Exclusive: Beta Cinema has unveiled a raft of key territory pre-sales for Joachim A. Lang’s Joseph Goebbels biopic Führer and Seducer ahead of its market premiere at the EFM this week.
The company has sealed deals to Spain (A Contracorriente), Portugal (Films4You), Scandinavia (Mis Label), Benelux (Dutch Film Works), Czech Republic (Donart Film), former Yugoslavia (Discovery) Japan (At Entertainment) and Australia & New Zealand (Moving Story Entertainment).
Wild Bunch will release the film in German-speaking territories.
Führer and Seducer follows Goebbels in his last seven years at Adolf Hitler’s side, as his Minister of Propaganda.
While Hitler is at the height of his power, Goebbels is the creator of the pictures of the flag-waving crowds and anti-Semitic films “Jud Süß” and “Der ewige Jude”, priming the German people for the mass murder of the Jews.
The drama follows Goebbels as he then attempts to whip up continued support for...
The company has sealed deals to Spain (A Contracorriente), Portugal (Films4You), Scandinavia (Mis Label), Benelux (Dutch Film Works), Czech Republic (Donart Film), former Yugoslavia (Discovery) Japan (At Entertainment) and Australia & New Zealand (Moving Story Entertainment).
Wild Bunch will release the film in German-speaking territories.
Führer and Seducer follows Goebbels in his last seven years at Adolf Hitler’s side, as his Minister of Propaganda.
While Hitler is at the height of his power, Goebbels is the creator of the pictures of the flag-waving crowds and anti-Semitic films “Jud Süß” and “Der ewige Jude”, priming the German people for the mass murder of the Jews.
The drama follows Goebbels as he then attempts to whip up continued support for...
- 2/12/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Piper Laurie, the actress who captivated audiences as Catherine Martell in "Twin Peaks" and terrified them as Margaret White in "Carrie," has died. The Hollywood Reporter has just confirmed that the actor passed away this morning at the age of 91.
The three-time Oscar nominee began her acting career during high school, signing a contract with Universal in 1949 and starring opposite Ronald Reagan in her on-screen debut, "Louisa." From there, the actress began working steadily, starring opposite Tony Curtis several times and appearing in 14 Universal movies (typically in the starring role) in just 7 years. Eventually, as THR notes, Laurie desperately wanted out of her contract, and her agent was able to extricate her from a deal that was keeping truly challenging roles at arm's length.
After leaving Universal, Laurie made one of the most memorable moves in her career with her turn in "The Hustler," an acclaimed movie about a pool...
The three-time Oscar nominee began her acting career during high school, signing a contract with Universal in 1949 and starring opposite Ronald Reagan in her on-screen debut, "Louisa." From there, the actress began working steadily, starring opposite Tony Curtis several times and appearing in 14 Universal movies (typically in the starring role) in just 7 years. Eventually, as THR notes, Laurie desperately wanted out of her contract, and her agent was able to extricate her from a deal that was keeping truly challenging roles at arm's length.
After leaving Universal, Laurie made one of the most memorable moves in her career with her turn in "The Hustler," an acclaimed movie about a pool...
- 10/14/2023
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
Piper Laurie, who blossomed as an actress only after extricating herself from the studio system and went on to rack up three Oscar nominations, has died. She was 91.
Laurie’s manager Marion Rosenberg confirmed the news to Variety, writing, “A beautiful human being and one of the great talents of our time.”
Laurie scored her first Oscar nomination for her work opposite Paul Newman in 1961’s classic poolhall drama “The Hustler,” in which she played an alcoholic who memorably tells Newman’s character, “Look, I’ve got troubles and I think maybe you’ve got troubles. Maybe it’d be better if we just leave each other alone.”
Though she informally retired to raise a family for more than a decade, she returned to film and television in the mid-’70s and racked up an impressive roster of characterizations, including Oscar-nominated turns in “Carrie” and in “Children of a Lesser God,...
Laurie’s manager Marion Rosenberg confirmed the news to Variety, writing, “A beautiful human being and one of the great talents of our time.”
