINEMA -TOG RAPHY Julian Krubasik CAST SaskiaRosendahl, Edin Hasanovic, Julius FeldmeierPRODUCERS Trini Götze, David ArmatiLechner CO-PRODUCER Thomas WöbkePRODUCTION COMPANY TRIMAFILM, in co-production with BerghausWöbke Filmpro -duktion RUNTIME 110 min LANGUAGEGerman FESTIVALS Filmfest Munich 2019

SALES Global Screen – a brand of Telepool info@globalscreen.dewww.globalscreen.de

© Telepool 2019

MEIN ENDE. DEIN ANFANGRELATIVITY

NEW FEATURES GFQ 3-2019

25

Wiebke (45) lives together withher adoptive daughter Nico-lina (9) on an idyllic horsefarm. After many years of

waiting, she now has the chance to adoptanother girl, Raya (5), to provide Nicolina withthe longed-for sister. The first weeks areharmonious, and the siblings get along great.But shortly thereafter, Wiebke realizes thatRaya, initially shy and charming, is becomingincreasingly aggressive and poses a dangerto herself and others. The mother will soonhave to cross borders and take extremedecisions to protect her cubs.

KATRIN GEBBE was born in 1983. She studiedat the Academy of Visual Arts and Design (TheNetherlands) and the School of the Museumof Fine Arts in Boston (USA). In 2006 shecompleted her studies with a Bachelor ofDesign in Visual Communications and begana Masters program in Directing at theHamburg Media School, graduating in 2008.Active as a freelance director for fiction filmsand commercials, her award-winning filmsinclude: the shorts RAIN (2006), KOI (2006),INVITATION (2008), DAFFODILS (2008), DOVESOF PEACE (doc, 2008), SORES & SIRIN (2008),KICK IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL (commercial,2010), BILDER MIT KATZE (music video, 2011),her feature debut NOTHING BAD CANHAPPEN (2013) which premiered in Cannes’Un Certain Regard, and her latest featurePELICAN BLOOD (2019).

GENRE Drama, Thriller YEAR OF PRODUC-TION 2019 DIRECTOR Katrin Gebbe SCREEN-PLAY Katrin Gebbe CINEMATOGRAPHYMoritz Schultheiss CAST Nina Hoss,Murathan Muslu, Katerina Lipovska PRO -DUCER Verena Gräfe-Höft PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Junafilm, in co-production withMiramar Film RUNTIME 100 min LANGUAGEGerman FESTIVALS Venice 2019 (Orizzonti:Opening Film), Toronto 2019 (Special Presen-tations)

SALES Films Boutique contact@filmsboutique.comwww.filmsboutique.com

© Moritz Schultheiss

PELIKANBLUT

PELICAN BLOOD

GFQ 3-2019 NEW FEATURES

26

David, an author in his mid-30s,travels to the Greek island ofTinos with his wife Nina to theseclusion of a rented beach house

in the off-season. The ferry from Athenscarries people every 10 days only, and whileDavid is looking for inspiration for his newnovel, Nina is searching for a new spark intheir life. On the first night, David hearsnoises from the living room and prepares tofight a burglar. But to his surprise he finds in-stead Margarita, the daughter of the houseowner, who knew nothing of the foreignrenters. One night on the couch for Margaritasoon turns into many as the freshly formedtrio grows together. But when Margaritadisappears, the young couple will have toface the unexpected consequences of theirrelations…

FLORIAN GOTTSCHICK was born in 1981 andstudied at the Film University BabelsbergKONRAD WOLF. Also active as a screenwriter,script consultant and lecturer, his award-winning films include: TWINS (2010), ARTISTS(2012), BRIGHT NIGHT (2014), FUCKINGBERLIN (2016), and REST IN GREECE (2019).

GENRE Drama, Experimental, Love StoryYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORFlorian Gottschick SCREENPLAY FlorianGottschick, Carsten Happe CINEMATOG -RAPHY Christian Trieloff CAST CarolineErikson, Margarita Siotou, Jacob Matschenz,Mikhail Tabakakis PRODUCERS MargaritaSiotou, Caroline Erikson CO-PRODUCERSAngelo D’Agostino, Steffen Baermann PRO-DUCTION COMPANIES Penny Lane Film, VollePulle Filmproduktion RUNTIME 76 minLANGUAGE German FESTIVALS FilmfestMunich 2019

SALES Penny Lane Filmangelo@pennylane-film.atwww.pennylane-film.at

Volle Pulle Filmproduktionlaura.fischer@vollepulle.berlinwww.vollepulleberlin.com

© Manuel Ruge

REST IN GREECE

NEW FEATURES GFQ 3-2019

27

Summer 1961: Emil is working as anextra at the DEFA studios in Babels-berg, East Germany when he fallshead over heels in love with a

French dancer named Milou. The two younglovebirds are obviously meant for each other,but the building of the Berlin Wall soon tearsthem apart. It looks like they will never seeeach other again, that is, until Emil has acrazy idea: He’s going to produce a movie andbring Milou back to Babelsberg!

MARTIN SCHREIER began making shortfilms at the age of 10. After attending theGerman Film School in Berlin, he went on tostudy feature film direction at the Filmakade-mie Baden-Württemberg. In 2009, he re -ceived a scholarship to attend the HollywoodMaster Class at UCLA. In 2010, his studentfilm THE NIGHT FATHER CHRISTMAS DIEDwas nominated for a Student Oscar® by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Schreier’s first feature, OUR TIME IS NOW,was co-produced by Warner Bros. and madeits way to cinemas in 2016. TRAUMFABRIK ishis second feature film.

GENRE Drama, Romantic Comedy YEAROF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR MartinSchreier SCREENPLAY Arend RemmersCINEMATOGRAPHY Martin Schlecht CASTDennis Mojen, Emilia Schüle, Heiner Lauter-bach, Ken Duken, Nikolai Kinski, MichaelGwisdek PRODUCERS Christoph Fisser,Tom Zickler, Charlie Woebcken, HenningMolfenter PRODUCTION COMPANY Traum -fabrik Babels berg, in co-production withStudio Babelsberg, TOBIS Filmproduktion,PANTALEON Films, ARRI Media, herbX film,SamFilm RUNTIME 120 min LAN GUAGEGerman

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

© Julia Terjung/TOBIS Film

TRAUMFABRIK

GFQ 3-2019 NEW FEATURES

28

In a big city, Vera (28) is doing a lastservice for the lonely people in need ofcare. On the edge of legality, she ac -companies these people to suicide. She

always sings an old lullaby to the dying as acalming song. Vera is depressed, lives aloneand numbs her nightmares with drugs. Hernext assignment takes her from the city toGerda, an 80-year-old woman who suffersfrom dementia. She is bedridden and livesalone in a house close to the forest. Her son,Marvin (50), who is financially on the brink ofan abyss, wants to end Gerda’s suffering andasks Vera for help. Vera agrees, but some-thing seems to be wrong.