Laurie scored her first Oscar nomination for her work opposite Paul Newman in 1961’s classic poolhall drama “The Hustler,” in which she played an alcoholic who memorably tells Newman’s character, “Look, I’ve got troubles and I think maybe you’ve got troubles. Maybe it’d be better if we just leave each other alone.”
Though she informally retired to raise a family for more than a decade, she returned to film and television in the mid-’70s and racked up an impressive roster of characterizations, including Oscar-nominated turns in “Carrie” and in “Children of a Lesser God,...
- 10/14/2023
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
‘Lara’ is simultaneously premiering at the Munich and Karlovy Vary film festivals.
German director Jan-Ole Gerster’s debut film Oh Boy (which was released as A Coffee In Berlin in the Us ) was a surprise critical and audience hit in 2012. The absurdist comedy following an aimless man wandering the streets of Berlin was his thesis film at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (Dffb). It certainly marked out Gerster as a director to watch, premiering at Karlovy Vary and winning him the best debut film prize at the European Film Awards.
Seven years later and Gerster is back with his much-anticipated second feature Lara.
German director Jan-Ole Gerster’s debut film Oh Boy (which was released as A Coffee In Berlin in the Us ) was a surprise critical and audience hit in 2012. The absurdist comedy following an aimless man wandering the streets of Berlin was his thesis film at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (Dffb). It certainly marked out Gerster as a director to watch, premiering at Karlovy Vary and winning him the best debut film prize at the European Film Awards.
Seven years later and Gerster is back with his much-anticipated second feature Lara.
- 7/1/2019
- by Laurence Boyce
- ScreenDaily
A cerebral film based on a memoir by Hitler's private secretary lifts the lid on Feathers McGraw's role in the Führer's overthrow
Downfall (2004)
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Entertainment grade: A–
History grade: A–
On 20 April 1945, as the second world war drew to its conclusion, Soviet forces began to shell the centre of Berlin.
People
The film is bookended by documentary footage of the splendidly named Traudl Humps, Adolf Hitler's private secretary from 1942-45. In 1947, she wrote a memoir. It was published in 2002 under her less thrilling married name, Traudl Junge. The film draws extensively on the book, especially for the relationship between Hitler (Bruno Ganz, in the performance of a lifetime) and his girlfriend, Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler). Junge paints Eva as a needy, delusional figure – dancing around her old living room "in a desperate frenzy, like a woman who has already felt the faint breath of death". Another eyewitness,...
Downfall (2004)
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Entertainment grade: A–
History grade: A–
On 20 April 1945, as the second world war drew to its conclusion, Soviet forces began to shell the centre of Berlin.
People
The film is bookended by documentary footage of the splendidly named Traudl Humps, Adolf Hitler's private secretary from 1942-45. In 1947, she wrote a memoir. It was published in 2002 under her less thrilling married name, Traudl Junge. The film draws extensively on the book, especially for the relationship between Hitler (Bruno Ganz, in the performance of a lifetime) and his girlfriend, Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler). Junge paints Eva as a needy, delusional figure – dancing around her old living room "in a desperate frenzy, like a woman who has already felt the faint breath of death". Another eyewitness,...
- 5/16/2013
- by Alex von Tunzelmann
- The Guardian - Film News
BERLIN -- One of the best war movies ever made, Downfall is a powerful and artistically masterful re-creation of the last days of the Third Reich. A film that will set new standards in the art of committing history to celluloid, it is sure to spark strong word-of-mouth and generate ticket sales on the art house circuit -- and could pick up major awards.
Downfall tells not only the historically accurate tale of the last days of Hitler and his henchmen, which they spent in a bunker under the streets of Berlin, but also, in state-of-the-art battle sequences, of the civilians and soldiers fighting and dying on the savaged streets above as the Soviet Army turned the city into a pile of rubble.
The combined power of the chamber play unraveling in the bunker and the horrible epic slaughter in the streets above (which, of course, Hitler could have stopped at any time by surrendering) elevates the film from a historical re-enactment to a full-fledged war movie, on par with Saving Private Ryan and Das Boot in every regard. With its horrific and realistic depiction of the human beings who caused all this, Downfall could be the most important movie ever made about World War II.
The script, written masterfully by producer Bernd Eichinger (The Name of the Rose, The House of the Spirits), closely follows the definitive book Inside Hitler's Bunker, by renowned historian Joachim Fest, as well as on the reminiscences of Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge, whose story was turned into an excellent interview/documentary under the title Blind Spot (two sections of the interview frame the dramatized action of Downfall). Although the young Junge acts as a kind of main character, Eichinger has resisted the temptation to invent any nonhistoric characters for the viewer to sympathize with. What we get in Downfall is as close to what really happened as we will ever see on celluloid.
The actors are on the money, which makes Oliver Hirschbiegel's direction look nothing less than brilliant. And the same goes for An Dorthe Braker's inspired casting. Indeed, a major difference between this film and earlier depictions of Hitler is that these actors are all believably German, neither just blond and blue-eyed stereotypes nor craven caricatures of evil. It is easy to imagine any of them as the guy next door -- or even as yourself, given the circumstances. This is Hirschbiegel's artistic triumph: He makes sure we see that the "face of evil" didn't come from outer space but from among us.
Juliane Koehler plays Eva Braun with a weird, demented carelessness -- she is almost ecstatically happy to die with her Adolf (whom she marries at the very end), but at the same time she seems stupidly to have no real comprehension of the destruction going on around her. She is Marie Antoinette in a dirndl. When Magda Goebbels, played dignified and murderous by Corinna Harfouch, poisons her own children so they won't have to face the disappointment of growing up in a world without Nazism, you wonder whether the Third Reich was state or religion.
But the sensation of the film is Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) in a stunning performance as Hitler. Physically, Ganz slumps, shrinks and scowls -- Hitler's health was failing at this point, and Ganz captures the sunken little man perfectly. Most importantly, not once does he slip into a caricature of evil. Ganz shows you a human being. When he refuses to leave Berlin and save himself, you can see that in his mind he is performing an act of heroism.
The perverted humanity of Hitler and his henchmen may be a problem for some reviewers and community leaders, who may fear that neo-Nazis will watch the movie and be moved, not horrified, by Hitler's last days. That's a small risk, though, for a film that succeeds on all levels in saying so much not only about the horrors of the 20th century, but about human nature as well.
Downfall (Der Untergang)
World Sales: EOS Distribution
Production company: Constantin Film
Co-Producers NDR, WDR, Degeto Film, ORF and EOS Production and RAI Cinema
CREDITS
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Writer: Bernd Eichinger, based on the book Inside Hitler's Bunker by Joachim Fest and "Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary" by Traudl Junge and Melissa Mueller
Producer: Bernd Eichinger
Production Executive: Christine Rothe
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designer: Bernd Lepel
Music: Stephan Zacharias
Casting: An Dorthe Braker
Costume designer: Claudia Bobsin
Editor: Hans Funck
Special effects: Die Nefzers
Sound Design: Stefan Busch
Sound: Roland Winke
Sound mixing: Michael Kranz
Line producer: Silvia Tollmann
Cast:
Adolf Hitler: Bruno Ganz
Traudl Junge: Alexandra Maria Lara
Magda Goebbels: Corinna Harfouch
Joseph Goebbels: Ulrich Matthes
Eva Braun: Juliane Kohler
Albert Speer: Heino Ferch
Prof. Schenck: Christian Berkel
Prof. Dr. Werner Haase: Matthias Habich
Hermann Fegelein: Thomas Kretschmann
Helmuth Weidling: Michael Mendl
Wilhelm Mohnke: Andre Hennicke
Heinrich Himmler Ulrich Noethen
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 150 minutes...
Downfall tells not only the historically accurate tale of the last days of Hitler and his henchmen, which they spent in a bunker under the streets of Berlin, but also, in state-of-the-art battle sequences, of the civilians and soldiers fighting and dying on the savaged streets above as the Soviet Army turned the city into a pile of rubble.
The combined power of the chamber play unraveling in the bunker and the horrible epic slaughter in the streets above (which, of course, Hitler could have stopped at any time by surrendering) elevates the film from a historical re-enactment to a full-fledged war movie, on par with Saving Private Ryan and Das Boot in every regard. With its horrific and realistic depiction of the human beings who caused all this, Downfall could be the most important movie ever made about World War II.