The next day Vera arrives at Gerda’s house tofulfill her mission. Marvin leaves the house asagreed. Alone with Gerda, she prepares thedeadly substance. When Vera sings the oldlullaby before administering the poison,Gerda recognizes the song. It turns out thatGerda is terrified of something and has a con-nection to Vera’s mother.

Gerda gives Vera a riddle about a valuable boxhidden in the house. Only when Vera managesto solve the puzzle will she learn everythingabout the connection to Gerda. Vera decidesnot to carry out Marvin’s mission and sets offto search the house. She finds the first clueto the hiding place and discovers that Marvinintentionally restrains Gerda. When Vera triesto get Gerda out of the house, Marvin returnsand confronts Vera with their agreement. Shetries to persuade Marvin to wait a few days,but Marvin threatens her with the police andjail. The situation escalates.

WALDEMAR OLDENBURGER is active as adirector, writer, cinematographer and produ-cer. His award-winning films include: MA-LINA (short, 2015), KAI (short, 2017), LEN(2016), and his feature debut VERA (2019).

GENRE Thriller, Drama YEAR OF PRODUC-TION 2019 DIRECTOR Waldemar OldenburgerSCREENPLAY Waldemar Oldenburger CIN -EMATOGRAPHY Chris Hirsch häuser CASTAmanda da Gloria, Andreas Wimberger,Astrid Polak, Nadja Sabersky, IngridSchölderle PRODUCER Waldemar Olden -burger PRODUCTION COMPANY Finist FilmRUNTIME 92 min LANGUAGE German

SALES FinistFilminfo@finistfilm.com www.finistfilm.com

© Waldemar Oldenburger

VERA

NEW FEATURES GFQ 3-2019

29

Anna teaches violin at a musicschool, her husband is an instru-ment-maker. They have a 10-year-old son, Jonas. At the entrance

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

INA WEISSE was born in Berlin in 1968. Shetrained to become an actress at the Otto-Falckenberg-Schule in Munich. Engagementsfollowed at the Münchner Kammerspiele andat the Nationaltheater Mannheim. As anactress, she has appeared in numerousmovies and TV films, including SNOWLAND,NOTHING BUT GHOSTS, and NEVER LOOKAWAY. For THE END OF A NIGHT and EINGROSSER AUFBRUCH she received theGerman Television Award for Best Actressand the Adolf Grimme Prize in 2012 and 2016.After studying Philosophy in Heidelberg, shestudied Directing at the University of Ham-burg from 2000 to 2002. Her graduation filmALLES ANDERS was awarded with the FirstSteps Award 2002. Her feature film THEARCHITECT, starring Josef Bierbichler,was shown at the Berlinale in 2009 and wonthe Best Screenplay Award at the Max OphülsFilm Festival. After her documentary THENEUE NATIONALGALERIE, the German-French co-production THE AUDITION,featuring Nina Hoss is her latest feature.

GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Ina Weisse SCREENPLAY InaWeisse, Daphne Charizani CINEMATOG -RAPHY Judith Kaufmann CAST Nina Hoss,Simon Abkarian, Jens Albinus, Ilja Monti,Serafin Mishiev, Sophie Rois, Thomas ThiemePRODUCER Felix von Boehm CO-PRO -DUCERS Pierre-Olivier Bardet, Jan Krüger,Jörg Trentmann PRODUCTION COMPANYLupa Film, in co-production with ZDF, ARTE,Idéale Audience, Port au Prince Film & KulturProduktion LANGUAGE German, French FES-TIVALS San Sebastian 2019 (In Competition)

SALES Les Films du Losangea.lesort@filmsdulosange.frwww.filmsdulosange.fr

© Judith Kaufmann/Lupa Film

DAS VORSPIEL

THE AUDITION

GFQ 3-2019 NEW FEATURES

Agit, Ahmad, Parham, Kianush andSinan – five men with differentbackgrounds and different lives.They do, however, have one thing

in common: they are, or were, nestled in thestructures of gangs and large families thatoperate under the radar in the grey zones orcompletely outside the law. In social discus-sions, their everyday realities are quicklywaved away with catchphrases like “parallelsocieties“ and “criminal clans.“ ANOTHERREALITY shows not only the external struc -tures of this world that runs according to itsown rules, but goes deeper into the coher -encies and everyday realities of the protago -nists. In the more than three years of filming,the directors became astoundingly close withthe five men. They willingly and honestlyshared their experiences, desires, and fears,as they confronted the contradictions of their

lifestyles and how they deal with the conse-quences of their actions.

NOËL DERNESCH’s debut film JOURNEY TOJAH (doc, 2013) won the DEFA Prize at theFilmfestival Max Ophüls Preis in Saarbrückenand the Audience Award at the Zurich FilmFestival. OLLI WALDHAUER’s debut filmISTANBUL UNITED (2014, in co-direction with

Farid Islam) screened at festivals around theworld and was nominated for the GermanHuman Rights Film Award.

GENRE Society, Coming-of-Age Story, MusicYEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORSNoël Dernesch, Olli Waldhauer CINEMA-TOGRAPHY Friede Clausz PRODUCERS TanjaGeorgieva-Waldhauer, Dario Schoch, Ben

Föhr, Pacco Nitsche PRODUCTION COMPANYElemag Pictures, in co-production with Co-gnito Films, It’s Us Media, 27 Kilometer En-tertainment RUNTIME 97 min LANGUAGEGerman FESTIVALS Locarno 2019

SALES MAGNETFILM georg.gruber@magnetfilm.dewww.magnetfilm.de

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© Friede Clausz/Elemag Pictures

NEW DOCUMENTARIES GFQ 3-2019

Abrave boy from the Naga tribe offormer headhunters, B.B. (’BraveBoy’) Goura Moe lives in the in -accessible part of Burma near the

Himalayas. At the age of seven he starts withalcohol, drugs and stealing. At the age of 13he is at the end. His parents, poor day labo-rers, give him up. A Christian priest finds aschool for under privileged children for him,located in the temple town of Bagan, on theIrrayawady River, the queen of all rivers. HereB.B. meets children from other ethnic groupswho often still fight each other. They do notcare. They want to be a new generation in apeaceful country. And B.B.? He finds a newtribe. Even though B.B.’s story is set in today’sMyanmar, it happens every day all over theworld. With the global tribe of pubescents.With children who are like B.B. who love theirfreedom and innocence.

DETLEV F. NEUFERT began his career mak -ing documentaries for German television andmade short films about pop stars, includingBob Dylan, Frank Zappa and Patti Smith. Hisfeature TAKE AWAY THE NIGHT (1982)screened in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. Alsoactive as an author and gallerist, B.B. ANDTHE SCHOOL BY THE RIVER is the latest of

his many socially relevant films.

GENRE Coming-of-Age Story, Children &Youth YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTORDetlev F. Neufert CINEMATOGRAPHY AJ AwwJay PRODUCER Detlev F. Neufert CO-PRO -DUCER Thet Aung Naing PRODUCTION COM-PANY German Myanmar Media Association,

in co-production with GMMA RUNTIME 108min LANGUAGE Burmese

SALES German Myanmar Media Associationdneufert@gmail.comwww.detlev-neufert.de

© Detlev F. Neufert

B.B. AND THE SCHOOL BY THE RIVER

INTERTANGO sees Tango as an inter -cultural phenomenon and a chance toovercome cultural barriers. The film givesintimate insight to the “emotional adven-

ture trip” which the protagonists experiencewith Tango. Naoko who conquered in her mo-dest Japanese way a mainly male-dominatedposition in Buenos Aires to become a TangoDJ. Iftikhar from Pakistan who got “infected”by Tango and started to teach Tango inKarachi. Mila from Russia whose passion forTango interferes with her family plans. AndRodrigo from Argentina who experimentswith Tango. It’s that first touch, the breath -taking thrill of what is going to happen, thebeginning of a sensual dialog without words– it’s Tango. If you are ever fortunate enoughto experience it, you will be hooked for life.No matter which culture you come from!

HANNE WEYH studied Theater and Dance andworked for many years as choreographer forcinema and TV. She found ed the productioncompany Sacadafilm in 2009. Her films in-clude BEWEGT BE WEGEN, ANNA TANZT, the art event SAMMA PARI (film and art perfor-mance), a contri bution to JUST CALL ME GOD

with John Malkovich, and INTERTANGO – ACONNECTION FOR LIFE.

GENRE Dance, Culture, Society YEAR OFPRODUCTION 2019 DIRECTOR Hanne WeyhCINEMATOGRAPHY Clemens Bittner PRO-DUCER Hanne Weyh PRODUCTION COMPANY

Sacadafilm RUNTIME 62 min LANGUAGEEnglish, Spanish

SALES Sacadafilmh.weyh@freenet.de

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© Marcel Zehetner

GFQ 3-2019 NEW DOCUMENTARIES

INTERTANGO – A CONNECTION FOR LIFE

Nine thousand years ago manchose to make his first homehere. Matera. Perhaps the motherof all cities. Country of rocks,

caves and human traces. Axis between Eastand West. The European Capital of Culture2019 has experienced all that makes Europedifferent, from art to epoch-making changes.Yet, perhaps more than in any other city, herehistory was made by ordinary men who left atrace of themselves in an extraordinary place.

ALESSANDRO SOETJE is a Milan-based di-rector and cinematographer. His work on theinternational campaign Aware Migrants wasawarded the Best Social Campaign prize atthe 30th International Grand Prix for Adverti-sing Strategies. His work includes the docu-mentaries AFRICA AS SEEN BY AFRICANS

(TV series), the award-winning AFRICA’SCHILDREN, A JOURNEY TO SCHOOL, OURSTONE, OLD WILD LORENZ, TOMORROWAND THE BUTTERFLY, and MATERA. MOTHEROF STONE.

GENRE Culture YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Alessandro Soetje CINEMATOG -RAPHY Alessandro Soetje PRODUCERAlessandro Melazzini PRODUCTION COM-PANY Alpenway Media for SWR, ARTE RUN-TIME 52 min LANGUAGE Italian

SALES Alpenway Media info@alpenway.comwww.alpenway.com

© Alpenway Media

MATERA. MOTHER OF STONE

NEW SHORTS GFQ 3-2019

32

© Lichtspielfarm

Boje, who is living on the coastwith his father Holke, has a lot ofquestions in his mind that are notthat easy to answer. How do I know

I love somebody? Where was I before I wasborn? How do I know I’m not dreaming?Nothing would make Holke happier thananswering his son’s complex questions, buthe is literally missing the right words. None-theless he doesn’t want to leave Boje alonewith his questions and eventually turns to thesea for help…

ANDREAS CORDES, born in Hamburg andraised in Berlin, has been working as ascreenwriter for several years. He learned histrade at the Master School Drehbuch.

ROBERT KÖHLER, born in Hamburg, hasbeen working as an actor since his youth andis now regularly teaming up with AndreasCordes on writing projects. Together they co-founded the production company Lichtspiel-farm. BOJE is their directing debut.

GENRE Children & Youth, Drama, FamilyEntertain ment YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTORS Andreas Cordes, Robert KöhlerSCREENPLAY Andreas Cordes, Robert KöhlerCINEMATOGRAPHY Lukas Jung, PatrickWegener CAST Phileas Heyblom, RobertKöhler, Iris Berben PRODUCER Moritz JahnCO-PRO DUCERS Felix Jahn, Andreas Cordes,Robert Köhler PRODUCTION COMPANYLichtspielfarm RUNTIME 10 min LANGUAGEGerman AWARDS Drehbuchpreis Schleswig-Holstein 2018

FESTIVAL AGENTRenate Zylla rzylla@arcor.de

BEAUTIFUL YOU

© Carolina Steinbrecher/Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

Within the rigid structures ofher family life, Christinestruggles to express herself.While she is trying in vain to

get her mute daughter back out from herimaginary world, Christine has an unexpectedencounter: Upon meeting Leonore, she be -comes conscious of how the patterns of herfemale upbringing are what prevent her fromexpressing herself and her desires.