The script, written masterfully by producer Bernd Eichinger (The Name of the Rose, The House of the Spirits), closely follows the definitive book Inside Hitler's Bunker, by renowned historian Joachim Fest, as well as on the reminiscences of Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge, whose story was turned into an excellent interview/documentary under the title Blind Spot (two sections of the interview frame the dramatized action of Downfall). Although the young Junge acts as a kind of main character, Eichinger has resisted the temptation to invent any nonhistoric characters for the viewer to sympathize with. What we get in Downfall is as close to what really happened as we will ever see on celluloid.
The actors are on the money, which makes Oliver Hirschbiegel's direction look nothing less than brilliant. And the same goes for An Dorthe Braker's inspired casting. Indeed, a major difference between this film and earlier depictions of Hitler is that these actors are all believably German, neither just blond and blue-eyed stereotypes nor craven caricatures of evil. It is easy to imagine any of them as the guy next door -- or even as yourself, given the circumstances. This is Hirschbiegel's artistic triumph: He makes sure we see that the "face of evil" didn't come from outer space but from among us.
Juliane Koehler plays Eva Braun with a weird, demented carelessness -- she is almost ecstatically happy to die with her Adolf (whom she marries at the very end), but at the same time she seems stupidly to have no real comprehension of the destruction going on around her. She is Marie Antoinette in a dirndl. When Magda Goebbels, played dignified and murderous by Corinna Harfouch, poisons her own children so they won't have to face the disappointment of growing up in a world without Nazism, you wonder whether the Third Reich was state or religion.
But the sensation of the film is Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) in a stunning performance as Hitler. Physically, Ganz slumps, shrinks and scowls -- Hitler's health was failing at this point, and Ganz captures the sunken little man perfectly. Most importantly, not once does he slip into a caricature of evil. Ganz shows you a human being. When he refuses to leave Berlin and save himself, you can see that in his mind he is performing an act of heroism.
The perverted humanity of Hitler and his henchmen may be a problem for some reviewers and community leaders, who may fear that neo-Nazis will watch the movie and be moved, not horrified, by Hitler's last days. That's a small risk, though, for a film that succeeds on all levels in saying so much not only about the horrors of the 20th century, but about human nature as well.
Downfall (Der Untergang)
World Sales: EOS Distribution
Production company: Constantin Film
Co-Producers NDR, WDR, Degeto Film, ORF and EOS Production and RAI Cinema
CREDITS
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Writer: Bernd Eichinger, based on the book Inside Hitler's Bunker by Joachim Fest and "Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary" by Traudl Junge and Melissa Mueller
Producer: Bernd Eichinger
Production Executive: Christine Rothe
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designer: Bernd Lepel
Music: Stephan Zacharias
Casting: An Dorthe Braker
Costume designer: Claudia Bobsin
Editor: Hans Funck
Special effects: Die Nefzers
Sound Design: Stefan Busch
Sound: Roland Winke
Sound mixing: Michael Kranz
Line producer: Silvia Tollmann
Cast:
Adolf Hitler: Bruno Ganz
Traudl Junge: Alexandra Maria Lara
Magda Goebbels: Corinna Harfouch
Joseph Goebbels: Ulrich Matthes
Eva Braun: Juliane Kohler
Albert Speer: Heino Ferch
Prof. Schenck: Christian Berkel
Prof. Dr. Werner Haase: Matthias Habich
Hermann Fegelein: Thomas Kretschmann
Helmuth Weidling: Michael Mendl
Wilhelm Mohnke: Andre Hennicke
Heinrich Himmler Ulrich Noethen
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 150 minutes...
- 10/5/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Variety reports that Constantin Films has cast Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) as Adolf Hitler in Der Untergang -- Hitler und das Ende des 3. Reichs (The Downfall -- Hitler and the End of the Third Reich). Focusing on the last days of the Nazi regime, the film starts shooting this summer in St. Petersburg under the direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel from a screenplay by Bernd Eichinger, based on Joachim Fest's book. The film also stars Juliane Koehler (Nowhere in Africa) as Eva Braun, Corinna Harfouch as Magda Goebbels, Ulrich Noethen as Heinrich Himmler and Alexandra Maria Lara as Hitler's personal secretary.
- 4/22/2003
- IMDbPro News
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