BERNADETTE KOLONKO studied Photog -raphy at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzigand at the Zurich University of the Arts,follow ed by studies in Film at the Film Uni-versity Babels berg KONRAD WOLF. Also activeas a caster, artistic researcher and theorylecturer, her films as a director include:the shorts SIBELLA (2014), THE BOMB-LAYING GIRL (2016), BLIND SPOTS (2017),and BEAUTIFUL YOU (2019).

GENRE Drama YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Bernadette Kolonko SCREENPLAYBernadette Kolonko CINEMATOGRAPHYCarolina Steinbrecher CAST Lucy Wirth,Birgit Unterweger, Emma Satzger, DanielWagner, Ursula Maria Burkhart PRODUCERBritta Strampe PRODUCTION COMPANYFilmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLFRUNTIME 19 min LANGUAGE German

SALESFilmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLFdistribution@filmuniversitaet.dewww.filmuniversitaet.de

GFQ 3-2019 NEW SHORTS

AFTER TWO HOURS, TEN MINUTES HAD PASSED

© Steffen Goldkamp

Time as punishment - of juvenile in-mates and bodies that becomeheavy in prescribed spaces.

STEFFEN GOLDKAMP was born in 1988 andstudied Filmmaking at the Academy of FineArts in Hamburg. He co-founded the film col-lective "Spengemann Eichberg GoldkampHans". His works explore the specific realitiesof particular spaces and include the films:WALLENHORST (2014), L’ÉTÉ ESPÉRÉ (2016),WESTERN UNION (2018), and AFTER TWOHOURS, TEN MINUTES HAD PASSED (2019).

GENRE Society YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Steffen Goldkamp SCREENPLAYSteffen Goldkamp CINEMATOGRAPHY TomOtte, Paul Spengemann, Karsten KrausePRODUCER Steffen Goldkamp RUNTIME 19min 30 sec LANGUAGE German FESTIVALSVenice 2019 (Orrizonti)

SALESSteffen Goldkampsteffen.goldkamp@gmail.comwww.spengemanneichberggoldkamphans.de

33

© Gute Zeit Film

Laia from Spain and Emil from Ice-land are Erasmus students inMunich. After having sex a couple oftimes, Emil professes his love to

Laia – but she panics and runs away. Now thetwo have to figure out whether they are morethan just a summer fling.

BERTHOLD WAHJUDI was born in 1993 inHamburg. He studied Arts & Sciences at theUniversity College London and University ofCalifornia before taking up studies at theUniversity of Television and Film Munich in2016. His films include: the shorts SUM-MER’S END (2018), SIDE A / SIDE B (2018),PLAN B (2018), and SUMMER HIT (2019).

GENRE Comedy YEAR OF PRODUCTION 2019DIRECTOR Berthold Wahjudi SCREENPLAYBerthold Wahjudi CINEMATOGRAPHY TobiasBlickle CAST Martina Roura, Atli Benedikt,Katrin Filzen PRODUCERS Melissa Byrne,Philipp Link PRODUCTION COMPANY GuteZeit Film RUNTIME 19 min LANGUAGE Eng-lish, Spanish, German, Icelandic FESTIVALSFilmfestival Max Ophüls Preis Saarbrücken2019, Palm Springs Short Fest 2019, SHORTSTrinationales FF Oberrhein 2019, Sehsüchte2019, filmreif! 2019, Molodist Kyiv 2019,Nordic Youth FF Tromsø 2019, FiSH Rostock2019 AWARDS Best Live-Action Short over 15Minutes Palm Springs 2019, Best Screenplay& Special Prize for Europe and the Futurefilmreif! 2019, Audience Award FiSH Rostock2019

SALESGute Zeit Filmkontakt@gutezeit-film.dewww.gutezeit-film.de

NEW SHORTS GFQ 3-2019

34

PORTRAIT OF SUZANNE

© Izabela Plucinska

In a foreign city, an obese man tormentedby loneliness sees his left foot turn into awoman: he rec ognized Suzanne, his lostlove.

After SEXY LAUNDRY, Izabela Plucinska’snew film is an adaptation of the eponymousnovel by Roland Topor (1978).

IZABELA PLUCINSKA was born in 1974. Shestudied at the National Film School in Łódźand at the Film University BabelsbergKONRAD WOLF. In 2006, she founded theproduction company ClayTraces in Berlin. Aselection of her films includes: the shortsCASTLING (1998), BACKYARD (1999), TWIN(2000), ON THE OTHER SIDE (2002), JAMSESSION (2005), which screened in the ShortCompetition at the Berlinale in 2005 andreceived the Silver Bear for Best Short Film,BREAKFAST (2006), MARATHON (2008),7 MORE MINUTES (2008), ESTERHAZY (2009),JOSETTE AND HER DADDY (2010), AFTER-NOON (2012), DARLING (2013), SEXY

LAUNDRY (2015), and PORTRAIT OF SU-ZANNE (2019).

GENRE Animation YEAR OF PRODUCTION2019 DIRECTOR Izabela Plucinska SCREEN-PLAY Izabela Plucinska CINEMATOGRAPHYIzabela Plucinska PRODUCERS Robert Kern,Izabela Plucinska, Christine Haupt CO-PRO-DUCERS Jean-Laurent Csinidis, PaulinaRatajczak PRODUCTION COMPANY ClayTraces, in co-production with FILMS DEFORCE MAJEURE, Foundation Las SztukiRUNTIME 14 min LANGUAGE French FESTI-VALS Krakow 2019, Annecy 2019, Ottawa Int.Animation Festival 2019 AWARDS GoldenDragon Krakow 2019

SALESClayTraces claytraces@googlemail.comwww.claytraces.com

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35

GFQ 3-2019 UPCOMING FILMS

AUERHAUS

Director Neele Vollmar’s adaptation ofBov Bjerg’s 2015 best-seller featuresthe shooting stars Damian Hardung,

Max von der Groeben, Luna Wedler, andDevrim Lingnau as four friends who have pro-mised themselves that their lives shouldn’tbecome boring. That’s why they decide to doeverything differently from what usuallyhappens in the sticks: they all move into theAuerhaus and set up a flat share under thedisapproving eyes of the villagers. They wantto celebrate the moment, break all the rules– and, above all, save their pal Frieder fromhimself and doubts about the purpose of life.But how long can the walls of the Auerhausprotect the magic of this community from theoutside world?

GENRE Coming-of-Age Story, TragicomedyCATEGORY Feature DIRECTOR Neele LeanaVollmar SCREENPLAY Neele Leana Vollmar,Lars Hubrich CAST Damian Hardung, Max vonder Groeben, Luna Wendler, Devrim Lingnau,Philine Stappenbeck, Sven Schelker PRO -DUCERS Dan Maag, Kristina Löbbert PRO-DUCTION COMPANY Pantaleon Films, inco-production with Warner Bros. Film Pro-ductions Germany, Brainpool PicturesLANGUAGE German

CONTACT Pantaleon Filmssabrina@pantaleonfilms.comwww.pantaleonfilms.com

FABIAN

This summer sees director DominikGraf travelling to locations in Berlinand Görlitz for the production of his

new feature film, FABIAN, which has beenadapted by Constantin Lieb from ErichKästner’s eponymous satirical novel from1931. Set in the dying days of the WeimarRepublic as the global economic crisis domi-nated at the end of 1920s, the film centers onthe exploits of the 32-year-old advertisingcopy writer Dr. Jakob Fabian (played by TomSchilling) in a Berlin teetering on a political,economic and moral abyss.

FABIAN marks the latest collaboration be -tween Lupa Film and Graf after producerFelix von Boehm himself made a film portrait

of the director and co-produced his 2015 doc -umentary WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘THE END’?about the late film critic Michael Althen.

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIRECTORDominik Graf SCREENPLAY Constantin Lieb,Dominik Graf CAST Tom Schilling, AlbrechtSchuch, Saskia Rosendahl, Meret BeckerPRODUCER Felix von Boehm PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Lupa Film, in co-production withZDF LANGUAGE German

CONTACT Lupa Filminfo@lupa-film.comwww.lupa-film.com

DAS GLASZIMMER

1945, shortly before the end of the war:Anna and her 11-year-old son Felix fleebombed out Munich for the safety of the

countryside. Here the local Nazi official, Feik,rules with an iron fist. While Anna strugglesto play the convinced National Socialist, Felixis determined to fit in with the village childrenand becomes seduced increasingly by the re-gime's propaganda.

When Anna learns of her husband Bernd’s“Hero’s Death” she and Felix are devastated.While she mourns and blames the Nazis,Felix starts to feel what it means to be the sonof a fallen hero. He is accepted, respected.

One day Felix and his friends discover a de-serter hiding nearby. They agree: this must be

reported at once. But what Felix does notknow, the man is Bernd, his father!

GENRE Children & Youth, Drama, HistoryCATEGORY Feature DIRECTOR ChristianLerch SCREENPLAY Christian Lerch, JosefEinwanger CAST Lisa Wagner, Hans Löw, LuisVorbach, Xari Wimmbauer, Barbara Romaner,Philipp Hochmaier, Heinz-Josef Braun,Johann Schuler PRODUCER Robert MarciniakPRODUCTION COMPANY Lieblingsfilm, in co-production with ZDF LANGUAGE German

CONTACT Lieblingsfilm office@lieblingsfilm.bizwww.lieblingsfilm.biz

© 2019 Tom Trambow/Pantaleon Films

© Felix von Boehm/Lupa Film

© Jürgen Olcyk/Lieblingsfilm

UPCOMING FILMS GFQ 3-2019

36

GUNDERMANN REVIER

In her first feature-length documentary asa director, author and curator Grit Lemketurns her attention to the life of the cult

rock poet and coal excavator GerhardGundermann who was initially called “the BobDylan of the opencast mine” before becomingthe “voice of the East Germans”. The film bio-graphy is told against the background of aregion where global issues of our time arefocused as if in a concave mirror. They per-meate the artist’s oeuvre: home and devas -tation, the end of industry and work, utopiaand individual responsibility. Observationsand conversations, images of a post-mininglandscape, and a first-person narrator fromthe coal region enter into a dialogue withGundermann through his songs, texts andlargely unknown archive footage.

GENRE Biopic, History, Music CATEGORYDocumentary DIRECTOR Grit Lemke PRODU-CER Gregor Streiber PRODUCTION COMPANYinselfilm produktion LANGUAGE German

CONTACT inselfilm produktiongregor@inselfilm.infowww.inselfilm.info

HELLO MY FRIEND

The tropical island Cuba is the mainsetting for Bettina Blümner’s fourthfeature film HELLO MY FRIEND after

her previous films POOL OF PRINCESSES,BROKEN GLASS PARK and PARCOURSD’AMOUR. The road movie follows threefriends Katharina, Judith and Benjamin asthey travel to Cuba to search for Judith’sbrother Vanja, who has disap peared on theisland during a research semester studyingthe legendary manatee. While Katharinaseems to be more interested in picking uplocal men for sexual adventures, a tender lovestory develops between Benjamin and Judith.But then she attracts the amorous attentionsof the salsa dance teacher Ignacio with un -foreseen reper cussions...

GENRE Drama, Love Story, Road MovieCAT EGORY Feature DIRECTOR BettinaBlümner SCREENPLAY Bettina Blümner,Daniel Nocke CAST Leonard Scheicher,Victoria Schulz, Maya Unger PRODUCERSJamila Wenske, Melanie Blocksdorf PRO -DUCTION COMPANY Achtung Panda! Media,in co-production with Marinka FilmesLANGUAGE German, Spanish, English

SALES Pluto Film Distribution Network info@plutofilm.dewww.plutofilm.de

Friendship, embarking on life andsearch ing for one’s roots are key is-sues in Student Oscar®-winner Ilker

Çatak's feature film which is based on Finn-Ole Heinrich’s eponymous debut novel.

Janik has parents who always do everythingright, while Samuel comes from a brokenhome. Janik’s parents may have practicallyadopted Samuel, but he still shields his alco-holic mother from the outside world. Samuelwants order, Janik wants chaos. Then, in athoughtless moment, Janik does somethinginexcusable and the close bond between thefriends is put in jeopardy. As they set off ontheir long-planned trip to Istanbul, the boysare looking to save their friendship, enjoytheir freedom and try out a new life.

GENRE Coming-of-Age Story, Drama, Lit -erature CATEGORY Feature DIRECTOR IlkerÇatak SCREENPLAY Gabriele Simon, FinnOle Heinrich CAST Emil von Schönfels,Mekyas Mulugeta, Katharina Behrens, NicoleMarischka, Godehard Giese, Luissa HansenPRODUCERS Gabriele Simon, Martin HeislerPRODUCTION COMPANY Flare FilmLANGUAGE German

CONTACT Flare Film simon@flare-film.comwww.flare-film.com

© Clara Cosmos

© Achtung Panda! Media

© Dominik Hatt

RÄUBERHÄNDE

37

GFQ 3-2019 UPCOMING FILMS

RESISTANCE – WIDERSTAND

Jesse Eisenberg stars as the legendarymime Marcel Marceau in a story in -spired by true events set during the

Second World War. As France succumbs tothe Nazi Occupation, Marcel and his familylive in fear of the Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie,who is on a personal mission to crush thefledgling Resistance. With the war closing in,Marcel puts aside his dreams of the spotlightfor a life in the shadows. With a talent for for-gery and a quirky sense of humor, Marcelplays a vital role in many dangerous missions,transporting children through the Alps to thesafety of Switzerland. From the brother hefought alongside to the children he saved,Marcel’s spirit and determination touched thelives of thousands.

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIREC-TOR/SCREENPLAY Jonathan JakubowiczCAST Jesse Eisenberg, Ed Harris, MatthiasSchweighöfer, Clémence Poésy, EdgarRamirez, Félix Moati, Bella Ramsey, GézaRöhrig, Karl Markovics PRODUCERS ClaudineJakubowicz, Dan Maag, Thorsten Schu -macher, Carlos Garcia de Paredes, PatrickZorer, Stephanie Schettler-Köhler, MatthiasSchweighöfer, Marco Beckmann, JonathanJakubowicz PRODUCTION COMPANIESPantaleon Films, Epicentral Studios, RocketScience, Vertical Media, Neptune Features,Resistance Films US, Bliss Media LANGUAGEEnglish

SALES Rocket Science

ROLAND REBERS TODESREVUE

SCHATTENSTUNDE

Filmmaker Benjamin Martins spenttwo years studying the life of theChristian writer Jochen Klepper. Using

Klepper’s extensive diary entries, Martinsprepared a film that casts light on a darkchapter in German history. Beginning withthe last encounter between Klepper and SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann, thefilm focuses on Klepper’s last hours spent to-gether with his Jewish wife Johanna andstepdaughter Renate. On December 10th1942, Eichmann rejected their applications toemigrate. The same night, the Kleppers tooktheir own lives. The family’s last conver -sations are sensitively interwoven withKlepper’s various diary entries. Many of thedialogues are based in part on Klepper’swritings and still remain relevant today.

GENRE Drama, History CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTOR Benjamin Martins SCREENPLAYBenjamin Martins CAST Christoph M. Kaiser,Beate Krist, Sarah Palarczyk, Boris Becker,Klaus Rodewald PRODUCERS FlorianaMaiello, Benjamin Martins PRODUCTIONCOMPANY Herbsthund Filme LANGUAGEGerman

CONTACT Herbsthund Filmeinfo@herbsthundfilme.dewww.herbsthundfilme.de

© 2019 Frederic Batier/Pantaleon Films

© wtp international

© Nicole Boehm

Ablack comedy about the fear ofageing, the joy of life and the hunt forlikes, followers and the most clicks,

ROLAND REBERS TODESREVUE features afemale dancer who can’t escape ageing what -ever she tries; an old man in the hospital whojust wants peace and quiet at the end of hislife but doesn’t get it; a performance artistwho faces the comments of her audience withfull consequences; an author searching fortruth and the person with the mask who des -perately wants to become famous. In thisinter active live show, the Cabaret of Death,where the audience choses the tasks, gameswithout limits for candidates who endureevery humiliation and danger, it is not deaththat has to be feared, but rather a life unlived.

GENRE Satire CATEGORY Feature DIRECTORRoland Reber SCREENPLAY Roland Reber,Antje Nikola Mönning, Mira Gittner CINEMA-TOGRAPHY Mira Gittner CAST Marina AnnaEich, Antje Nikola Mönning, Eisi Gulp,Waltraut Borchmann, Christian Buse, Wolf-gang Seidenberg, Ricci Hohlt, Mira GittnerPRODUCERS Patricia Koch, Marina AnnaEich, Antje Nikola Mönning PRODUCTIONCOMPANY wtp international LANGUAGEGerman

CONTACT wtp international marinaeich@wtpfilm.comwww.wtpfilm.com

ts@rocket-science.net· rocket-science.net

UPCOMING FILMS GFQ 3-2019

38

TRÜMMERMÄDCHEN

Hunger, rubble, soldiers returningfrom war: young Charlotte is preg-nant, but her beloved Ludwig doesn’t

want her or his child. In order to win him overand avoid the impending disgrace, she signsup for the “Fräuleinkurs” by the actress GloriaDeven who had been an aspiring star underthe Nazis, but is now banned from working.But Gloria isn’t interested in reviving the co-quetry that had become unnecessary duringthe war. Instead, she awakens in her studentsa longing for something that has been deniedthem for too long: freedom.

Writer-director Oliver Kracht won the presti-gious Thomas Strittmatter Prize during thisyear’s Berlinale for his screenplay that ad-

dresses equality between men and women inthe Germany of 1946.

GENRE Drama, Melodrama, HistoryCATEGORY Feature DIRECTOR Oliver KrachtSCREENPLAY Oliver Kracht CAST ValeryTscheplanowa, Laura Balzer, LenaUrzendowsky, Anna-Gesa Lappe, Lara Feith,Till Wonka PRODUCER Simon BuchnerPRODUCTION COMPANY simonsays.picturesLANGUAGE German

CONTACT simonsays.pictures sb@simonsayspictures.comwww.simonsayspictures.com

DER ÜBERLÄUFER

Directed by Academy Award®-winnerFlorian Gallenberger from SiegfriedLenz’s international bestseller, DER

ÜBERLÄUFER is set in the summer of 1944.Walter Proska is about to return to theEastern Front when his train is blown up bypartisans. Together with a scattered bunch ofGerman soldiers, cut off from the front, heawaits certain death while the commands ofhis superior officer be come more and moresenseless and in human. Proska’s encounterwith the young Polish partisan Wanda andhis friendship with his comrade Kürschnerincreasingly make him doubt his oath ofallegiance. As the Red Army draws closer,Proska becomes a prisoner of war and cansave himself only by defecting to the enemy.

GENRE Drama, History, Literature, Love StoryCATEGORY TV Movie DIRECTOR FlorianGallen berger SCREENPLAY Bernd Lange,Florian Gallenberger CAST Jannis Nie -wöhner, Malgorzata Mikolajczak, SebastianUrzendowsky, Rainer Bock, Florian Lukas,Katharina Schüttler, Ulrich Tukur, BjarneMädel, Leonie Benesch, Adam Venhaus,Alexander Beyer, Janusz Cichocki, MathiasHermann, Shenja Lacher PRODUCERS StefanRaiser, Felix Zackor PRODUCTION COMPANYDreamtool Entertainment LANGUAGE Ger-man

SALES Beta Film beta@betafilm.comwww.betafilm.com

Undine, a young woman, historian andtour leader in Berlin, lives in a small,impersonal flat and has a typical big-

city life. And happens to be cursed. As normalas her life seems, when her boyfriend leavesher the curse says she must kill him and re-turn to the water from which she came. ButUndine fights her fate: She does not wantto kill, she does not want to leave. At themoment of the betrayal Christoph appears,and she falls in love with him. He is an indus -trial diver and shows her his underwaterworld – which she knows already. They arehappy together. He is impressed by her edu-cation, she by his shrewdness. And he sensesshe is running away from something. Now,because he feels he is being betrayed, Undinehas to make a new decision.

GENRE Drama CATEGORY Feature DIRECTORChristian Petzold SCREENPLAY ChristianPetzold CAST Paula Beer, Franz Rogowski,Jacob Matschenz, Maryam Zaree PRODU-CERS Florian Koerner von Gustorf, MichaelWeber PRODUCTION COMPANY SchrammFilm Koerner & Weber, in co-production withLes Films du Losange, ZDF, ARTE, ARTEFrance Cinéma LANGUAGE German

SALES The Match Factory info@matchfactory.dewww.the-match-factory.com

© SWR/simonsays.pictures/Philip Henze

© Beta Film/Krzysztof Wiktor

© ZDF/Marco Krüger

UNDINE

39

GFQ 3-2019 UPCOMING FILMS

UND MORGEN DIE GANZE WELT

20-year-old law student Luisa hasjust joined a subdivision of theAntifa movement when she and

her friends Alfa and Lenor learn of a plannedattack by a local neo-Nazi gang. Trying to findout more, they get deeper into the right-wingscene and its political connections until thepoint where they face the question of how farthey are willing to go to defend our liberaldemocracy.

AND TOMORROW THE ENTIRE WORLD isJulia von Heinz’s first feature film to be hand-led by the Berlin-based production companySeven Elephants which she co-founded withfellow directors David Wnendt and ErikSchmitt and producer Fabian Gasmia lastyear.

GENRE Drama, Politics CATEGORY FeatureDIRECTOR Julia von Heinz SCREENPLAYJulia von Heinz, John Quester CAST MalaEmde, Noah Saveedra, Tonio Schneider,Luisa-Céline Gaffron, Andreas Lust PRODU-CER Fabian Gasmia PRODUCTION COMPANYSeven Elephants, in co-production with Kings& Queens Filmproduktion, Haiku FilmsLANGUAGE German

CONTACT Seven Elephants info@seven-elephants.dewww.seven-elephants.de

THE WAY WE WERE

© Oliver Wolff

© Flare Film/Christoph Köstlin

Director Marten Persiel follows hisdebut THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIAwith a semi-fictional documentary

pre senting a futuristic fairytale about thesplendor of nature. The year is 2051, andpeople are looking back at the past. Theyremember the golden age of the beautiful2010s and 2020s – a time when it was stillpossible to experience wild nature first hand.According to official estimates from theUnited Nations, we are currently losing 200natural species every day. THE WAY WE WEREtakes us forward into a bankrupt future thatwe may well be bound for. We meet Ben in2051 and watch him saving the world by mak -ing people feel something they thought theyhad forgotten...

GENRE Ecology, Fantasy, Science Fiction,Road Movie CATEGORY Semi-Fictional Docu-mentary DIRECTOR Marten Persiel SCREEN-PLAY Marten Persiel, Aisha Prigann CASTNoah Saavedra, Paul G. Raymond, JessamineBliss Bell, Wim Wenders, Rodolfo Dirzo,Prof. Dr. Josef Reichholf, Dr. Cary Fowler,Pamela Ronald PRODUCERS Martin Heisler,Katharina Bergfeld PRODUCTION COMPANYFlare Film, in co-production with WindmillFilm LANGUAGE English

SALESUrban Distribution Internationaludi@urbangroup.bizwww.urbandistrib.com

GERMAN FILMS: A PROFILE GFQ 3-2019

40

GERMAN FILMS

SERVICE + MARKETING

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

SHAREHOLDERS are the German Pro -ducers Guild, the German Pro ducers Alliance,the Association of German Film Exporters,the German Federal Film Board (FFA), theDeutsche Kinemathek, the German Docu-mentary Association, FilmFernsehFondsBayern, Film- und Medien stiftung NRW,Medien board Berlin-Brandenburg, and theGerman Short Film Association.

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

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

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

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

.

RANGE OF ACTIVITIES

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

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

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

� Staging of industry screenings in keyinternational territories

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

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

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

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

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

� Organization of the selection procedurefor the German entry for the Oscar® for BestInternational Feature Film

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

� Selective financial Distribution Supportfor the foreign releases of German films

� Organization with UniFrance of the annualGerman-French film meeting

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

SUPERVISORY BOARD

Peter Herrmann Chairman

Peter DingesAntonio ExacoustosManuela KehlenbachKirsten NiehuusSabine Pollmeier

TEAM

Simone Baumann Managing Director

Johanna Buse Regional Coordinator: Southern Europe & Latin America

Mai Anh Do Accounts

Christine Harrasser Press & PR, Television

Angela Hawkins Communications & Marketing

Anne Heidebrecht Distribution Support & Animation

Nicole Kaufmann Regional Coordinator: USA, UK & Northern Europe

Dennis Ruh Festival Relations

Fides Schäffer Regional Coordinator: Asia & Australia

Martin Scheuring Project Coordinator & Short Film

Andrea Schiefer Monitoring & Strategic Development, Business Affairs

Sabrina Schrödl Assistant to the Managing Director

Bernhard Simek Regional Coordinator: Eastern Europe, Documentary Film

Allianz Deutscher Produzenten – Film & Fernsehen e.V.

German Producers Alliance

Kronenstr. 3 | 10117 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-30-2 06 70 88 0 | fax +49-30-2 06 70 88 44 | info@produzentenallianz.de | www.produzentenallianz.de

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm e.V.

German Documentary Association

Schweizer Str. 6 | 60594 Frankfurt am Main/Germanyphone +49-69-62 37 00 | fax +49-61 42-96 64 24 | agdok@agdok.de | www.agdok.de

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kurzfilm e.V.

German Short Film Association

Förstereistr. 36 | 01099 Dresden/Germanyphone +49-3 51-4 04 55 75 | fax +49-3 51-4 04 55 76 | info@ag-kurzfilm.de | www.ag-kurzfilm.de

Deutsche Kinemathek

Museum für Film und Fernsehen

Potsdamer Str. 2 | 10785 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-30 09 03-0 | fax +49-30-30 09 03-13 | info@deutsche-kinemathek.de | www.deutsche-kinemathek.de

FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH

Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Medien in Bayern

Sonnenstr. 21 | 80331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-54 46 02-0 | fax +49-89-54 46 02 21 | filmfoerderung@fff-bayern.de | www.fff-bayern.de

Filmförderungsanstalt

German Federal Film Board

Große Präsidentenstr. 9 | 10178 Berlin/Germanyphone +49-30-27 57 70 | fax +49-30-27 57 71 11 | info@ffa.de | www.ffa.de

Film- und Medienstiftung NRW GmbH

Kaistr. 14 | 40221 Düsseldorf/Germanyphone +49-2 11-93 05 00 | fax +49-2 11-93 05 05 | info@filmstiftung.de | www.filmstiftung.de

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH

August-Bebel-Str. 26-53 | 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germanyphone +49-3 31-74 38 70 | fax +49-3 31-7 43 87 99 | info@medienboard.de | www.medienboard.de

Verband Deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE)

Association of German Film Exporters

Robert-Koch-Str. 1 | 80538 Munich/Germany | Berlin office: Winterfeldtstr. 56 | 10781 Berlin/Germany phone +49-173-577 08 38 | fax +49-89-57 08 77 60 | forster@forster-recht.de | www.vdfe.de

Produzentenverband e.V.

German Producers Guild

Häberlstr. 5 | 80337 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-22 84 50 45 | fax +49-89-12 19 76 03 mail@produzentenverband.de | www.produzentenverband.de

Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien

Federal Government Commissioner for Culture & the Media

Potsdamer Platz 1 | 10785 Berlin/Germany | phone +49-30-18 68 10fax +49-22899-681 51 30 20 | K36@bkm.bund.de | www.kulturstaatsministerin.de

Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein GmbH

Friedensallee 14–16 | 22765 Hamburg/Germanyphone +49-40-398 37-0 | fax +49-40-398 37-10 | info@ffhsh.de | www.ffhsh.de

HessenFilm und Medien GmbH

Am Steinernen Stock 1 | 60320 Frankfurt am Main/Germanyphone +49-69-15 32 404-0 | fax +49-69-15 32 404 99 | foerderung@hessenfilm.de | www.hessenfilm.de

MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg mbH

Bereich Filmförderung | Breitscheidstr. 4 | 70174 Stuttgart/Germanyphone +49-7 11-90 71 54 00 | fax +49-7 11-90 71 54 50 | filmfoerderung@mfg.de | www.film.mfg.de

Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung GmbH

Petersstr. 22-24 | 04109 Leipzig/Germanyphone +49-3 41-26 98 70 | fax +49-3 41-2 69 87 65 | info@mdm-online.de | www.mdm-online.de

nordmedia – Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH

Expo Plaza 1 | 30539 Hanover/Germanyphone +49-5 11-1 23 45 60 | fax +49-5 11-12 34 56 29 | info@nordmedia.de | www.nordmedia.de

41

GFQ 3-2019 SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORTERS

ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS GFQ 3-2019

42

ASSOCIATION OF

GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS

Robert-Koch-Str. 1 80538 Munich/Germany phone +49-173-577 08 38 fax +49-89-570 877 60 forster@forster-recht.de www.vdfe.de

ARRI Media International

Türkenstr. 8980799 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-38 09 12 88fax +49-89-38 09 16 19worldsales@arri.dewww.arrimedia.de/international

Beta Cinema GmbH

Grünwalder Weg 28d82041 Oberhaching/Germanyphone +49-89-6 73 46 98 28beta@betacinema.comwww.betacinema.com

Constantin Film Verleih GmbH

Feilitzschstr. 680802 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-44 44 60 0fax +49-89-44 44 60 666 zentrale@constantin.filmwww.constantin-film.de

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

Films Boutique GmbH

Köpenicker Str. 18410997 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-69 53 78 50 contact@filmsboutique.com www.filmsboutique.com

Global Screen

– a brand of Telepool GmbH

Sonnenstr. 2180331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-24 41 29 55 00fax +49-89-55 87 61 91 06info@globalscreen.dewww.globalscreen.de

Media Luna New Films UG

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38, 6th Floor50672 Cologne/Germanyphone +49-2 21-51 09 18 91fax +49-2 21-51 09 18 99info@medialuna.bizwww.medialuna.biz

Picture Tree International GmbH

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

SOLA Media GmbH

Rotebühlplatz 2970178 Stuttgart/Germanyphone +49-7 11-96 89 44 40fax +49-7 11-96 89 44 51post@sola-media.comwww.sola-media.com

Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE)

GFQ 3-2019 IMPRINT & FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

43

German Films Quarterly is published by:

German Films Service + Marketing GmbHHerzog-Wilhelm-Str. 1680331 Munich/Germanyphone +49-89-5 99 78 70fax +49-89-59 97 87 30info@german-films.dewww.german-films.de

ISSN 1614-6387

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

© German Films Service + Marketing GmbH

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

EditorAngela Hawkins

Contributors Thomas Abeltshauser, Martin Blaney, Silvia Hallensleben, Patrick Heidmann,Simon Kingsley

TranslationsLucinda Rennison

CoverAnne Ratte-Polle (© Mathias Bothor)

Design & Art DirectionWerner Schauer www.triptychon.biz

Printing Officewww.esta-druck.de

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

FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

Eastern EuropeMarcel Maïgaphone +49-176-38 84 56 72maiga@german-films.de

ChinaAnke Redl China Media Management Inc.Galaxy SOHO, Tower D-50931No. 7 Xiaopaifang HutongDongchengBeijing 100010/Chinaphone +86-10-65 20 64 30fax +86-10-65 20 64 50 redl@german-films.de

Scan here to visit our GFQ website

OPENING THE DOORS TO

GERMAN CINEMA

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